Paul M. Goodrum

The divergence in aggregate and activity estimates of US construction productivity

Discrepancies exist between aggregate and activity productivity measurements in the US construction industry. Multiple studies using aggregate industry measures suggest that construction productivity has declined over the long term. A longstanding problem with the aggregate measures concerns the difficulty of controlling for inflation so as to accurately measure real output. As an alternative, average activity productivity, measured by individual work activities, indicates that construction productivity has increased over the same time period. Activity measurement data have been collected for 200 construction activities over a 22-year time period from commercial estimation manuals used by contractors and owners to estimate the cost and time requirements for construction. This paper examines the discrepancies between aggregate and activity measurements and suggests possible reasons for their existence.

An investigation of corporate approaches to sustainability in the US engineering and construction industry

Sustainability involves focusing on a project’s impact in three areas: (1) environmental; (2) economical; and (3) societal. In reality, companies’ approaches in the three areas are not evenly distributed. A study of current trends in the US construction industry related to the emerging focus on sustainable construction will be of great value for the engineering and construction industry to recognize the differences in corporate approaches to sustainability, for the sake of team alignment. A random cross‐section of 300 companies, consisting of 150 owner companies, 75 contractor companies and 75 design firms representing a variety of industries, was selected from annual company data assembled by the weekly construction news publication Engineering News Record (ENR). To identify sustainability‐related concepts within the context of these company documents, content analyses and chi‐square statistical analyses were performed on the selected companies’ publicly available annual reports and mission/vision/values statements. The primary objectives are to: (1) identify concepts of sustainability that are currently being emphasized within the US engineering and construction industry, possibly at the expense of other concepts; and (2) develop an understanding of the relationships between various company and industry groups related to the fundamental concepts of sustainable construction.

Relationship between Automation and Integration of Construction Information Systems and Labor Productivity

Information technology (IT) has been used to increase automation and integration of information systems on construction projects for over two decades. However, evidence that overall costs have been reduced or project performance has been improved with IT in construction is limited and mostly focused on application specific studies. A comprehensive understanding of the relationship between IT and project performance helps industry practitioners better understand the likely outcomes of implementation of IT application and likewise benefits researchers in improving the effectiveness in their IT development efforts. An opportunity to examine new evidence exists with the emergence of the Construction Industry Institutes Benchmarking and Metrics database on construction productivity and practices. This article presents an analysis of that data to determine if there is a relationship between labor productivity and level of IT implementation and integration. Data from industrial construction projects are used to measure the relationships between the automation and integration of construction information systems with productivity. Using the independent sample t-test, the relationship was examined between jobsite productivity across four trades (concrete, structural steel, electrical, and piping) and the automation and integration of various work functions on the sampled projects. The results showed that construction labor productivity was positively related to the use of automation and integration on the sampled projects.

Model to Predict the Impact of a Technology on Construction Productivity

Although some new technologies promise to improve construction productivity, their ability to deliver is not always realized. Building on a great deal of prior research, a four-stage predictive model was developed and validated to estimate the potential for a technology to have a positive impact on construction productivity. The four stages examine the costs, feasibility, usage history, and technical impact of a technology. The predictive model combines results from historical analyses to formalize how selected technologies with improved construction productivity can be used as a predictor of how future technologies might do the same. Each of the stages of a predictive model was subdivided into a series of categories and questions, which were weighted by importance by using the analytic hierarchy process and historical analysis to generate a performance score for the analyzed technology. The predictive model was then validated by using 74 previous and existing construction technologies. Statistical analysis confirmed that average performance scores produced by the model were significantly different across the categories of successful, inconclusive, and unsuccessful in the actual implementation experience of technologies.

Implementing a multiskilled workforce

Recent studies show the construction industry in the USA is facing a long term labour shortage. Multiskilling has been suggested as a strategy to address this issue by utilizing existing workers more efficiently. Multiskilling decreases the number of workers hired for a project and can improve productivity. Additional benefits include higher income and increased employability of the workforce. To take full advantage of these benefits, the workforce strategy and the planning and scheduling processes of a construction project must be adapted to use multiskilling effectively and efficiently. The multiskilled workforce should be scheduled and organized to maximize the duration of employment for workers, reduce the overall labour requirements and cover the skills combinations required by the project. This research synthesizes and formalizes the methods that successful construction companies are currently applying to implement a multiskilled workforce. A methodology for implementing multiskilling is outlined as well.

