Assessing and Prioritising Delay Factors of Prefabricated Concrete Building Projects in China

Prefabricated construction has been widely accepted as an alternative to conventional cast-in-situ construction, given its improved performance. However, prefabricated concrete building projects frequently encounter significant delays. It is, therefore, crucial to identify key factors affecting schedule and explore strategies to minimise the schedule delays for prefabricated concrete building projects. This paper adopts the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) model and analytic network process (ANP) method to quantify the cause-and-effect relationships and prioritise the key delay factors in terms of their importance in the Chinese construction industry. The DEMATEL model evaluates the extent to which each factor impacts other factors. The quantified extents are then converted into a prioritisation matrix through ANP. The delay factors of prefabricated construction projects are selected and categorised based on a literature review and an expert interview. Questionnaires are then implemented to collect the data. The results reveal that the issue of inefficient structural connections for prefabricated components is found to be the most significant factor and most easily affected by other delay factors. This research also suggests prioritising major delay factors, such as ‘lack of communication among participants’ and ‘low productivity’, in the Chinese construction industry during scheduling control. Overall, this research contributes an assessment framework for decision making in the scheduling management of prefabricated construction.