Application Of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) For Residential Construction Project: A Case Study
Monaben Prakashbhai Prajapati , Neetu B. Yadav and Neeraj D. Sharma
Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) is a scheduling tool which is used for planning and managing projects based on the resources that are required to execute project tasks within predefined time and budget. In this study, LYNX based step by step process of scheduling has been prescribed for residential construction projects. The detailed process of scheduling starts with identification of tasks, resources, activities, calculation of labour productivity, labour assignment and finally assigning duration for each activity based on resource availability. Lastly, this study prepared the final CCPM schedule for a particular set of activities
Evaluation Of Quality Assessment Framework In Indian Building Construction Projects
Marimuthu K , Benny Raphael , Ananthanarayanan K and Ekambaram Palaneeswaran
Quality is one of the most important parameters for project performance evaluation. It is not considered as important as time and cost in practice, which results in a half-hearted attempt to achieve quality at project sites. However, during the operational and maintenance period, the facility may deteriorate faster than expected if it is not planned and executed well. Achieving high project performance in time, cost and quality altogether is a complicated process. However, it is an essential facet of today's competitive project environment. Quality is often evaluated in a subjective manner and assessment varies from person to person. Because of this reason, the stakeholders usually take advantage on the parameters of quality. The purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) identify the critical factors influencing quality performances, and (2) check the applicability of an existing quality assessment framework, viz. Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS) for building construction projects in India. An E-mail based online questionnaire survey was conducted to rank the critical factors influencing quality performances using three indices, i.e., relative importance index, frequency index, and severity index. The top seven critical factors identified are: (1) project supervision, (2) site inspection and testing, (3) Project Management (PM) competency, (4) clear objectives/stakeholder focus, (5) teamwork, (6) quality culture, and (7) project planning and scheduling process. Cronbach's alpha value was greater than 0.7, which indicated a high reliability of the data. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was 0.811 between the factors of project supervision, site inspection and testing. The independent sample t-test indicated that there existed a significant difference in the mean values of structural, architectural, and mechanical & electrical building components between the Indian context and CONQUAS model, t=6.284 > 1.9771 (critical value), p<0.05. Mann-Whitney U test also indicated that there was a significant difference in the building components across the group. The implication of this study would help in building a common ground for quality assessments among the stakeholders by adopting existing models.
Building construction; CONQUAS; Quality; Quality assessment; Quality management
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Research Articles
Housing Price Dynamics: An Empirical Evidence From India
Vandana Bhavsar , Harish Sundararaman , Nirmal Yemde and Akshay Daga
With an aim to study the interrelationship of the housing markets in India, the present study empirically examines various demand side and supply side macroeconomic factors affecting house prices in the short run and long run. This study investigates the causal relationship between house price and macroeconomic variables in India using quarterly data (2009 Q1: 2016 Q2). The case of India is intriguing and suitable, as the Indian economy is passing through a rapid phase of urbanisation combined with positive demographics, rising income levels, and increasing number of metropolitan cities. The paper tries to explore – “what macro factors explain housing prices?” and consequently redressing gap in the extant literature. The results of the Autoregressive distributed model indicate that all variables are co-integrated in the long run. Findings suggest that private final consumption expenditure and construction cost are significantly related with house price in the long run and short run. However, housing loans affect house price in India in the short run only. Interestingly, inflation affects the house prices positively in the short run, whereas it affects negatively in the long run. The findings hold significant implications for policy makers, government and investors since the enhancement of knowledge about the house price dynamics and working of housing markets in the country would help formulate housing policies at the macro level.
House price index; Private consumption expenditure/Gdp; House loans; Granger causality
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Research Articles
A Study On Adaptability Of Alternative Walling Materials In Building Construction
Rajput B. L. , Agarwal A. L. and Pawar A. D.
The aesthetic design of the building and use of construction materials have to correspond to local building traditions and to the user's way of living. Appropriate technology is important when discussing building construction materials. The use of technology has to be in accordance with the local conditions, and at the same time be durable, reliable and functionally built. In construction, various building materials are used to construct different elements of the structure. In the past few years, the market has provided varieties of alternative construction materials with better functional performance, economical, faster and safer construction. Response of the customers is very slow, in adapting to and accepting new building materials, unless and until these materials are used/ practiced in the real-life building projects, rather than believing and accepting based on laboratory test results. In any building structure, construction of partition walls is a major work. In this study, various alternative materials available in the market are technically compared along with their adaptability under different building situations. This study will help the builder to select appropriate materials for partition wall to enhance aesthetics and building functionality.
