Lean construction approach from design to implementation: A study on residential construction sector in antalya

The construction industry has a great impact on Turkey`s economy as in all the countries` economy. When the industry structure is examined, it is seen that the residential constructions are dominant on the sector. The residential construction, which is generally dominated by small and middle-sized companies, is managed by relatively traditional methods; in addition to that time and sources, wastes are the burden for the industry and therefore the country`s economy. This thesis aims to analyze the attitude of the firms in residential sector from the customer perspective, to assess the lean construction approach to solve the problems faced by the sector, and to introduce recommendations that can be applied in the sector to construction firms. Within this context, a potential customer survey has been conducted in order to assess the customer expectations in Antalya, and in order to determine the working styles of the firms in the residential sector, a contractor questionnaire have been made to the companies operating in the center and districts of Antalya. Depending on the data obtained from the customer survey, new questions have been added to the contractor questionnaire to evaluate how companies analyze the customers` expectations. Finally, a survey has been conducted to customers who had bought from a pilot project to understand the contractor company`s approach and how accurate their analysis to meet their customers` expectations. In addition to that, the extra costs incurred due to errors, wastes, and deviations in the project have been calculated. In the lights of the results obtained from the survey and questionnaire, the approach of small and middle-sized companies in the residential construction sector has been analyzed; corrective actions and solutions have been established based on the lean construction approach for the problems.