The effect of construction labour productivity on project duration and cost analysis

ABSTRACT THE EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTION LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY ON PROJECT DURATION AND COST ANALYSIS Serdar ULUBEYLİ M. Sc Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering Adviser: Asst Prof. Dr. Aynur KAZAZ June 2004, 104 Pages Human resource which is regarded as variable, uncontrollable and the most important production input due to its connecting nature all the production inputs appropriate to the demand, has a strategic role in the productivity increase of any organisations, and this makes it superior in the sectoral competition. With the effective and optimum usage of it, all of the advantages supplied by the productivity growth can be obtained. The optimum usage is just possible by establishing clear and understandable criteria including both literary and numerical for the factors affecting labour. In the present study realised with the purposes mentioned above and consisted of two parts, a survey comprising 16 questions was applied to 82 firms in Turkey, and results was evaluated by means of several statistical methods. In the first part of the study, it is aimed that the factors affecting construction labour productivity is determined and defined, and by examining them in detail some suggestions is made according to the survey results. As a conclusion, the most effective factor group among four groups affecting productivity of labour working in the Turkish construction sector was found as organisational factors. Economical factors, physical factors related with the work and socio-psychological factors are the others, respectively. When 37 factors investigated under these four groups are considered, the most effective ten factors about labour productivity are respectively enumerated as: site management, material management, payments on time, systematic work flow or inplanning, supervision, site layout, work discipline in site, wage amount, occupational education and training, and working at similar activities. In the second part, obtaining and evaluation of the man-day values which are intensively needed in the construction planning and application stages, are aimed. Consequently, it was determined that the Construction Unit Price Analyses no longer produce realistic solutions to labour productivity data like many area, and the assertion that the Analyses have lost its own actuality and validity in this subject was confirmed. In addition, it was shown that there are big differences between the man-day values used by firms. Both of these two parts of this study expose today's level of labour productivity in the Turkish construction industry. In this context, the study will help both sector professionals who may meet with productivity based problems in their site, and researches who may make further investigations in the future. KEY WORDS: Construction industry, labour productivity, motivation, man-day, project duration, project cost. COMMITTEE: Asst. Prof. Dr. Aynur KAZAZ Prof. Dr. Fikret TÜRKER Prof. Dr. Orhan YÜKSEL iv