The news is significant to analysts, planners and other decision makers in the building industry who have struggled to understand apparent declines in productivity in stark contrast to increasing productivity in manufacturing.

With the advent of building information modeling in the last six years, where the design process involves one or more digital models for architects, engineers, contractors and owners to coordinate the construction together, building components can be more easily pre-fabricated to reduce waste, enhance safety and avoid delays. 

The study, authored by researchers Charles Eastman at the Georgia Tech College of Architecture and Rafael Sacks at Technion, looks at production activities for industries with both off-site and on-site components, and compares their productivity with productivity changes over ten years. 

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