Knowing what is going on—a smart contract for modular construction

Abstract

This research aims to develop an automatic incentive–penalty enforcement system for modular construction. Smart contract rules were developed for a project of 120 prefabricated bath units. The results show that the smart contract can automatically enforce rewards and penalties for all 19 scenarios. The findings can help project managers detect and reject any inappropriate or malicious operations deviated from predefined rules efficiently. The results show that if the prefabricated bathroom unit fabricator can perform at the highest reliability level following the smart contract rules, the project can save 4.7% overall cost compared with the benchmark scenario. The findings will be beneficial to modular construction project by ensuring efficient monitoring, motivating reliable performance, and improving productivity and project documentation.