Transportation and Installation of Prefabricated Houses
The transportation and installation process of prefabricated houses is centered around modularization, achieving efficient construction through a combination of factory prefabrication and on-site assembly, specifically divided into two stages: transportation and installation:
Transportation Stage: This stage employs a combination of modular disassembly and ocean logistics. The building is disassembled into independent unit modules, which undergo prefabrication in the factory for structures, pipelines, and interior finishes. These modules are then transported to the destination port via container ships in the form of “giant parcels”. For example, a project in the UK shipped 63 modules from a Chinese factory to Southampton Port, while a project in Papua New Guinea transported 84 modules for cross-ocean delivery. Module design must comply with international transportation standards to ensure that dimensions and weights are compatible with container specifications, while reinforcement measures are taken to prevent deformation during transportation. The factory prefabrication model makes the production process immune to weather conditions, significantly improving quality controllability and reducing unit costs through large-scale production.
Installation Stage: This stage focuses on rapid lifting and assembly. After arriving at the port, the modules are directly lifted to the construction site using large lifting equipment and positioned and connected according to the design drawings. For example, the UK project completed the on-site lifting of all modules in just two weeks, while the public housing project in Shenzhen, Guangdong, shortened the traditional construction period of 2.5-3 years to one year by assembling 6,028 concrete modules. On-site construction accounts for only about 10% of the total workload, mainly involving the treatment of public areas (such as staircases and elevator shafts), pipeline connections between modules, and structural sealing details. Since modules are already integrated with doors, windows, water, and electricity systems in the factory, no secondary processing is required on-site, significantly reducing labor demand, especially in regions with high overseas labor costs.
This model achieves dual optimization of construction efficiency and cost control through the synergy of standardized design, industrialized production, and assembly-based construction. The factory prefabrication process transfers over 90% of the workload to an indoor environment, reducing on-site pollution and resource waste; modular transportation reduces logistics losses, and the installation process requires only basic construction preparations, significantly shortening the project cycle. Currently, this technology has been widely applied in the construction of overseas residences, hotels, and temporary facilities, becoming an important direction for building industrialization in the context of globalization.
