Challenges, Opportunities and Solutions in Structural Engineering

and Construction Ghafoori (ed.)

2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-56809-8

Construction productivity and production rates: Developing countries

C.R. Guntuk & E. Koehn
Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, USA

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on a study of factors affecting productivity among members of the construction workforce in developing countries such as India. Economic and socio-psychological factors that affect labor
performance and are of increasing importance in a developing country are evaluated and discussed. Construction labor productivity is of great interest to international projects as it affects project cost and time overruns.
Therefore, up-to-date cost and production data for the construction of various international projects should be
readily available for estimating project planning and bidding purposes. In this investigation, the costs of construction projects in developing countries related to labor expenses are evaluated and compared to that of a
developed country, USA. The findings should assist constructors working on international projects during the
planning process to achieve the desired estimating, scheduling, quality, cost effectiveness, duration and updating
of construction projects.
1

INTRODUCTION

India is located in the southern part of Asia between the

Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal (Chandra 1990). Its
natural resources include coal, iron ore, manganese,
mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas,
diamonds, petroleum, and limestone. The country
has a population of roughly 1.2 billion. Construction labor in all the big cities in India, can generally
work throughout the year. In addition, there is also
some consideration for safety and health. But in the
rural portions of the country, laborers normally work
on a farm for approximately 6 months and in construction the remainder of the year. Here, there is
little concern for construction health and safety. For
these and numerous other reasons, there tends to be
a great difference in productivity, quality control, and
project duration in various parts of the country (Rate
200708).
The economy of developing countries such as India
is a mixture of traditional village farming, agriculture,
handicrafts, a relatively small number of industries,
and a multitude of support services. Faster economic
growth in the last two decades created an increase in
per capita private consumption. Nevertheless, a large
proportion of the population, perhaps as much as 50
percent, is below the poverty line and cannot afford an
adequate diet. Poor nourishment causes fatigue, which
may tend to reduce productivity, and increase the accident and fatality rate for workers, especially in the
construction industry. This is a problem that must be
addressed.

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CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The construction industry is a major economic activity in India. Construction activities contribute annually
about 10 percent to the gross national product (GNP),
thus playing a major role in development plans, since
most sectors of Indias economy involve construction
activities (Sheer 1993). The Table 1 shows the approximate construction component in respect to various
development projects throughout the country.
The construction industry is one of the largest in
India and employs about 50100 million skilled and
unskilled workers. Workers in the construction industry, as in most countries of the world, are hired as
needed and fired on completion of the project. Due to
the temporary nature of their job, workers remain idle
until they find work at new construction sites. In large

Table 1.

Construction projects in India.

Development project
Irrigation works, dams, canals, etc.
Roads and bridges shipyards,
harbors, airports, etc.
Shipyards, harbors, airports, etc.
Thermal power plants, steel mills,
aluminum plants, etc.

Approximate construction component expressed as a percentage

of total project cost
90100
90100
4555
1520

construction firms, personnel at the supervisory and

managerial levels are employed on a permanent basis,
but they must move from one project site to another
to keep their position. Construction laborers, however,
are hired on a temporary basis and lead a migratory
life, working on different sites throughout the country
(Sheer 1993).
The economic condition of construction labor is
poor because of the laborers low bargaining power,
lack of unions, illiteracy, and the temporary nature
of their employment. Basic amenities such as shelter, drinking water, sanitary conveniences, etc., are
not adequately provided at small construction sites. In
addition, there is little concern for the education of the
children of migratory construction workers. Article 24
of the Indian constitution specifies that no child below
the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any
factory or mine (Chandra 1990). Nevertheless, there
are still a large number of child workers throughout
the country, especially in construction.
Construction laborers are members of the most disorganized sector of the Indian workforce, and they
do not enjoy benefits that their counterparts in other
industries and organized economic sectors enjoy. Construction workers have no job security and have little
training. In many developed countries, such as the
US, Japan, etc., there are programs to train workers for particular trades, such as mechanics, pipe fitters, plumbers, machine operators, electricians, etc.
Although industrial institutes have been established in
India, their contribution toward training of construction labor is inadequate (Safety 1996).

