CONSTRUCTION PROJECT COST OPTIMIZATION

Abstract

The construction industry is the largest industry in Egypt. It plays an important role in the Egyptian economy where large amounts of budget are spent '\, yearly on various construction projects. Therefore, management of the construction projects is strongly required.

The target completion time for a project is a primary objective and so its' budget. The first schedule developed may not be a suitable schedule for starting or completing the project to achieve the target completion time at a minimum total cost. The scheduler must be able to modify the schedule to satisfy the contractual requirements which have been established without violating the project's constraints. In general, there is a trade-off between time and cost to complete the project's activities.

A survey questionnaire was conducted on a sample of thirty firms working in the field of construction to measure the application of time-cost trade-off (TCT) in the Egyptian construction industry. The results of this survey show that the TCT is not well implemented in the construction field. Also, analysis of this survey was displayed to interpret the factors and reasons behind this minimal application in an attempt to assess the problem.

The main objective of this research is to develop a model that would help both contractors and planners in optimizing the cost of their projects and so their time by selecting the best combination of activities' durations from available alternatives whether the project started or not. The model will also give alternative scenarios for achieving the least cost, the least time and the pre-determined project duration.