An analysis of construction productivity differences between Canada and the United States

Comparisons of industry sectors in advanced economies since the 1960s show that the construction sector has lagged in productivity growth rates, especially in the United States. Although the US and Canadian economies are highly integrated, Canada’s experience differs in key ways. Analysis of these differences offers insight into fundamental construction productivity drivers. Three levels of analyses of construction productivity in the US are provided in this study. The first analysis compared international levels of labour productivity growth. The second compared construction productivity between the US and Canada, and the third analysed cost estimating data from RS Means estimating manuals to measure the changes in labour and partial factor productivity in the US from 1995 to 2009. Statistical significance testing indicates that labour productivity remained nearly constant in the building sub-sector and that partial factor productivity has improved at an annual compound rate of 0.66%. This supports previous findings that US construction has stagnated but is still improving in Canada, with wage differentials and training systems as potential drivers of this difference. While growth rates of productivity seem to decline with higher absolute levels of productivity, there is no evidence that high absolute productivity levels preclude significant growth.

Improving Construction Supply Network Visibility by Using Automated Materials Locating and Tracking Technology

The accumulation of material buffers is commonly perceived within the construction industry as an effective means of shielding a project from the risks associated with uncertainty in the supply network. Much of the uncertainty arises out of a lack of visibility throughout the construction supply network, in which visibility refers to the level of awareness of the overall state of the supply network. The integration of Automated Materials Locating and Tracking Technologies (AMLTT) within the construction supply network presents a viable solution to this problem. This article presents the results of an investigation that examined the potential for AMLTT to increase work opportunities at the site level as a result of increased supply-network visibility and in turn reduce the dependency on material buffers. The investigation was completed by using a modeling and simulation approach grounded on a solid foundation of field data and experience. The results presented here are increasingly important as leaders in other industry sectors are beginning to report tangible benefits as a result of increased supply-network visibility as a result of the integration of AMLTT within their organizations’ supply networks.

Analysis of the benefits and costs of construction craft training in the United States based on expert perceptions and industry data

The case for or against craft training in construction from the perspective of constructors, owners, governments, workers, and other stakeholders is not completely clear, despite several studies to date. The business case for investing in construction craft training is examined from the employer’s perspective on a construction project. A survey of 93 training directors and construction managers from throughout the US construction industry was used to collect quantitative estimates regarding craft training benefits and learning rates. Using these data, a benefit to cost ratio was calculated for a hypothetical typical industrial project (the CII model plant). According to the analyses, the estimated benefit to cost ratios range from 1.5:1 to 3.0:1. While these ratios are based on expert opinion, the results were triangulated with actual data from company training and project performance records as well as results from other research studies. The estimated benefit to cost ratios on the study’s hypothetical industrial project are sensitive to the craft workers’ employment duration, assuming that the training is provided by a single employer. Training durations are likely to be longer under a ‘community training’ model in which firms collaborate to sponsor training and workers have greater opportunities to continue in their training programme as they move from firm to firm. Nevertheless, the results contribute to a growing body of evidence that an investment in craft training is economically attractive for an employer, even over a typical project life cycle.

The effect of time on safety incentive programs in the US construction industry

Recently, safety incentive programs have been under scrutiny by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration for their effectiveness to improve construction safety performance. Most of the previous research on construction safety incentives focused on anecdotal evidence examining the merits and demerits of safety incentives. Meanwhile, the long‐term effect of safety incentive programs on construction safety remains uncertain. This research examined how key safety performance indicators changed over time in the presence of safety incentive programs in the US construction industry using primary survey data. The papers key finding is that the effectiveness of safety incentive programs does diminish with time, as suspected by earlier experts and managers in the US construction industry.

The impact of management practices on mechanical construction productivity

Over recent decades, sporadic advancements in machinery and construction materials have to some extent increased construction productivity in the United States. However, there is evidence that additional productivity improvement opportunities exist. One way to improve direct work rates and likewise the potential to increase construction craft productivity is through better planning and management. Utilizing a dataset from the Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking and Metrics programme with 41 sampled projects, the relationship between the level of implementation of different management programmes and mechanical craft productivity is examined. The implementation of several management programmes, including pre‐project planning, team building, automation and integration of information systems and safety had a positive correlation with improved mechanical productivity. In fact, the statistical results show that projects with advanced implementation of the selected management programmes experienced significant mechanical productivity advantages over projects with weak implementation.