www.ecao.org 22 BUSINESS barriers to prefabrication do not outweigh its potential benefits in the opinion of this author, nor should they intimidate practitioners from adopting it. I recently conducted a study at the University of Wisconsin- Madison to understand how prefabrication is used in the electrical construction industry specifically, and what impact its use has on cost, quality, time and safety. This study found that most electrical contractors who use prefabrication tend to stick with the practice: 74 per cent of respondent contractors used prefab, and 61 per cent of contractors who use prefabrication have continued to do so for over five years. However, while the use of prefabrication was found to be widespread, most contractors expended a relatively low percentage of their overall labour hours (less than one per cent) on prefabrication- related activities. This indicates to me that many contractors are willing to try prefabrication as “the hot new practice” recommended by trade publications or consultants, but do not fully understand or are not fully willing to overhaul their practices internally to integrate it. What results from this less-than-full adoption are disappointing results, less realization of potential benefits and a more negative attitude toward innovative practices, in my experience. Consider the following, for example: In parallel to the aforementioned study, I examined what factors differentiate high-performing contractors from average-performing ones. One of the most significant factors that separated the two was prefabrication use: high-performing contractors expended between 10 and 20 per cent of their man- hours on prefabrication, while average performing contractors (as previously stated) seldom spent more than three per cent. Clearly, prefabrication has the potential to increase the performance of electrical contractors. Therefore, I urge you, readers, to consider how prefabrication is applied in your company. Is it truly embraced? If not, why not? What changes can you make to realize additional benefit and performance? One practice I observed that was used consistently by high- performing contractors was a central facility for prefabrication work. This type of facility can operate at a higher volume than multiple satellite or on site facilities, work more efficiently and offer a steady supply of trained labour for prefab work by servicing multiple jobs, ensuring consistent output. I have found that 66 per cent of contractors who use prefabrication do so off-site, but a much lower percentage operate a dedicated facility for all their prefab work. This ..my recent work in this area has found that prefabrication can increase productivity while simultaneously decreasing the number of workers on site – thus reducing labour costs even further when compared to traditional construction methods.