Modular MEP Construction: The Benefits and Drawbacks of Lean Construction Methodology in Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing
Modular MEP construction follows a trend in construction methodology known as lean construction. With a focus on reduced labor, materials, and timeframes, lean MEP construction aims at streamlining many of the processes necessary for construction projects.
Modular construction itself is nothing new, dating back to the post-war economy of the 1940s and 1950s. But the stigma of cheap and poorly built cookie-cutter homes has made it difficult to quickly adopt this strategy.
Today, the need for streamlined production schedules and lower costs has made lean construction, and modular construction in particular, a viable option for many large-scale projects. And with the innovation of building information management (BIM) tools and technology, trade specialists and engineers alike can take advantage of modular construction as well.
What Is Modular MEP Construction?
Modular MEP construction uses building information management and early cross-trade collaboration to design mechanical, electrical, and plumbing modules that are fabricated in off-site facilities. Once fabricated, the modules are shipped to the construction site for installation.
Prefabricated MEP modules can include electrical conduit and wiring, flexible and copper plumbing, sprinkler droppers, and pre-insulated pipes and HVAC ductwork. These modules can also include components like vertical risers and horizontal ceiling modules. Even fully integrated assemblies are possible.
The plug-and-play systems coordination makes it possible to quickly and easily install these prefabricated MEP modules, saving time, labor, and cost over conventional on-site methods in many cases.
Benefits of Modular MEP Construction
The key benefits of using modular MEP construction in place of conventional MEP construction relate to four areas: quality, efficiency, cost, and safety.
Benefits and Challenges of Modular MEP Construction
| Benefits | Challenges |
| High Quality of MEP Modules | Works Best at Scale, not for single-family |
| Improved Productivity and Efficiency | Some components must be installed on-site |
| Faster Completion and Easier Installation | Increased need for collaboration |
| More Predictable Timeframes | Accurate and precise information and design |
| Improved Safety | Qualified and experienced drafters required |
| More Predictable Costs | Increased complexity of building information |
| Higher Client Satisfaction | Must consider future maintenance needs |
| Reduced Construction Waste |
MEP Modules Provide Higher and More Consistent Quality
MEP modules offer higher quality and consistency in modular construction applications. Through in-depth design process, aided by innovative technology, engineers collaborate with trade specialists to develop CAD designs that incorporate all mechanical, electrical, and plumbing components while avoiding any clash issues. And this clash detection now happens much earlier in the design phase than past design conventions.
What does this mean for construction managers and general contractors? There’s less time spent fixing issues and juggling on-site labor conflicts. And modular MEP construction also offers more dependable installation and operation.
Off-site fabrication of MEP modules also improves client satisfaction, according to the 202 Dodge Data & Analytics SmartMarket Report. In the report, as much as 80 percent of trade contractors reported improvements in quality, productivity, and client satisfaction with modular MEP construction.
Efficiency Is a Hallmark of Modular MEP Design
Modular MEP construction utilizes off-site fabrication techniques in controlled environments. And the improved working conditions and streamlined workflow can reduce project timeframes, unexpected costs, and construction waste. The detailed design process, from start to finish, limits unexpected delays or expenses, and it allows trade contractors to work simultaneously without interference.
Construction waste is nearly nonexistent since the modules use the same materials in predictable quantities. Trade specialists no longer have to work around each other’s work or schedules. And without weather delays or linear construction timeframes, modular MEP construction can bypass many of the scheduling pitfalls of conventional construction.
Modular MEP Methodologies Often Reduce Cost
By building at scale, modular MEP construction can significantly reduce project costs. More efficient use of material and less waste both minimize spending during fabrication, and the more effective coordination of labor provides contractors with fewer change orders, installation issues, and cost increases.
Safety Improves When Fabrication Happens Off-Site
With most of the work done in a controlled off-site environment, module MEP construction is much safer than conventional construction. Trade workers no longer have to work on scaffolding, and many vertical installation modules can be assembled at ground level or horizontally.
And the assembly-line construction process keeps workers safe from crowded workspaces, construction debris, and on-site congestion issues.
What Are The Challenges of Modular MEP Construction?
Modular MEP fabrication streamlines assembly and installation processes, but it does so by frontloading many of the challenges into the early stages of a project.
Design takes up the bulk of the energy in modular MEP construction. In order to meet the many challenges at this stage, engineers, trade specialists, and construction managers must collaborate effectively. Without effective communication, MEP modules won’t compete with conventional design and construction methods.
Overcoming these challenges requires specific considerations at the design stage. But with these considerations in mind, MEP modular design is beneficial for several different construction projects, including multifamily housing, high-rise offices, educational facilities, and healthcare buildings.
The Modular MEP Construction Process
| Steps and Collaboration | Specific Processes |
| Step 1: The Design Phase(MEP engineers and trade specialists) | Design drawings for submissionCreate coordinated drawings for the factoryDevelop production drawing submissionsSubmit estimated material requirements |
| Drawings and schedule of materials are approved and finished | |
| Step 2: Off-Site Assembly(Contractors and fabricators) | Purchase materialsFabricate modulesProfessionally verify quality of modules |
| Modules are stored safely and transported to the project site | |
| Step 3: On-Site Assembly(Contractors and subcontractors, with supervisory guidance) | Inspect delivered modulesMove modules to installation positionMark and set out positioning for moduleInstall modules and connect to mains |
| Entire installation is tested and commissioned | |
Accurate and Up-to-Date Information
With the need for collaboration between designers and trade specialists, it’s critical to have accurate information and up-to-date documentation available. In the past, design changes often took days (and sometimes weeks) to distribute to all parties. Today, modular MEP construction requires near-instantaneous access to the most current information.