PRODUCTIVITY OF A PROJECT

According to the principles of management, a project

may be considered to consist of a combination of
four Ms:

Money (capital);
Manpower (labor);
Materials (resources);
Machines (equipment).

The principles of management indicate that the

availability of specific resources often determines the
optimal manner in which they will be used (Building
1986; Koehn 1989). Since the cost of labor, especially in developed countries, may constitute a large
percentage of the total project cost, increasing labor
productivity is important in controlling both project
cost and duration (Sharp 1997). In fact, according to
some authorities, productivity may be defined as the
ratio of output to input. In this investigation, output
is taken as the specific units of different construction
activities and input as the work-hours (labor hours)
required to accomplish that work.

In numerous instances, the availability of specific

resources determines the optimal manner in which
they will be used. This is particularly true in developing countries. In these areas, the labor cost per hour
is less expensive than of developed regions and, due to
the large supply of workers, labor intensive construction methods are followed and the use of construction
equipment is limited (Chandra 1990). By maintaining proper scheduling, communication (coordination),
and engineering design functions, production (productivity), however, can be increased, but consideration
should also be given to revising restrictive local work
rules (Arditi 1985; Koehn 1989). In addition, the lack
of realistic labor cost and production estimating data
is a major problem in developing countries.
3.1

Comparative labor requirement factors

It is known that labor productivity (production), as

well as the cost of capital, materials, and equipment,
is extremely difficult to measure due to the heterogeneity of the construction industrys products and inputs
(Koch 1979). The comparative labor requirement for
India was investigated in this paper. In order to accomplish this task, two principle data sources, the Rate
Analysis for Construction Works of India and Building Construction Cost Data of the US were used (Rate
2008; Building 2006). The following expression can
be use to determine the comparative labor requirement
factor:
LR1 = K LR2

(1)

where, LR1 = labor requirements in India; LR2 =

labor requirements in US; and K = comparative labor
requirement factor.
In this study, the labor requirement is calculated
on the basis of the work hours required for 100 units
of work in a typical 8-hour day. In India, the normal
work day is 8 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
with a 1-hour lunch break. For comparison, the labor
requirement in the US is considered as the standard of
reference.
Thirty-three different activities associated with
building construction, such as site preparation, earth
work, concrete and masonry placement, timber, flooring, finishing, and dismantling are compared in this
presentation. However, it is expected that data could
be applied to other sectors of the construction industry such as highways, bridges, dams, and airports
by applying various technical adjustments. The comprehensive results of the investigation are shown in
Table 2. Columns 6 and 7 lists the comparative labor
requirement factors in a developing country (India) for
both smaller and larger firms compared with that of
the US. As shown, the comparative labor requirement
factor for smaller firms is generally greater than unity
(1.00). This is due to the extensive use of labor for most

688

Table 2.

Comparative labor requirement factors.

Developing region
India Rural or Urban

Comparative labor
requirement factor
India/USA Rural
or Urban

Developed
Region USA

Small
Firms

Large
Firms

Small
Firms

Large
Firms

4.30

2.43

3.64

2.06

Man hours required

Activity
Description

Unit

SITE PREPARATION
Clear and Grub

m2

1.18

EARTH WORK
Excvation (silty soil)
Excavation (sandy soil)
Leveling/Grading
Earth Filling

m3
m3
m3
m3

261.29
130.65
12.70
137.70

519.2
320.9
13.11
198.6

302.6
158.6
12.17
151.8

1.99
2.46
1.03
1.44

1.16
1.2
0.96
1.1

CONCRETE
Concrete (foundations)
Concrete (slab/ beam)
Reinforcement
Form work (beam)
Form work (foundation)
Form work (slab)

