European construction contractors: a productivity appraisal of in situ concrete operations

Abstract

Site productivity levels for high rise, in situ concrete operations are compared among three groups of European construction contractors. Results confirm significant differences between the contractor's productivity rates for each of the three countries investigated (Germany, France and the UK). German firms are the most efficient at reinforcement and concrete placing operations, whereas French firms are most productive at formwork. UK firms are the least productive for two operations, namely formwork and concrete. French firms are least productive at fixing reinforcement. Based on a specific model project, it is determined that French and German firms require significantly fewer man-hours to carry out the said concrete operations than do UK firms. UK contractors achieve the lowest levels of labour productivity for the operations involved. The UK also exhibited greater productivity variation, i.e. providing evidence of extreme (most and least efficient) levels of labour output for several concrete operations. Leading on from these analyses, a construction (labour) cost comparison indicates that French contractors are the least expensive. Furthermore, the ideal solution for clients would be to have French firms build their projects in the UK, since this combination provides the most economic solution to the model building overall.