Some Assembly Required: How Prefab Wall Systems Save Time and Money

09-01-08

Here in the Southwest, developers and contractors have a big advantage with year-round building schedules due to near-perfect weather conditions. I can appreciate this because as a 25-year veteran of the construction industry in Minnesota, I spent the majority of my career building on seasonal schedules based on the temperamental weather.

However, being forced to work on faster construction timelines has forced builders in the Midwest to use methods such as precast concrete and prefabricated wall systems in order to avoid the curing time and weather-dependent pitfalls of cast-in-place concrete. In doing so, they have discovered many additional benefits from these prefab building methods, and have discovered ways to cut costs, waste and time from their projects. Some of the additional benefits include:
· Reduced labor needs with its easy installation, resulting in lower cost for the project
· Quality product built in a controlled environment
· Less waste, resulting in reduced environmental impact and construction waste cost
· Less chance of theft, controlling costs by fast building enclosure
· MEP locations pre-punched per drawings
· Superior STC ratings

One example of a prefabricated product available in Southern Nevada is Ecolite, a “green”, waterproof, fire resistant, insulating and sound attenuating wall system. I founded my current company EcoWall, the premier distributor and manufacturer of the Ecolite wall system, when I began looking for a better type of concrete to use in my projects versus the typical product used in the Southwest. I was impressed by Ecolite’s features over traditional concrete. Now, developers and contractors I meet with are amazed by the advantages of manufacturing walls prior to construction, and are excited about the possibilities these walls provide for building in Nevada.

Anyone in the commercial real estate industry in the Southwest can profit from the many advantages of prefab systems such as Ecolite, slimming their budgets and trimming time from their schedules to get product up and complete, ahead of schedule and within budget.