Effect of Buildability on Labor Productivity: A Practical Quantification Approach

Notwithstanding technological advancements, construction continues to be a labor-intensive industry, and labor productivity remains the industry’s predominant determinant of performance. Numerous factors influence labor productivity, but buildability is among the most significant. Nevertheless, one of the barriers, and perhaps the most important to the implementation of the buildability concept, is the difficulty in measuring its tangible benefits to the construction industry; hence, the dearth of quantitative related research reported in the literature. Using a practical approach, this study has determined the relationship between relevant buildability factors and formwork labor productivity of building floors. The intermittent observation technique was applied to collect the data from 72 residential, office, and commercial buildings located in Kuwait. The factors explored included (1) variability of beam sizes in the floor, (2) usable floor area, (3) number of beams used to support the floor area, (4) number of individual slab panels formed within the floor due to beam-framing plan, (5) number of joints formed due to beam intersections, (6) floor configuration repetition criteria, and (7) number of angles formed around the floor perimeter. The relationship between each factor and formwork labor productivity was modeled by the categorical regression method. The results obtained show significant effects of the factors investigated on labor productivity, which substantiate the importance of applying the buildability principles to the design stage of building construction. The findings not only provide designers with feedback on how well their design schemes consider the requirements of buildability, but can also prove advantageous to construction managers for effective activity planning and efficient labor utilization.