Adaptability; Alternative materials; Building; Construction
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Research Articles
Investigation of On-site Productivity Variations In A Large Scale Residential Project Using Control Charts
Debabrata De , Akshat Medatwal , Saransh Gupta , Appalabattula Suryadhar, Swapnil Jain and Shobha Ramalingam
Poor productivity in construction is a major concern for an organization. Lower productivity rate can delay the project and lead to cost overruns. This could be due to technical issues such as incomplete drawings, non-availability of specified material, wrong distribution of resources, improper sequencing of activities or process related issues such as time consumed to do repetitive tasks; improper method of doing the task and so on, leading to variations in the process and productivity rate. The objective of this study is to investigate the variation in productivity in the process and identify areas for improvement, for repetitive tasks in large scale residential projects in India. Focusing on the process, data was collected for concrete piling in three residential towers in Kolkata. The data was analyzed using statistical process control techniques such as the control chart. The findings highlighted the variations in the process. The special causes for the variation were further investigated through records maintained at the site office and by interviewing respective personnel on the project. The identified factors and the variation in the process are expected to guide in the direction of productivity improvement for similar residential projects.
Productivity; Process variations; Statistical process control; Control charts; Construction
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Research Articles
Implementation Of Value Stream Mapping For Building Finishes
Aneetha Vilventhan and Rajadurai R
Value stream mapping is a lean tool used in manufacturing industry to enhance the process flow by adding value and eliminating non-value-added steps in the process. Much research has been carried out in implementing VSM in construction practices in different perceptions. This paper brings out the application of VSM in improving the process and reducing the waste in the building finishes. This paper reports a case study in the finishing stage of a hospital building for implementation of VSM. The finishing activity in the process flow is monitored. The current state and the future state of the process are mapped to improve the process efficiency and reduce the waste associated with it.
Value stream mapping (VSM); Lean construction; Building finishes; Case study
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Research Articles
Capital Structure And Financial Performance: Evidences From Indian Real Estate Sector
Sudhir Ambekar, Dipayan Roy, Anand Prakash and Vishal Singh Patyal
One of the most important decisions for any firm is choice of financing for its investment needs. Firms can use internal sources such as retained earnings or external sources such as borrowings from financial institutions, and issue of stock to finance their investments. The mix of these external sources of financing is referred to as the capital structure of a firm. It is one of the most studied topics historically but there is a need to determine the impact of capital structure on the financial performance of real estate firms. It is a challenging task owing to the presence of different sources of finance in the real estate sector. The present study focuses on capital structure, profitability and firm valuation. The paper utilizes the panel data regression model to analyze the data of six years on 35 listed real estate firms in India. The selection of fixed effect or random effect for this regression is based on Hausman test. The empirical finding suggests a significant relationship between capital structure and firm performance. It has a direct relationship with the measures of profitability whereas an indirect relationship with the firm value. The findings may be useful for the real-estate developers to determine their capital structure for improving their financial performance. Further, this study may be useful for investors, customers and other stakeholders in deciding their investments in real estate firms.
Panel data analysis; Capital structure; Profitability; Tangibility; Firm valuation; Real estate
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Research Articles
Qualitative Content Analysis Using NVivo For Research In Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure And Project Management
Nilesh Agarchand Patil , Boeing Laishram and Hake S. L.
There are various Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) tools for qualitative data analysis. Amongst the CAQDAS tools, NVivo is used the most to store, organize and analyze the qualitative data from the literature as well as the field study in various types of research. NVivo also seems well suited for many of the problems faced in Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure and Project (CRIP) management research, but its uses are limited in research in these areas. This article explains the systematic method of Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) from literature review as data source for research in CRIP management using NVivo10 as a CAQDAS tool. The method includes the five steps procedure of QCA through literature review to develop the grounded theory in NVivo10. The five steps of QCA include: (i) importing and classification of the documents; (ii) coding of the data; (iii) displaying of the data; (iv) analysis of the data; and (v) developing a theory. Though the example used in this paper is for identification of sustainability barriers in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development, the emphasis is on the general principles to show how various CRIP management research topics could be explored using this method. The article elaborates the coding procedure of QCA through open and axial coding which are used as free and tree nodes respectively in NVivo. The study also presents the guidelines for applying NVivo as CAQDAS tool for QCA through literature to construct the grounded theory in the field of research in CRIP management and related research areas. The paper presents a critical insight on application of NVivo to develop the grounded theory using literature review in CRIP management research which has not been the focus in the majority of previous research studies.