m3
m3
N
m2
m2
m2

137.40
228.50
0.20
166.60
322.89
92.20

843.6
1189
0.89
509.6
1014
275.3

265.0
363.6
0.63
273.8
494.3
137.6

6.14
5.20
4.45
3.06
3.14
2.98

1.93
1.6
3.15
1.65
1.53
1.50

MASONRY
Brick Work
Stone work

m3
m3

1486.80
1027.30

1709
4619

1511
3621

1.15
4.50

1.02
3.50

TIMBER
Timber roof trusses
Eaves
Plywood partitions
Plywood ceiling

m3
m2
m2
m2

798.10
7.50
40.90
48.74

9872
16.33
60.93
128.9

1768
10.92
47.33
53.34

12.37
2.18
1.49
2.65

2.21
1.46
1.16
1.10

FLOORING

2 Concrete
Mosaic
Brick flooring (flat)
Brick on edge paving
Wood flooring
Parquet
Net cement finishing

m2
m2
m2
m2
m2
m2
m2

22.40
181.20
180.80
249.97
33.37
86.10
28.73

61.85
529.2
177.8
240.3
83.66
144.2
29.83

26.30
255.0
159.8
224.6
52.07
101.5
25.67

2.76
2.92
0.98
0.96
2.50
1.68
1.04

1.17
1.40
0.89
0.90
1.57
1.18
0.90

FINISHING
Cement plaster (stucco)
Cement paints, 2 coats
Acrylic paint, 2 coats
Enamel paint, 2 coats
Aluminum paint, 2 coats
Bituminous Asphalt, 1 coat

m2
m2
m2
m2
m2
m2

179.37
17.54
27.98
22.92
86.08
12.91

96.38
22.98
63.29
55.31
114.2
24.67

82.42
19.28
33.81
27.16
97.22
20.53

0.54
1.31
2.26
2.41
1.33
1.91

0.46
1.1
1.21
1.20
1.13
1.60

DISMANTLING
Reinforced concrete
Plain concrete
Brick masonry

m3
m3
m3

827.43
780.11
125.37

2788
1638
386.0

1121
887.4
113.7

3.37
2.10
3.08

1.34
1.34
0.91

689

activities performed in developing countries. But in

the case of larger firms, the comparative labor requirement factors is close to unity (1.00), which is due to the
extensive use of technologically advanced equipment
in firms located in cities of developing countries.
The data show that smaller firms are more labor
intensive than larger organizations. Also, larger firms
in India are more productive. In addition to the technical lag in smaller firms, the labor wage is low in
India. For example, the wage of a skilled laborer is
approximately $13 to $14 US dollars and an unskilled
laborer earns 4 to 5 US$ for an 8-hour work day. Therefore, proper nutrition is not affordable for laborers who
work in smaller firms. They often get tired after working for a few hours, and also lacking a positive attitude
towards work, tend to experience lower productivity.
Due to the large supply of workers, labor intensive construction methods may often be followed, and
the use of construction equipment is limited (Koehn &
Regmi 1990, Punmia 1987). In addition, workers often
take a high risk at the work place, which tends to
increase the level of accidents and fatalities on the job
site. In fact, research has shown that effective productivity tends to be below 55 percent when the average
earnings of the labor force are low (Dallavia 1957).
Sometimes laborers also are required to work overtime
without overtime payment (The Employee 1938).
Another major cause of low productivity is climate. India is relatively hot, especially in summer.
This causes labor fatigue resulting in a decrease in
productivity. Lack of training also contributes to a
decrease in productivity. Contractors of smaller firms
do not provide any training in the use of equipment,
if it is available. Also, laborers may not use hard hats,
goggles, hand gloves, and boots, due to their unavailability at some construction sites (Safety 1996). Here,
the productivity can be increased with the use of more
efficient construction equipment, following improved
methods of construction, adopting safety measures,
education and training, use of modern materials, and
use of planning and scheduling techniques, etc.
3.2

