Papers by Keyword: Construction Cost

Abstract: Building materials constitute about 60%-70% of the total cost of construction. Reduction in the use of conventional materials may not be possible; therefore, an alternative solution to use low cost materials would reduce the overall construction cost of a building. Industrial wastes, when recycled and reused as a building materials, not only aid in overcoming disposal problems, but also conserve natural resources, decrease energy use, and reduce pollution caused during manufacturing processes, and consequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Materials such as Copper slag, Phospogypsum and Fly ash, when used as supplements for sand and coarse aggregate in the manufacture of wall materials, reduce the cost of construction considerably. Additionally, construction of buildings using these materials leads to more energy efficient buildings and can gain additional weightage (points) in Green building certification. The aim of this paper is to highlight the cost reduction in using alternative wall material for construction, through detailed analysis in an apartment building in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A comparative study between the different materials used such as, bricks, fly ash blocks and Alternative blocks made of industrial waste (Madhusudanan 2015)) were taken into consideration to assess the unit cost of each material. Similarly, a study of the cost performance between a load bearing structure and a framed structure was made, and it was found that the overall construction cost has a greater impact for a load bearing building when compared to a framed structure.

Abstract: The passive wireless communication as a kind of advanced new technology, has been widely applied in the green energy-saving buildings. It is through the control of building system terminal equipments, data exchange mode and control layer, and update the mechanical and electrical equipment control logic, to achieve the purpose of implementation of green energy-saving renovation project. The use of this technology to radically reduce the construction cost, and not just make the energy consumption of building system control, and a substantial reduction in cable laying, metal used, battery replacement, pollutants brought about by the construction cost. Advanced passive wireless sensor, using energy collection technology, and make full use of indoor light energy in daily life, human activities of mechanical energy, etc., to achieve the purpose of automatic control of the green building system.

Abstract: Construction cost risk management is an essential part of construction cost management,especially in the context of the ‘triple overrun’ that has been rampant across China over the last few years,i.e. the cost overrunning the budget,the budget overrunning the budgetary estimate, and the budgetary estimate overrunning the initial estimate. Since traditional methods of calculating construction reserve funds fail to serve the purpose of curbing the ‘triple overrun’,we deem it necessary to establish a quantitative, rational, and accurate calculation and analytical model to measure basic reserve funds. This paper aims to provide an analytical model based on the VaR technique, where parameters are determined by VaR’s three key factors, and a standard VaR process of analyzing basic reserve funds is set up. The model proves to be effective in our case study when basic reserve funds predicted by the model well match the actual ones,which is shown clearly by the Q-Q plot curves and CDF curves.

Abstract: The cost is one of the four major targets for the project management; this paper introduces the construction cost reliability as an indicator to measure the management level of project cost. Through the statistic analysis of historical data, the comparative analysis about the actual cost data and original planned cost for each unit of work in the finished project is conducted to confirm the probability distribution of cost overrun or cost saving and predict the reliability of cost, and this is applied in a real project case.

Abstract: Project investment is the most important factor in construction. Project-establishment, design, project bidding and construction phases are the basic stages in construction. According to different phases, scientific investment estimation method, cost engineers participating in design, realistic tender sum limit and strictly overall controlling are the validation methods. Eventually, realize the goal of controlling construction cost.

Abstract: Mobile roof structure is a new type of architecture in which part of, or all of the entire roof can be moved or retracted within a short period of time so that the building with movable roof can be used in open or closed states. The time spent by the movable structure in opening or closing generally ranges from 10 to 30 minutes, and it adopts mechanical control. The open efficiency of the structure concerns the economic efficiency of the architecture, and different architectures with distinct functions also have different open efficiencies. However, generally speaking, 75% is the relatively appropriate open rate according to the statistics.

