Analysis of the influencing factors of the cost of village prefabricated housing in rural revitalization: a southern Shaanxi case study
Authors: Wang Layin , Zhang Meng , Liu Jing 
Published: September 2024

PurposeUnder the rural revitalization, the effect of China's implementation of rural prefabricated housing is not obvious. Cost has become the biggest obstacle to its development. Therefore, it is necessary to study the factors influencing the cost of prefabricated buildings in villages and clarify the focus of cost control.Design/methodology/approachThis paper focuses on the whole process of prefabricated housing construction in villages in China and uses grounded theory to identify and screen out 27 related factors that affect the construction cost of prefabricated buildings. A system dynamics model is used to dynamically analyze the influencing factors. The engineering examples in rural areas of southern Shaanxi are simulated. Finally, five key factors that influence cost are obtained. Based on this, cost control countermeasures are proposed for rural prefabricated housing in southern Shaanxi.FindingsThe results show that: the key factors affecting the cost of prefabricated buildings in villages include the selection of production methods, the degree of design standardization, the quality of construction personnel, the level of construction technology and the circulation cycle of molds. The cost of prefabricated housing in villages can be controlled through five aspects: mass production of components, design exchange and feasibility analysis, improvement of employee professionalism, strict selection of construction schemes and technologies and improvement of mold turnover rate.Research limitations/implicationsThe system dynamics model applied in this paper is based on the idealized state. The system boundary is narrow and has a certain subjectivity. It needs further detailed research to make it closer to the engineering practice. In addition, this paper applies the rural engineering example in southern Shaanxi to carry out a single case study, and the universality of the research results needs to be further tested. There are many village construction projects and building types, so the research results can be further enriched through large sample research.Practical implicationsRural construction is an important step in the implementation of rural revitalization. Exploring the factors that affect the key costs of prefabricated buildings in villages and towns in view of the particularity of rural areas will help provide a reference for their cost control and help the rural development of prefabricated houses.Social implicationsThe research results of this paper can provide a reference for the development of prefabricated buildings in other rural revitalization areas.Originality/valueDifferent from the traditional research on urban prefabricated buildings, this paper focuses on rural areas and explores the core factors affecting the cost of prefabricated buildings from the micro level. This study establishes a system dynamics model suitable for the cost control of prefabricated housing at the village level and provides methods for its cost control. Based on the identified key factors affecting costs, cost control measures were proposed for prefabricated housing tailored to the unique characteristics of villages.