Cost analysis of continuous flight auger piles construction in Egypt

Abstract

Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piling is widely used in the Egyptian construction industry. There is a dramatic fluctuation in pricing of executing this work package within short periods as a result of unsteady changes in supply-demand equilibrium. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the use of a scientific approach in estimating construction costs. Accordingly, it is crucial to consider the different cost elements of CFA piling construction as a step to reach an accurate and realistic cost estimate to be used by contractors in tendering. This research aims to study these cost elements based on an expert judgment, site observations and statistical analysis in order to develop an effective tool to estimate the total construction cost of the CFA piles in any future project. Expert survey was performed to draw detailed information to construct a cost breakdown structure (CBS) that was used as a basis for developing the proposed cost model. The developed cost model is then validated through the application on fifty two projects. Such projects were carefully selected in different sizes, purposes and locations. Then the collected data were exposed to statistical analysis techniques. An average percentage error of 4.1% was observed upon comparing the estimated costs with the actual costs of these projects. A sensitivity analysis was then performed to recognize the most effective cost factors. The developed recommended model was used by some experienced contractors in the Egyptian market who expressed their satisfaction with the model.