The use and non-use of time in new construction of residential buildings: The case of Sweden

Abstract

There is a continuous debate on costs in construction. Customers are complaining on the high costs, while suppliers are focusing on cutting costs. Experiences from successful companies in other industries show another logical way for lowering costs. By prioritizing reduction of errors and other disturbances there is easier to foresee the processes as well as benchmarking processes in order to shorten lead-times. Shorter lead-times lead to lower costs. While costs, defects and delays are discussed among academics, the use of available time seems to be less covered in research papers. This paper aims to describe how time is used and not used in construction. Examples from Swedish construction are given. Some examples from Chinese construction projects are given as a benchmark. One perspective on how time is used concerns lead-times from briefing to final delivery. A second perspective concerns the fact that work is only going on 40 h a week. A third perspective concerns to what extent resources, here human resources and equipment, are used. The main argument is to focus more on the use and non-use of time as a way to improve construction. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.