A COMPARISON BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

Abstract

A. comparison was made among three methods of constructions, conventional method using early striking forrnwork, lift slab method, and bearing walls method. Each of these alternatives was compared to the conventional method using traditional wooden forrnwork. Different criteria were used as a basis for the comparison, these are, the duration of construction, the direct costs, the labor requirements. The effect of the overdraft of the cash flow and the site over head costs on the cost of the different alternatives will be briefly studied. Others ofless quantifiable value such as the management convenience, quality of the product, and flexibility of use should however, be taken into account.

• The models selected for the evaluation of the alternatives was a residential

five-story building with four identical apartments on each floor with span of 3.6 m, spans of 4.00 m and 4.50 m. The three spans of the model are used for the four ' I alternatives to study the effect of span change on the comparison criteria of the

construction.

The study indicated that the utilization of early striking, lift slab, and bearing walls methods might considerably reduce the duration of construction and the labor requirement in site than using conventional method. On other hand, the length of the span in different methods affects the direct building cost.