Developing an offsite readiness framework for Indian construction organisations

The rapid growth of the construction industry and rising demand in housing and infrastructure facilities in India are challenges to the efficiency of Indian construction organisations. In view of the poor quality and under-supply of present day construction practices, the emergence of alternative and new technologies in construction have drawn the attention of many organisations. With this background, the Off-Site Construction (OSC) method has evolved as an efficient alternative approach addressing time, cost and quality concerns of the existing practices. Several construction organisations in India have recognised the need to implement OSC methods to achieve competitive advantage. In order to achieve successful implementation of OSC methods, the construction organisations must be fully aware of the operations and processes involved in working with OSC products, while the organisation itself must be prepared to customise according to the requirements of OSC methods. The concept of Off-Site Construction has been drawing more attention from scholars. Various researchers have discussed about the existence of OSC practices in India. However, scholars have been less interested in exploring the status of OSC in India and factors affecting the uptake of OSC in the country. Therefore, the current research has aimed to develop the Off-Site Construction readiness framework to assess the preparedness of Indian construction organisations towards the application of OSC methods. The researcher has investigated the drivers and barriers for adoption of OSC techniques in India, and documented the results in this thesis. Current research has adopted the epistemological position of interpretivism and the ontological position of subjectivism as a research philosophy, issues that have been widely discussed in the chapter three “research design and methodology”. The research identified that cost and time certainty, minimising on-site duration and achieving high quality are some of the driving factors towards the adoption of OSC techniques. On the other hand, longer lead times, client resistance and scepticism, along with lack of guidance and information are the potential barriers for extensive implementation of OSC methods in India. The seventeen constructs of the Off-Site Construction readiness framework are divided into four groups, entitled Operational challenges, Broad execution strategy, Certainty in planning and Operational efficiency. These groups were developed from the literature, self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews in the different phases. The researcher also validated the refined framework through conducting case studies in three OSC-practicing construction organisations in India. The proposed Off-Site Construction readiness framework will guide the practitioners in assessing the OSC readiness of the construction organisations in India. The assessment will enable the organisation to evaluate and to benchmark its process in strategic and operational phases. The framework will also identify the areas of concern and the scope for further development or change in order to get optimal advantage of OSC methods. Hence, the research recommends application of the proposed framework in the OSC-practicing construction organisations in India in order to evaluate their current OSC readiness and to achieve competitive advantage. Though this assessment framework was proposed for India, it has a potential to serve as a general guide for OSC practitioners, policy makers and other key stakeholders involved in improving quality of the construction industry globally. In the real world implementation, the contribution of this research will improve awareness, increase confidence and strength of organisations in the execution of OSC techniques in Architectural, Engineering and Construction domains.