Labor Productivity on Construction Sites: A Case Study of Biological Wastewater Treatment Plant Construction

Abstract

The production efficiency of labor on construction sites is an important factor for the success of projects. Skills, experience, and training are among the critical factors affecting labor productivity on construction sites. Especially in construction sites where a new construction technique is used, the teams' efficiency is affected by the learning processes. Laborers' unfamiliarity with the new technique can cause time delays and, accordingly, cost overruns. This research examines laborers' challenges in building an unfamiliar structure at construction sites through a case study. With a comprehensive literature review, interactions between laborers' learning process for new structures and construction time estimation were examined, and the case has been evaluated accordingly. It was observed that the time estimation could not be predicted during an unfamiliar construction form such as examined in the field study. This study is aimed to set an example for the construction sites where new productions take place.