Building Egypt 1 – a general indicator cost index for the Egyptian construction industry

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this article is to develop a cost index to serve as a price indicator for the Egyptian construction industry.Design/methodology/approachThe model (Egypt 1 indices) developed for building the indices in this paper has been derived based on the “Engineering News Record” (ENR) indices model with modifications to better suit the Egyptian market. Egypt 1 indices are comprised of three indices, which serve as a general construction price indicator for the construction industry price movement in Egypt. The period analyzed in this research is 11 years (1988 through 1998).FindingsValidation of Egypt 1 indices numbers produced in this paper showed that each index does indeed represent the respective type of building for which it was computed. Further, the analysis of Egypt 1 indices compared to the ENR indices revealed that both indices exhibited trends that are generally similar from the year 1992 up to 1998 (the last year included in this study).Originality/valueThis research has the potential to introduce the use of construction cost indices and to put these into practice. This should help aid contractors and other construction parties operating in Egypt with an adequate tool for pricing and estimation of projects.