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- All Subjects: Commercial leases
- Creators: Grau, David
- Creators: Ford, Emily Lucile
- Status: Published
Description
Productivity in the construction industry is an essential measure of production efficiency and economic progress, quantified by craft laborers' time spent directly adding value to a project. In order to better understand craft labor productivity as an aspect of lean construction, an activity analysis was conducted at the Arizona State University Palo Verde Main engineering dormitory construction site in December of 2016. The objective of this analysis on craft labor productivity in construction projects was to gather data regarding the efficiency of craft labor workers, make conclusions about the effects of time of day and other site-specific factors on labor productivity, as well as suggest improvements to implement in the construction process. Analysis suggests that supporting tasks, such as traveling or materials handling, constitute the majority of craft labors' efforts on the job site with the highest percentages occurring at the beginning and end of the work day. Direct work and delays were approximately equal at about 20% each hour with the highest peak occurring at lunchtime between 10:00 am and 11:00 am. The top suggestion to improve construction productivity would be to perform an extensive site utilization analysis due to the confined nature of this job site. Despite the limitations of an activity analysis to provide a complete prospective of all the factors that can affect craft labor productivity as well as the small number of days of data acquisition, this analysis provides a basic overview of the productivity at the Palo Verde Main construction site. Through this research, construction managers can more effectively generate site plans and schedules to increase labor productivity.
ContributorsFord, Emily Lucile (Author) / Grau, David (Thesis director) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
In this era of high-tech computer advancements and tremendous programmable computer capabilities, construction cost estimation still remains a knowledge-intensive and experience driven task. High reliance on human expertise, and less accuracy in the decision support tools render cost estimation error prone. Arriving at accurate cost estimates is of paramount importance because it forms the basis of most of the financial, design, and executive decisions concerning the project at subsequent stages. As its unique contribution to the body of knowledge, this paper analyzes the deviations and behavior of costs associated with different construction activities involved in commercial office tenant improvement (TI) projects. The aim of this study is to obtain useful micro-level cost information of various construction activities that make up for the total construction cost of projects. Standardization and classification of construction activities have been carried out based on Construction Specifications Institute’s (CSI) MasterFormat® division items. Construction costs from 51 office TI projects completed during 2015 and 2016 are analyzed statistically to understand the trends among various construction activities involved. It was found that the interior finishes activities showed a much higher cost of construction, and a comparatively higher variation than the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) trades. The statistical analysis also revealed a huge scope of energy saving measures that could be achieved in such TI projects because of the absence of energy management systems (EMS) found in 66% of the projects.
ContributorsGhosh, Arunabho (Author) / Grau, David (Thesis advisor) / Ayer, Steven (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016