ACCURATE ESTIMATING ON LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN SRI LANKAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Amarasekera E. A. L. S. B DEPARTMENT OF BUiLDiWG ECONOMICS Faculty of Architecture UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA. University of Moratuwa 94528 M.Sc. Dissertation 2010 ACCURATE ESTIMATING ON LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY IN SRI LANKAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Ethauda Arachchige Lalantha Sujeevan Benedict Amarasekera Department of Building Economics University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE *-> $ £ JANUARY 2010 94528 Dedication To my parents A Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Science in Project Management Declaration] I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, it contains no materials previously published or written by another person nor material which, to a substantial extent, has been accepted for the award of any other degree of diploma of a University of other institution of higher learning, except where an acknowledgement is made in the text. Amarasekera E. A. L. S. B 2na February 2010 I hereby acknowledge that Mr. E. A. L. S. B. Amarasekera has followed the dissertation process set by the Department of Building Economics. Prof. R. Rameezdeen Dissertation Supervisor 0<\ | o-x^o\D Date Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 2 1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3 1.3 WHAT IS MEANT BY LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY 5 CHAPTER TWO 2.1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 8 2.2 INDICES DEVELOPED BY OTHER COUNTRIES TO MEASURE LABOUR 9 PRODUCTIVITY 2.2.1 UNIT PRICE ANALYSIS DEVELOPED BY TURKEY 9 2.2.2 TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY (TFP) MEASUREMENT 10 IN SINGAPORE 2.2.3 LABOUR ESTIMATE FACTOR 11 2.2.4 PRODUCTIVITY TOOL TIME DEVELOPED BY CANADA 11 2.3 FACTORS AFFECTING LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AS PERCEIVED BY DIFFERENT COUNTRIES 12 2.4 EFFECTS ON JOB SIZE IN PRODUCTIVITY 15 2.4.1 PRODUCTIVE LABOUR YIELD 17 2.4.2 UTILIZATION OF ON-SITE WORKER'S TIME 18 2.5 LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY STUDY IN HIGH RISE BUILDING PROJECTS 20 2.5.1 SITE MANAGEMENT 2.5.2 WORKING SCHEDULES 2.5.3 WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS 21 22 23 CHAPTER THREE 3.1 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 28 3.2 CASE STUDY RESEARCH ELEMENTS 29 3.2.1 MASONRY BLOCK WORK 30 3.2.2 PLASTERING 31 3.2.3 TILING 32 3.2.4 HIGH RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING 34 3.2.5 MEDIUM RISE BUILDING 35 3.2.6 LOW RISE HOUSING COMPLEX 35 CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 CASE STUDY ONE- MONITORING OF HRS PER UNIT ON BUILDING TRADES 37 4.1.1 RESEARCH RESULTS -CASE STUDY ONE 37 4.2 CASE STUDY TWO - MEASURING TOOL TIME IN BUILDING TRADES 44 4.2.1 INTRODUCTION TO TOOL TIME 44 4.2.1.1 Supportive Non Tool Time 44 4.2.1.2 Non Supportive Non Tool Time 45 4.2.1.3 Non Tool Time Due To Idling 45 4.2.2 RESEARCH RESULTS- CASE STUDY TWO 48 ii It ft LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Percentage of time Allocation Labour 19 Table 2.2 Categorisation of Contractors in each country 20 Table 2.3 - Contractor Population in Each Country 21 Table 4.1 - Quantity and Hrs per Unit Measurement Results 38 Table 4.2- Tool time Results 48 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2-1: Illustrative Relationship between Productivity Index and Job Size 16 Figure 4.1 - Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Block Work 39 Figure 4.2 - Un Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Block Work 39 Figure 4.3 - Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Plaster Work 40 Figure 4.4 - Un Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Plaster Work 40 Figure 4.5 - Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Tiling Work 41 Figure 4.6 - Un Skilled Labour Hrs/Unit Tiling Work 41 Figure 4.7 - Labour Rate Analysis Block Work 42 Figure 4.8 - Labour Rate Analysis Plaster Work 43 Figure 4.9 - Labour Rate Analysis Tiling Work 43 Figure 4 . 1 0 - Tool Time Results Block Work 49 Figure 4 . 1 1 - Tool Time Results Plaster Work 49 Figure 4 . 1 2 - Tool Time Results Tiling Work 50 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UPA _ Unit price Analysis TFP-Total Factor Productivity UK-United Kingdom Hrs- Hours Sqm- Squire Meter Qty- Quantity Acknowledgement I express sincere thanks to my dissertation supervisor Prof. R. Rameezdeen Prof. Building Economics in the Department of Building Economics, University of Moratuwa for his guidance, instructions, comments and encouragement given to me in order to make this dissertation a reality. Without him this report would never have been materialized. 1 extend my gratitude to the Dean of Faculty of Architecture, Head of Department of Building Economics, Course Coordinator / M.Sc. (PM) and all the lecturers of M.Sc. (PM) course of the Department of Building Economics for their guidance and support to complete the report. I wish to express my sincere thanks to my wife Gayani for her encouragement, and my daughter little Amasha bearing with me on being away from them while I was working on this research vii ABSTRACT Sri Lankan Construction Industry is greatly concerned about Labour Productivity. Estimating labour accurately has become predominantly a difficult task in the industry. Literature survey was conducted to ascertain indices developed by other countries to measure labour productivity, Factors affecting labour productivity etc.. Case Study research was carried out in Three buildings types Namely High Rise, Medium Rise and Low Rise categories in relation to Cement Block Work, Plastering and Tiling trades. Hrs per Unit Measurements together with Novel Tool Time Analysis Techniques were used in conducting case studies. All parameters pertaining to the labour study were kept equal in all three building types during the case study research, but the study carried our in open environment where no controls have been introduced. Research suggests that single labour rate is not meaningful for every eventuality in construction. It was found that the Best Tool time in other words Best Productivity exists in Medium Rise Buildings, and the Least Productivity recorded in High Rise Building projects. Average Productivity was evident in Low Rise Buildings. Keywords: Labour Productivity, Tool |Time, Construction Industry viii Accurate Estimating on Labour Productivity in Sri Lankan Construction Industry INTRODUCTION Labour productivity is studied in this report in extensive manner by way of case studies in different perspectives focusing the attention on how the labour behaves in different types of projects. Three types of building projects were selected and studied the behavior pattern of very useful construction trades to find out a common relationship of them with respect to the project type. Buildings are categorized into High Rise, Medium Rise and Low Rise in the study and Hol low Cement block work, Cement Plaster and Laying of tiles were studied in relation to labour productivity in the three building types identified. Hrs per unit measurement of the trades as identified has been studied for a period of six months to devise the behavior pattern on skilled and unskilled labour. Further a novel Tool Time analysis technique too has been conducted in the three building categories in the same trades to further strengthen the research findings of the Hrs per unit measurement if any as an alternative methodology. Tool Time analysis technique is extensively elaborated in this report in Chapter 4 Chapter One while deals with the definitions of the key areas of the study chapter two will elaborate the studies carried out by various other researches on this subject. Chapter Three will illustrate the Case Study elements, research limitations and their characteristics. Organisation culture of which the case study was based on also explained in this chapter. Chapter Four will focus on the two types of case studies carried out and their results in explanative manner. Most of the results have been illustrated in graphical form for easy understating. Research findings and further research hints are explained in the last chapter. Lalantha Amarasekera