Barriers of Modular Building: Issues, Challenges, and Disadvantages

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BARRIERS OF MODULAR CONSTRUCTION
A Research Paper on Modular Construction By
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INTRODUCTION
The concept of modular manufacture uses off-site production and assemblage for potentially
more challenging methods of onsite construction. Modular building is a type of construction
where individual volumes and modules are made offsite, stand-alone and then conveyed to the
site and then accumulated on-site together to make the larger structures. The review of the
literature describes the common barrier, problematics issues and disadvantages of modular
construction. They include:
Issues related to cost
The factory that produces the modules and components for modular construction needs the high
cost for a startup for setting the best machinery and yard for prefabrication components and
modules production. (Li, et al., 2017) Argued that Companies also require to buy all the
appropriate resources at the project start which lead to high original costs. The cost of
construction also become high of the precast of components are of small quantities.
Skills and experience
Modular construction needs experienced and skillful labour for manufacturing parts and
modules for modular construction in the workshops and the on-site assemblage of these
components and parts. (Park, et al., 2016) Stated that lack of implementation of traditional
methods has led to inadequate familiarity and skills concerning modular construction since the
workers involved in the industry of construction have less or no knowledge working with
modular construction. Minor market demands for modular construction means that fewer

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projects are applying modular construction and so few individuals are learning modular methods
of construction (Inostroza, 2017).
Culture and motivation
Many individuals are suspicious of the quality and performances of modular construction since
it has failed in the past. Several constituents and segments of modular construction are light
leading to perception that they are of lower quality, not durable and may need regular renovating,
and that they can cause overheating during the months of summer (Baldea, 2017). Many
people and companies also have some attitude and are not willing to use other methods. This
results to the unwillingness of the producers to modernize, develop and improve modular
building. (Olamo, 2019)There is an inadequate encouragements for corporations to
revolutionize and change the situation. Consumers are interested more in the residence that is
well constructed in the right location than in how it is constructed since the property is known as
the investment and modular construction is not seen as an investment (Lecian, 2019).
The market for modular construction
The demand Minor markets controls the capability of available producers which has an impact
on the product’s cost for modular building and hence the total cost of the project. (Larsen,
2019) The outmoded suppliers don't want their businesses to collapse and change to modular
construction. Many old-fashioned suppliers defend their marketplace by selling their products
lower prices that modular contrition can offer hence create a rivalry between manufactures.
The influence of the overall market is very important. The Australian industry for building
houses has contracted and expanded in the overall conditions of the market. The current global

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financial crisis and slowing markets for houses are at odds with the conditions that support
standardization and modular construction such as the boom in building and constrained
availability of resources. The housing sector is vulnerable to low economic development in many
areas causing the concerns for the contractors to secure streams of income (Ronanki, 2018).
Industry-related issues
Modular building needs regular communication and synchronization between the parties
involved during the development to ensure that the distributions reach on time when required.
The disjointed nature construction industry limits regular communication making it difficult to
systematize the designs for modular building (Dhakate, 2018). This means that the
constituents from dissimilar providers cannot install together making the structures to be of low
quality with many defects (León, 2014).
The available funding models for house construction imply the adoption of modular
construction. The industry of house construction has traditionally not been intensive in terms of
capital, relying on the investment from the end-use commissioning the house to finance work
and this can be reversed by adopting modular construction (Boldon, 2019).
Flexibility and interface
Early design is important to enable the early start of the manufacture for the needed modules and
components. This makes modular construction unsuitable and inflexible for the changes in late
design. Once the manufacturing starts, changing the designs may have an impact on how
remaining parts will fit together. Out-of-date approaches of construction don’t follow similar
standardization design of modular construction and the problem arise when joining traditional