Abstract: Risk is a part of business endeavours because of uncertainty (Flanagan and Norman 1993; Fischer and Jordan 1996). Portfolio theory and capital market theory stipulate that risk consists of two types, First, systematic risk, which cannot be controlled, emanates from external factors such as acts of God, natural disasters, market risk, interest-rate risk, and purchasing-power risk. Second, unsystematic risk, which can be controlled, relates to organization-specific factors such as business risk and financial risk(Fischer and Jordan 1996). These forms of risk are fundamental to the construction and the insurance industries.( Tah et al. 1993) . The construction project is a complex sector which characterized with low productivity, cost and time overruns and conflicts. The major challenges in construction project risk assessment which may attributed to knowledge requirements for determining the level of uncertainty and development of complex models to predict . To identifies the risk factors that influence the cost-effective management, operation, and maintenance of construction project, as well as how and when in the project life cycle the identified risk factors impact to the associated costs .The web- based tool can be used by decision -makers during the pre-planning stage of construction projects to estimate cost and duration implications of various risk occurrence scenarios, determine contingencies and prepare risk management plans . In this research the author considered all key articles in the related research streams in recent 30 years and analyzed the risk management views in order to identify key risk factors and its impact on the construction projects.

Abstract: The construction project is a complex sector which characterized with low productivity, cost and time overruns and conflicts. The major challenges in construction project risk assessment which may attributed to knowledge requirements for determining the level of uncertainty and development of complex models to predict . Portfolio theory and capital market theory stipulate that risk consists of two types, First, systematic risk, which cannot be controlled, emanates from external factors such as acts of God, natural disasters, market risk, interest-rate risk, and purchasing-power risk. Second, unsystematic risk, which can be controlled, relates to organization-specific factors such as business risk and financial risk (Fischer and Jordan 1996).) . To identifies the risk factors that influence the cost-effective management, operation, and maintenance of construction project, as well as how and when in the project life cycle the identified risk factors impact to the associated costs . The identification and design of risk is the first step of risk management. It contain the recognition of potential risk event conditions in a project and the clarification of risk responsibilities. A total of 50 risk factors on construction for stake holders (client , contractor ,consultant ) share projects were identified after conducting an extensive literature survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted from 60 project managers(20 from each category) in all three proficiencies with background experience in buildings ,road and bridges with minimum 15 years experience , to identify the most significant risk factors impact in construction projects . Interviews were conducted face to face, ensuring a 100 percent response rate. The questionnaire was amended by incorporating feedback of the experts to suit the local environments of the construction industry. The weight or rate of each risk factor gained by using a five-point Liker scale from a consolidated conceptual framework of all 50 risk factors identified from the deep literature work . The main aim of these research is to identify ,categorize and ranking common risks, exert management techniques to address those risks , effective risk management and risk status in the construction industry and to help stakeholders to take stock of their ongoing and future projects, with a focus on important risks, their management techniques and barriers to effective implementation of risk management systems.

Abstract: Timber, a traditional construction material that was almost forgotten. Timber structure building got a qualitative leap in structure form, mechanized producing craftmanship and matching products, along with social progress and technology improvement. This paper will summarize modern timber structure forms by comparison with popular constructional material, like concrete and steel, in five aspects including life-cycle energy consumption, structure form, construction cost, construction period, seismic performance. Timber's advantages and disadvantages in architectural design will be listed, which may provide theoretical basis for diversified choice of construction materials in architectural design.

Abstract: On the basis of summarizing the completed structural types of aqueduct both at home and abroad, combined with the structural design of Shuangji River drainage aqueduct in China South-to-north Water Transfer Project (SNETP), the aqueduct body structural form was selected. The analysis and discussion has been done with three typical structure forms of Shuangji River aqueduct, the two mechanical construction schemes by aqueduct-making machine and aqueduct-installing machine have been researched. The results show that the aqueduct with the character of large flow, big section, large loads and gentle gradient should be comprehensive analyzed on the mechanical behavior, construction scheme and construction cost to select the appropriate structural style for improving the quality and efficiency. The results provide valuable reference for designing the similar aqueduct.