In the construction industry efficiency means the difference between completing the job on time, or potentially delivering the finished build later than expected and over budget due to added site costs.

The problem is that the construction site is a dynamic environment where things don’t always go to plan.

What causes construction slowdowns?

Traffic anomalies, bad weather, labour issues are all things that can change the predicated timeline of a construction project, which means that it’s important to ensure that other areas flow smoothly and efficiently to compensate for these inevitable unexpected slowdowns.

Traditionally steel fixers would place, tie and weld together steel cages on-site using steel reinforcing bar and ligatures before moving into position and pouring concrete.

This method however leaves the process vulnerable to slowdowns caused by something as simple as bad weather.

Regain lost efficiency with Steel Prefabrication

Steel prefabrication is one area where both residential and commercial builders have found a major opportunity to streamline the construction process by having steel cages delivered to site fully constructed and ready to place immediately.

Prefabricated cages are used most commonly for piers, piles, strip footings, pad footings and columns to provide stability to the overall structure and are present in almost any type of residential or commercial building.

Prefabricated steel cages waiting for delivery creating an efficiency benefit for construction workers

“With steel prefabrication, the cages are built to specification off-site and then delivered ready to be placed immediately.”

The steel cages can simply be lifted off the delivery truck and moved into position without any delay saving time during construction.

The key to pulling off this increase in efficiency is ensuring that the cages are built accurately according to the engineer’s specifications so that when they arrive, additional time isn’t wasted making unnecessary modifications.

The estimator (for residential builds) or scheduler (for commercial) plays a critical role to ensure that a precise product is delivered to the site, ready to use.