Abstract
This paper compares the relative productivity of construction industry sectors with significant off-site fabrication with more traditional on-site sectors. The off-site sectors, such as curtainwall, structural steel, and precast concrete fabrication, consistently show higher productivity growth than on-site sectors. Furthermore, the value-added content of the off-site sectors is increasing faster than that of the on-site sectors, indicating faster productivity growth. However, the off-site sectors are not traditionally considered as part of the construction industry by the U.S. Economic Census, but rather as manufacturing. Ignoring the off-site segments of construction has led to significant underestimation of construction productivity.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 134 • Issue 7 • July 2008
Pages: 517 - 526
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 25, 2005
Accepted: Dec 10, 2007
Published online: Jul 1, 2008
Published in print: Jul 2008
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