Pain Points in Timber Construction in Malaysia

Whenever people talk about timber as building material, what comes to my mind is that timber is an expensive building material, it is difficult to control due to the termite attack. While the other people might have the misconception regarding timber’s durability and fire resistance. Although we all agree that timber construction is visually appealing and it is eco-friendly and can benefit health and well-being. However, in Malaysia, there are still many challenges and doubts due to the followings:

1. Lack of skilled worker (The industry mostly rely on foreign experts or local old timber craftman)

2. Lack of building codes and by-laws

3. High cost (due to supply and demand issue, transportation cost, labour cost…)

To encourage the use of timber in construction, it need to put more effort on spreading the awareness and knowledge of timber construction among the contractors, architects and engineers. Moreover, by using IBS system or ready-to-adapt (RTA) system, timber component can be prefabricated off-site in factory so that it is ready to use on site, it helps to reduce the labour work on site. It is believed that timber has great potential in local construction industry as Malaysia has abundant timber resource, not forgetting the effort in sustainable logging and improved forest management.