Site Factors Affecting Construction Cost of Heavy Civil Projects

Bad Weather Condition

Bad weather, such as persistent precipitation and a limited work season, is one of the key site conditions that can raise construction costs. Construction Costs and Site Factors Bad weather during construction causes difficulty and damages parts of the project or equipment, resulting in an increase in construction costs. Access to the Construction Site is Difficult Another element that raises construction costs is difficult accessibility. Construction of temporary roads to transfer materials, equipment, and workers to the construction site is an example of cost increases caused by poor project access. If the construction is taking place in a remote location, there is a good chance that there will be a labour shortage. As a result, labourers are obliged to commute from other locations, which plainly increases the cost of labour.

In addition, the expense of transporting equipment and materials will raise building costs.Construction Site in the Wilderness: Bringing personnel from distant locations and transferring materials and equipment to a remote project site raises building costs Short-Term Contract Construction costs may rise due to greater labour and equipment costs if the contract time is short. This is due to the fact that night shifts demand labourers to work for longer periods of time and equipment to be used for longer periods of time. Requirements for Off-Site Disposal This will result in higher transportation and waste disposal costs. Traffic Issues Another site aspect that leads to an increase in project building costs is traffic challenges and significant traffic control in an urban context.

Difficulty in Accessing the Construction Site

The completion of borrow pit criteria takes a long time and is expensive. Borrowing materials for construction would have an impact on the environment, making compliance with various environmental rules difficult. Excavation Near a Groundwater Level That Is Too High Excavations near high-level ground water, such as those next to a river, stream, or lake. As a result, the difficulty of excavation operations would increase, and construction costs will rise. Restrictions on the development of the construction site Restrictions on how the building site can be developed will have an impact not only on the equipment used in construction but also on the rate of production. As a result, the cost of building will rise.

Working-hour restrictions will result in an increase in the number of working days. Working hours may be restricted in residential areas. As a result of the constraints on working hours, the cost of building will rise if the contractor is unable to use daylight for construction. Restrictions on the amount of noise in residential areas Limiting the amount of noise produced by using construction equipment: noise restrictions will influence the equipment types chosen. As a result, certain equipment may be chosen whose operation is more expensive, such as diesel pumps being prohibited from being used for dewatering excavation in residential areas and more expensive pumps being required.

Short Contract Period

Contractors, real estate developers, and construction financiers are all concerned about the cost of building. The cost of construction is a primary concern for many construction careers. Project managers, for example, hire or have a cost estimating professional on their team to measure and manage the construction project’s estimated cost. For many owners and developers, the accuracy of cost estimating reports is critical in determining the financial risk of a project and the long-term performance of their investment. The cost of construction is merely a portion of the entire cost of constructing a property. A significant amount of the entire development cost is spent on land acquisition, planning, feasibility studies, and navigating the entitlement process. However, construction is a time-consuming process.

The final substantial capital investment before the asset’s utility and/or return on investment are realised by the property owners and management. The real estate pro forma will be affected by whether the developer met or exceeded their building cost target. Cost estimate professionals are called upon before construction begins to ensure that their aims are attainable and represent reality. Forecasting future building costs is difficult, but anyone with basic research abilities can acquire a good idea of construction cost patterns and prepare accordingly by knowing the concepts and forces that influence them. While there are many models in the industry and academia, there are three primary components to building cost at the most basic level.

Limits on Working Hours

This isn’t the only way that people classify construction cost variables. Most cost estimating professionals divide a project’s overall cost into three components: direct cost, indirect cost, and markup. The difference between the two models is that labour and materials are considered direct expenses, overhead is considered indirect, and profit is considered markup. The two building cost breakdown models serve different reasons. Cost estimators and project managers utilise the latter since it suits their budget management demands. The first model presented in this article is beneficial for cost factor analysis, which is the process of determining the trends and economic drivers that influence construction costs.

Because each component is affected by unique market forces or performs differently depending on where we are in the market cycle, the Labor-Materials-O&P breakdown works well in cost factor analysis. The elements that influence each component of building cost are summarised below. Construction labour include all man-hours spent on a construction project, from project owner supervision to subcontractor apprentices. Labor costs in construction are driven by three key aspects from a bird’s eye view: Productivity is the one component that project managers have the most control over out of the three. This includes pairing the right trained workforce with the relevant job opportunities.

Construction Labor Cost Factors

Many construction management organisations develop and publish productivity management approaches, such as how to handle absenteeism and overtime, worker morale, and how to schedule concurrent operations on the job site. When productivity is mismanaged, it frequently leads to construction delays, which can drastically escalate the project’s cost. Typically, stakeholders will file delay claims in order to recoup such costs. With a few exceptions, most construction nowadays is dependent on the labour force available in the construction region. Demand-supply curves are presumably familiar to everyone who has attended a microeconomics class. In summary, construction employee wages will rise or fall based on the amount of work available and the level of competition contractors and subcontractors face.

There is no single labour pool for construction – there are many different contractor trades and professions, some of which exclusively work on specific sorts of projects (usually called a construction sector or market segments). Depending on where the project is located, some professions have trade unions, which affects the cost. Cost estimators typically have a thorough understanding of which contractor trades can work on a planned construction project as well as information on local labour rates. When a market becomes “hot,” the labour supply may be outstripped by demand – as it is in some regions such as California – and the project owner may be forced to hire contractors from nearby areas to complete the work. Of course, they’ll end up together.

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