With inflation at a 30-year high and material costs running 20% higher than a year ago, there’s even more uncertainty than usual in the world of construction. Labour costs and availability are following a similar pattern, while rising fuel and transport costs heap on further pressure.
Rapidly rising costs are leading many contractors to ask for ‘fluctuation provisions’ in new contracts. These have been extremely rare over the recent decades of low inflation. Unsurprisingly, developers are less than keen on the idea.
In these volatile times, anything that promises to bring greater stability and certainty to construction projects has to be welcomed. MMC’s advantages of cost and programme certainty and reduced vulnerability to adverse weather or labour shortages are well known.
In spite of this, offsite construction has seemed to be forever on the edge of something big. The reality is that lack of familiarity has been the biggest obstacle to widespread adoption. The general feeling was that it would need some significant external factor to topple the first domino. Perhaps rising material and labour costs now provide that.
If you wanted to be provocative, you could say that large parts of the industry have preferred the familiar near certainty of budget or programme overruns to the ‘risk’ of consistently delivering on time, on budget and with better levels of quality and performance.
The Rising Cost of Waste
As material costs rise, the cost of waste rises at the same time. Despite recent improvements, the construction sector is still wasteful in terms of offcuts, over-ordering and materials damaged through poor onsite storage.
This isn’t just an environmental cost – it’s also a very real – and rising – financial cost. Innovaré’s production process ships precision-made panels to eliminate onsite waste. Any offcuts are used elsewhere or fully recycled.
Fundamental change is always difficult. While the head might be convinced, the heart tends to want to cling to the familiar. But when technological change starts in earnest because of some triggering factor, it tends to be rapid.
Online shopping, for example, had several years of slow burn and early adopters. As soon as reliable internet connections became the norm it took off, leaving many established businesses watching on as events unfolded around them. Could offsite construction be about to experience the same?
If you want advice or information on MMC, offsite or low carbon construction (and access to proven solutions) contact (enquiries@innovaresystems.co.uk) for more information or take a look at our resource centre.
