Prefab plant will halve labourers
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Property developer Sansiri will cut the number of construction labourers it requires by nearly half once its prefabrication plant begins full operation this Sunday.
Chief executive officer Apichart Chutrakul said yesterday after the opening ceremony for the Bt600-million plant in Lam Luk Ka district, Pathum Thani province, that adoption of prefab technology would permit construction of 150 detached houses a month, triple the rate possible under traditional building processes. This should drive its revenue to Bt28 billion this year, up 16 per cent from Bt24 billion last year.
He said the company now used the prefabrication system to build detached houses under the Habitia, Saransiri, Burasiri and Setthasiri brands. If the system is successful, Sansiri will expand it to other brands and may increase the prefab plant’s production capacity this year or next.
“This system does not reduce our costs for construction materials but helps us speed up the construction process, helping us reduce our other costs as we can deliver homes to our customers faster than with the traditional system,” he said.
Using the prefabrication system, a house with utilisation space of 180-250 square metres can be built three to four months faster than with the traditional system, which takes about nine months. That means not only quicker delivery to customers but more efficient management of labour.
Apichart said this system also would support its business plan to develop 44 new residential projects worth Bt46 billion this year along with its 63 existing projects worth Bt76.41 billion. Of the new developments, 19 will be condominium projects, 15 detached-house projects, and 10 townhouse projects.
Sansiri’s executive vice president for project management and marketing, Suriya Wannabuit, said its townhouse projects would also use the prefab system to speed up construction.
“Our 10 new townhouse projects worth Bt7 billion, part of our new projects worth Bt46 billion this year, will combine the prefabrication and traditional systems. This will help us deliver at least Bt4 billion worth of townhouses to customers this year,” he said.
Sansiri is looking into launching townhouse and condo projects in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen provinces this year and next after the company successfully launched both types of project in Phuket last year, Suriya said.
