Feasibility of implementing prefabricated U.S. products and methods for residential construction in Thailand

Abstract

Prefabricated construction has been a common construction method for American construction for more than a century. The concept of build it fast in the most economical way has not changed since the beginning; however, the new technologies have been developed to suit the modern world prefabricated construction. The new technologies are not only help contractors and owners get their building faster and more economical but they also help reduce construction waste and produce high energy efficiency buildings which result in a long term benefit to projects.

On the other hand, prefabrication for residential construction has been used in Thailand for only less than two decades. However, the prefabrication construction in Thailand has grown rapidly from the past five years. Recently, there are many new developers, and contractors who have switched from a traditional construction to prefabrication to keep up the rising in Thai residential market. Moreover, the new minimum wage policy from Thai government has hit Thai construction business very hard. The labor cost has raised more than 40% in some area (Thai Department of labor, 2013) since 2012. Thai developers see prefabrication as a future and ready to invest more in this type of construction. (Krunthep Thurakit, 2013)

Currently, there are many construction products from the U.S. which have been using in Thai construction. Thai people are familiar with American product, therefore, U.S. prefabricated products and methods can easily make a quick transition to Thai prefabricated construction.

The intention of this research is to find the prefabricated residential construction products or method from the U.S. that can be used for developing the new or similar products that compatible with Thai market. There are a lot of strong potential prefabricated construction products and method in the U.S. which can be very useful in Thailand. Those can be benefit to both American investors and Thai construction. The selected products or method will be review and investigate in the categories such as performance, compatibility, availability, price and ability to adapt to Thai market.