Development of Resource-Driven Scheduling Model for Mass Housing Construction Projects

Abstract

Resource continuity is a key issue for Mass housing construction projects which are highly repetitive in nature. Resources are therefore being deployed repeatedly for the similar or identical tasks. In order to eradicate delays in mobilizing resources from one location to other, an efficient resource schedule is required. Traditional scheduling tools like CPM, PERTare less effective in scheduling repetitive construction projects, as they consider resources as unlimited. Nevertheless, almost all the repetitive scheduling methods developed so far have been giving focus on continuous repetitive projects, whereas in this paper, the emphasis is on discrete (non-linear) repetitive projects. As a solution approach, a Resource Driven Scheduling Model (RDSM) is developed as a management supporting tool for selection of appropriate resource options for deployment and schedules the activities appropriately. The objective of the research is to find and validate a repetitive construction schedule which minimizes the project duration and/or project cost, and maximizes resource utilization while satisfying the resource constraints and to sequence the activities with appropriate resource assignment. A case study is delineated to validate the RDSM and to demonstrate its various capabilities like generating the resource driven schedule and sequencing the activities as per the resource availability.