At present, prefabricated components are used more widely in construction projects. The contractors can choose available prefabricated components or develop their own prefabricated construction system to suit their construction projects. The present study is aimed at investigating initial costs, duration of time, and labor required in the application of prefabricated skeleton components in conventional housing construction. The findings of the study could be used as a guideline for contractors in making decisions about their means of construction. This study compared conventional housing construction with conventional housing construction in which prefabricated skeleton components were used. Two-story single houses with similar space and architectural pattern in the Place and Park Pracha-Uthit Project were selected as the samples in this study. The findings of the present study revealed that when the contractor chose to use prefabricated skeleton components in conventional housing construction, the cost of construction was reduced. For instance, the cost for prefabricated skeleton components was reduced by 91,764 baht, or 4.90% of the original cost. In addition, the cost for labor was reduced by 25,430 baht, or 1.24% of the original cost, while the cost for construction materials was reduced by 66,334 baht, or 1.24% of the original cost. In terms of the mean construction cost per square meter, the application of prefabricated skeleton components cost 6,649 baht per square meter, while the conventional housing construction was 7,210 baht per square meter (including operation cost and profit). In other words, the use of prefabricated skeleton components together with conventional housing construction enabled the contractor to save up to 561 baht per square meter, or 4.90%. Also, as regards the period of time required in construction, the conventional housing construction took 144 days, whereas the use of prefabricated skeleton components could reduce the construction time to 120 days (the time needed to make the molds for different components already included). Thus, prefabricated skeleton components could shorten the construction time by 24 days. Based on these findings, it could be concluded that the application of prefabricated skeleton components is promising. It offers contractors an alternative to develop the ready-made system to suit the sizes and scopes of their projects. Furthermore, it could be used to solve problems regarding a lack of standardized construction and reduce construction costs and time, which is the ultimate aim of developing housing projects.
