Implementing Life Cycle Costing in Malaysian Construction Industry: A Review

Abstract

Globally, the construction industry is one sector that contributes to economic growth in Malaysia. The construction industry is developing rapidly and become one of the backbones of the country compared with other developing countries in the world. As developing countries are now moving towards sustainable development is in line with the 9th Malaysia Plan, development should be built to meet current and future needs for achieving sustainability of economic development, social and environmental responsibility for the prosperity without compromising the needs of future generations. Therefore, to ensure the government's objective was achieved construction industry must implement the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) method to construct the structures and infrastructure projects that it will not cause losses to the industry itself and government. Each stage of construction project begins with planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and demolishes the project and it cost should be considered to ensure the overall project costs as are known. Through this LCC, factors and maintenance costs for a building products accounted at the design stage to obtain a more accurate projection of the cost. This paper will describe the LCC as a vital element in all sectors of the construction industry because this method can drive quality improvement by taking into account the cost of a comprehensive project. The aim of this paper is to understand the LCC for the construction industry in Malaysia expecially in maintenance phase. Secondly is to identify the process of LCC in buildings construction and last but not least is recommending that appropriate measures to implement the LCC in the construction industry in Malaysia. The main sources of the literature research will be taken through articles, journals, references books in the resources centre and internet search. Hopefully the implementation of LCC in the construction industry in Malaysia could be accessed and used for research reference by future researcher and as reference materials for the construction management industry in Malaysia.