Efficient planning of resources and utilization of alternative building materials and techniques for a residential construction project

Major research efforts are being focused on the significant usage of the alternative building materials and techniques and on resource optimization for improving the effectiveness of cost and time of a construction project. Unless proper resources are planned and procured, no activity can be executed according to a prefixed time schedule. Project managers must take complex decisions under uncertainty conditions that sometimes extend beyond task durations. This paper provides an overview of the study dealing with the usage of alternative building materials and techniques and resource optimization. The study has been carried out as two parts. In the first part, factors affecting the cost and time overruns of a project is studied and a rate analysis of various building materials and techniques are made and the percentage savings from each alternative material and technique is determined. In the second part of the study, with the aid of planning software- Primavera, a schedule for various activities of the project are prepared and resource optimization methods are carried on it. The results indicate that the growth in building materials and techniques has major advantages such as recycling of wastes, cost reduction, time reduction, less man-power required, at the same time ensuring desired response of materials to fire, long term performance and durability. Resource optimization by resource levelling technique can be done to all the resources available at the project site and the activities with over allocated resources are eliminated which ensured reduction of the project cost. The requisite data has been collected from the detailed specifications, local availability of materials and prevailing site conditions.