“We Like To Move It!:” Transportation In Modular Construction

Quality is never an accident; It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; It represents the wise choice of many alternatives.

~ William A. Foster

Construction of a facility is one of the most cost-oriented and labor intensive efforts. It is an activity that is plagued by cost overruns and schedule delays. Construction projects, for example, can get stretched beyond original schedules due to many reasons. These could range from the unique nature of the project and availability of resources to a lack of finance and third-party dependencies.

It’s one thing if a delay is the result of factors that are out of your control. However, it’s a whole new level of frustration when they are caused by poor performance.

A number of delays within construction projects can be caused by third parties. Some may be within their control or foreseeable; others might not. So, what’s the solution?

While there is no simple solution, it is next to impossible to completely eliminate third parties from the equation, what does mitigate the risk of delays and the consequent time and cost overruns is reducing your third party dependencies as much as possible.

Transport – A Big Part of Construction  

One of the biggest dependencies on third parties or sub-contractors for construction projects is transportation. Contractors are heavily dependent on the timely delivery of materials to the construction site to be able to complete their project on time.

Even in the case of alternative construction techniques such as modular buildings, where buildings are constructed in components or modules off-site and then assembled on location, the dependency on effective transport for on-time delivery of the prefabricated building parts is pretty high.

Not to mention that the transportation of modular buildings is far more complex owing to their size and structure. Remember, with modular construction, you are transporting entire parts of a building and not just material, so a lot more care has to be taken to avoid damage during transit. Special permits are also required to tow modular buildings through city limits.

Unfortunately, transportation is an aspect of construction that gets highly impacted by factors known to cause delays in construction. Adverse weather, worker strikes, epidemics, civic commotions, as well as war can wreak havoc with a country’s or region’s transport system, which in turn can throw a construction project completely out of gear.

The solution, as mentioned earlier, is to avoid depending on sub-contractors for your transport needs. As bizarre as it may sound, modular construction companies like Mobile Modular are taking the lead on this front by owning and managing their own fleet of trucks for transportation.

In other words, competent modular construction firms have complete control over deliveries. They don’t have to rely on a third-party contractor to transport their prefabricated buildings to clients, which allows them to serve their customers. This has been the experience of Mobile Modular’s many satisfied clients, like Kamay of Therma Corp. who have mentioned that our deliveries, “go without a hitch and pickups are just as smooth.”

We believe quality is never an accident. Quality is a result of well-planned and orchestrated activities that work together to exceed the expectations for our customers. Quality is what will be delivered to you, each time, every time, should you choose Mobile Modular for your next construction project.