Mechanical and Electrical Issues in Prefabricated Housing; Their Real Causes and Corrective Steps

Housing is most suitable to adopt prefabricated as it uses repetitious design, simultaneous construction, large scale and embed Mechanical and Electrical (M&E). Unlike develop countries which already far advanced, Malaysia still facing critical issues including on fragmentation especially on M&E scope. Fragmentation is defined as working in isolation, work in separation and division that happens among different parties in the same project. Various research on prefabricated housing has been conducted focusing on supply chain, modularization, automation, design, payment and procurement but lack focus on fragmentation. This paper investigates the real causes of fragmentation issues in Malaysian prefabricated housing that affected M&E and structural to be miss-matched, reveal their consequences and recommend steps to overcome. The methodology used is mixed method with 118 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS, then followed with deep interviews with experienced professionals from M&E companies, prefabricated manufacturers, prefabricated installers, academicians, consultants, developers and main contractors. The result shows the causes of fragmentation are originated from 3 major issues, first unfamiliar with prefabricated housing with 81.0% respondents agreed, second late involvement of prefabricated companies with 77.9% and third the practice of segregation culture with 71.1%. For the steps to overcome, 3 group of recommendations had been agreed, first establishing close integration within project team with 89.7%, second each party is appointed early with 86.8%, and third, direct contract is formed between prefabricated companies and developers with 81.5%. This research contributes by detailing the real causes that make fragmentation issues become critical, providing descriptions on where the causes were actually started and also presenting recommendations that are practical which verified by all stakeholders who directly involve in Malaysia prefabricated housing.