Comparative Analysis of Construction Process at Building Sites

Abstract

The accurate measurement of labor productivity data can mean the difference between the success and failure of a building construction project. Due to the sheer diversity and complexity of international building construction practices, minimal research has been performed on comparative labor productivity between countries. In this paper, the authors present a research project that was conducted by comparing the Chinese labor productivity with the U.S. labor productivity in building construction projects. The labor productivity data were collected from different jobsites in the U.S. and China by using a time-study method with established data collection procedures. Furthermore, work sampling in the HVAC system work category was used as a method to gather information about the amount of labor productive and nonproductive work hours spent on construction activities. It is certain that there are many factors affecting productivity in the building construction process. With the lack of timely and effective project quality supervision, construction quality cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, various statistical analysis methods were applied to analyze and compare the collected productivity data from both countries. Findings of this productivity comparison can provide industry practitioners the advancement of knowledge in the Chinese building construction industry and it can support benchmarking and continuous improvement of productivity with a greater efficiency in both the US and Chinese building construction markets.