Precise Drawings
The margin of error in prefabricated modules is slim. These modules are designed for easy installation, so schematics, drawings, and diagrams require precision. Today’s designers can no longer rely on hand-drawn drafting techniques and instead must incorporate digital design software.
Qualified and Experienced Drafters and Designers
Along with the need for precision comes the need for qualified and experienced designers. Software tools make modular MEP construction feasible, but designers need to have experience with that software. Additionally, they need experience with integrated systems, and most likely with modular design, to create efficient and high-quality modules for MEP.
Constant Collaboration
Conventional design and construction utilize a linear approach to project management. One step at a time, stakeholders add their input to the project’s designs. This methodology can’t address problems early enough in the process to prevent unwanted costs and time loss. Modular MEP construction changes this paradigm, but at the cost of more collaboration.
The constant need for collaboration in modular design requires tools to make it not only possible but also efficient. The need is more complex than just sharing files in a cloud-based folder. Special software tools and platforms are often the only way to make sense of massive project requirements that demand agile response times.
Considerations for Future Maintenance and Servicing
MEP modules make prefabrication and installation simpler, but off-site designing and building lose their value if the modules aren’t easily serviceable once installed. Systems engineers must plan far in advance for maintenance and servicing needs so that these prefabricated modules provide maximum benefit and convenience to building owners and managers.
Technology’s Role in Modular MEP Construction
To combat all these challenges, most project managers turn to software for solutions. There are two main areas where software plays an important role in modular MEP construction: design and management. And the solutions for the increasing complexity of large construction projects are likewise becoming increasingly sophisticated.
CAD Design
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) has been a mainstay of the construction industry for decades, but the technology behind CAD design continues to progress. Today’s CAD design systems can handle complex designs that include multiple systems, incorporate clash detection, and provide precise and accurate measurements. This makes it possible for modular MEP construction to be cost-effective, time-efficient, and system-ready for installation long before contractors install a module.
Building Information Management (BIM)
Collaboration requires immediate feedback and communication. In the past, it was limited to face-to-face meetings and on-site work schedules. Today, everyone involved in a project can get immediate feedback in real-time through online software tools. Building Information Management (BIN) software provides the platform for this kind of real-time collaboration. From designing to document management to building ownership, BIM software allows everything anyone needs to know about a project or property to be accessed instantly. Updates to projects or changes to designs can be tracked, notifying key stakeholders when changes are made.
The result is a process that allows multiple trades to cooperate in the design and construction project without waiting for updates via email, post, or meetings. Instead, they’re able to skirt late-stage change orders and eliminate design flaws immediately.
And that provides the opportunity to save time, money, materials, and labor.
Where Does Modular MEP Construction Provide the Greatest Benefits?
But modular construction isn’t universally beneficial. Some projects are more appropriate than others, and certain projects will lose time and money with modular MEP construction methodology.
Projects At Scale
Large projects, especially multifamily and healthcare projects, can incorporate MEP modules in order to reduce wait time for construction phases. The controlled fabrication of the modules off-site allows foundation and framework construction to occur simultaneously. And the need for multiple identical (or near-identical) modules allows the upfront design work to multiply its return on investment.
Difficult, Dangerous, or Limited Access
Modular construction for MEP also minimizes access issues. When a worksite is dangerous or crowded, off-site work saves on congestion and foot traffic. It can also benefit projects where access is limited by time of day, street traffic, or commercial demands.
Tight Schedules
When timeframes need to be condensed or strictly maintained, MEP modules eliminate some of the wait time for different trades to install MEP components. And by eliminating hard-and-fast time constraints that typical construction methodology requires, some projects can cut down on construction time by as much as 50 percent.
Cost and Coordination Restraints
Project owners likely look to cost savings as a critical part of design and construction decisions. While the most reported benefits of modular MEP construction (and lean construction in general) relate more closely to productivity and quality, reduced cost is a peripheral benefit in larger projects. By minimizing construction waste and reducing workplace safety concerns, projects can run on a tighter budget.
Additionally, since almost all clash detection is completed at the design stage, project managers come into a modular construction project knowing that they won’t experience as many change orders. And most of the remaining change orders are much smaller cost differences compared to change orders in conventional construction.
Add to this the benefit of reduced trade worker coordination, and project management becomes much simpler with the aid of BIM and CAD technology to guide modular MEP construction.
Your Project, But With Modular MEP Construction
The modular methodology takes experience, precision, and close collaboration with project stakeholders to successfully reduce cost and save time. That’s the struggle with modular MEP construction: you have to have the right team to see the kind of benefits this construction method’s greatest advocates tout.
When you partner with IES for your MEP engineering needs, we bring decades of experience in large-scale construction projects, and we can put our expertise to work for you. Whether you choose conventional methods or plan to incorporate modular construction into your mechanical design, we’ll provide you with the quality you need to build innovative buildings and see a high return on your investment.