Primary study of the impact of in-situ and factory products in Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

In an environment of aggravating labour shortage, it is inevitable for the construction industry to face number of difficulties. Therefore it is essential to explore ways and means to develop less labour intensive products, and identify whether these provide real solutions in reducing time and cost with enhanced quality. Further, it is obvious that the current construction industry is in a dilemma with lack of knowledge on behaviour of those aspects. Contactors hesitate to use factory products as these products are expensive, even these would lead to time savings and reduction of labour requirement and also towards sustainability in construction through many aspects. Therefore the need for a comparison between in-situ and factory made products on time, cost and quality is a need of time. This ongoing research mainly focuses on the usage of factory made and in-situ products based on the respective pros and cons. This was done by initiating a survey among various expertise in the industry. Further, prioritizing the most labour intensive products was very essential to identify what trade areas are the main concerns. Therefore the overall time, cost and quality aspects of in- situ products can be compared with correspondent factory products and identify the challenges on the contractors for using the effective alternatives. This paper contains the preliminary findings of a literature review conducted on the use of in-situ and factory based construction components both locally and globally.