Labour productivity in building construction: A field study

This paper describes a field study conducted over a period of 11-months on labour productivity observed during the construction of a new university campus in Cairo, Egypt. The campus is being built on 127 acres and the field study was conducted during the construction of two main buildings; each of 20,000 m 2 built up area. The study utilized work sampling (WS), craftsman questionnaire (CQ), and foreman delay survey (FDS) methods to analyze labour productivity of three indicative and labour-intensive trades, namely formwork, masonry work, and HVAC duct installation. The results were also compared to studies conducted in the USA in 1977 and in 2004 and revealed close similarities. The percentage of productive time for the first and the latter study were 32% and 29% respectively, whereas the current study revealed about 34%.