An Exploratory Case Study On Communication Management In Indian Building Construction Projects
Ayushi Srivastava , Gangadhar Mahesh and V. Anand
Communication management, as an essential part of project management is relatively a growing field in Indian construction industry. With an increase in complex projects as a result of booming economy, it is important to explore and establish the present state of project communication and communication management in Indian construction industry. The need is to investigate and analyse the major issues faced by the projects and build a suitable approach to communication management. In this context, the case study presented here explores an ongoing critical project which involves construction of a commercial building in Bangalore for a reputed IT company. The project is a fixed lump sum contract between the client and the general contractor, and a management contract between the client and the Project Management Consultant. The study is made with the perspective of the contractor and uses semi structured interviews with various stakeholders of project and site personnel of the contractor. The project is currently at mid of the contract duration. The study is aimed at recognising the underlying basis of communication management in Indian context and identifying critical issues. It also provides insight to the level of awareness, skills and approach to handling communication in a complex Indian construction project.
Communication management; Indian construction industry
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A Case Study On Wastage Consideration In Building Interior Projects
Murali Jagannathan
In the age of increasing Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), business houses in India, are developing swanky office spaces, with high end finishes meeting international standards. Small time interior finishing contractors, are now entering into mainstream contracts, with major clients in order to deliver high end finishing solutions. This has necessitated having in place, an effective contract management process, within the organizations of owners and building interior contractors. Building interior projects are more vulnerable to disputes than the projects that involve pure civil works because of a) interfacing issues with other trades b) an individual's perception about the appearance that may lead to frequent changes in colour, texture, orientation etc. c) financial strengths of small time contractors and d) the very nature of materials involved in high-end interior works which are fragile, expensive and generally imported. These additional complexities add another dimension to the task of managing such contracts. This case study illustrates one such scenario, that revolves around an issue pertaining to consideration of wastage, in the bill of quantities. The learning from the case would help us to understand the subtle complexities involved, in managing building interior projects.
Interior; Wastage; Quantity; Rate; Building
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Factors Affecting Delay In Real Estate Projects In India
Ravindranadh Chowdary K , Lalit B Limbani , Mayank M Kaushik , Namrata S and Neha Pradha
The Real Estate sector is one of the most globally recognized sectors. In India, Real Estate sector is the largest employer after agriculture and is expected to touch US$ 180 billion by 2020. With sanctioning of the construction of affordable housing for urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, the real estate sector in urban area has been in great demand. Also, the Government of India has introduced Real Estate Regulation Act (RERA) to control over the issues raised by buyers pertaining to the timely completion of projects and registration of property etc. The objective of this study is to identify the factors of delay by collecting data from ongoing projects, analysing and comparing them with results coming out of the case study. A questionnaire survey and a case study on an ongoing project were used for analysis in this paper. The questionnaire survey was used to collect responses from working professionals in the Real Estate industry in India. Ranking of the delay factors is done using the Relative Importance Index (RII) based on the importance of a factor perceived by the respondents. The Factor Analysis using IBM SPSS software package was carried out to consolidate the 46 delay factors into 6 major factors. Further, a case study on a live project was conducted to identify the delay factors and compare them with the results arising from the questionnaire survey.
Real estate; Delay; Relative Importance Index (RII); IBM SPSS
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Research Articles
Green Building Constr 102 uction Management And Its Integration With Building Information Modelling (BIM)
Avinash Purandare , R. A. Sandeep , Mansham Sharma , Aman Lawania and Yash Nagda
The purpose of this study is to consider new buildings construction, and methods of retrofitting existing buildings, while satisfying low energy criteria. This means improving energy efficiency of buildings and energy systems, developing sustainable building concepts, and promoting renewable energy sources. 'Green' or 'sustainable' buildings use key resources like energy, water, materials, and land more efficiently than normal buildings. With more natural light and better air quality, green buildings typically contribute to improved employee health, comfort, and productivity. A green building depletes the natural resources to the minimum extent during its construction and operation. Our study also includes implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM), along with green concept, so as to visualize the problems and risks, which are involved in the project at various stages. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a process that supports virtual design and construction methodologies. With the help of BIM we can reduce the cost of wastage to a large extent. By using BIM the productivity increases, which in turn reduces the operation cost of construction. The aim of our study is to manage the construction of green buildings using building information modelling tools, and their timely completion within minimum possible cost. It also includes, minimizing the demand of non-renewable resources, maximizing the utilization efficiency of these resources, when in use, and to maximize the reuse, recycling, and utilization of renewable resources, as this increases the use of efficient building materials and construction practices. It suggests method of optimising the use of on-site sources and sinks by bio-climatic architectural practices; using minimum energy to power itself, using efficient equipment to meet its lighting, air-conditioning, and other needs. It suggests methods to maximize the use of renewable sources of energy, using efficient waste and water management practices, and to provide comfortable and hygienic indoor working conditions.
Construction management; Green building; Building information modelling
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