Labor production (productivity)

The labor production (productivity) data shown in

Table 2 is quite varied. For example, the results indicate that for activities requiring minimum use of
tools and equipment, such as hand leveling/grading
(factor = 1.03) and flat brick flooring (0.98), the comparative labor requirement in a developing country is
relatively low. As the labor wage in India is approximately one-twenty-fourth (1/24) of that in the US, it
can be concluded that the labor cost of these activities
is much lower than that in developed countries. For
activities where improved tools and equipment can be
used, such as excavation (factor = 2.46) and cement
paint (factor = 1.31), the comparative labor requirement factor may be relatively high. This may indicate

that, for some activities, the use of improved methods

and tools could be adopted.
For activities where prefabrication is possible, the
labor requirement factor is very high in developing
countries. As an example, timber roof trusses (12.37)
and formwork (3.14) have high labor requirements.
One reason for this may be that wood is not a common
construction material since good quality timber is very
expensive. In developing countries, finished lumber of
specified sizes and lengths are not available and has to
be finished at site, which requires a great deal of work
hours.
Activities where extensive use of equipment are
possible, such as concrete (factor = 6.14), presently
experience a high comparative labor requirement factor. This is because, although mixing is done mechanically, transportation and placement is done manually. But in the case of larger firms, batch plants and
onsite mixers are used. For mosaic flooring (2.92),
polishing machines and stone cutting equipment are
already used; however, the use of air-dryers and other
improved tools could possibly increase productivity. It
is seen that stone work (4.5) requires more labor than
brick work (1.15). This is because brick construction
has a long tradition and masons tend to be very skillful.
The activities listed in Table 2 are generally associated with the construction of reinforced concrete or
brick masonry buildings. Steel structures are rarely
used due to the high cost of steel and perceived maintenance problems. Although the labor requirement is
relatively high in developing countries, labor costs are
much lower than in developed countries. This indicates a tradeoff between high labor requirements and
low labor costs. Nevertheless, by improved planning
and optimum use of labor, a desirable productivity can
be achieved.
3.3

Different activities/categories

The 33 different activities listed in Table 2 may also

be subdivided into four categories as illustrated in
Tables 36, based on the possibility of using improved
tools and equipment and possible prefabrication techniques. As shown, the average labor requirement factors for smaller firms range from 3.76 for activities
where extensive use of equipment is possible to 0.99
for activities requiring minimum use of tools. The
average labor factors for larger firms range from 1.65
to 0.92 respectively.
Assuming, based on experience at a typical building
site, for smaller firm, a distribution of approximately
9 percent for activities requiring minimum usage of
tools and equipment, 16 percent for activities where
use of improved tools and equipment is possible, 3.5
percent for activities where pre-fabrication is possible,
and 40 percent for activities where extensive use of
equipment is possible, the overall comparative labor
requirement factor of a developing country, such as

690

Table 3. Activities requiring minimum use of tools and

equipment.

Table 6. Activities where extensive use of equipment is

possible.

Labor requirement factor

Labor requirement factor

Activities

Smaller firms

Larger firms

Activities

Smaller firms

Larger firms

Leveling/Grading
Brick flooring (flat)
Brick on edge paving
Average

1.03
0.98
0.96
0.99

0.96
0.89
0.90
0.92

Stone work
Concrete (foundations)
Concrete (slab/beam)

2 concrete
Mosaic
Dismantling, RCC work
Dismantling, plain concrete
Dismantling, brick masonry
Average

4.50
6.14
5.20
2.76
2.92
3.37
2.10
3.08
3.76

3.50
1.93
1.6
1.17
1.40
1.34
1.34
0.91
1.65

Table 4. Activities where use of improved tools and equipment is possible.

Labor requirement factor
Activities

Smaller firms

Larger firms

Excavation (silty soil)

Excavation (sandy soil)
Earth filling
Brick work
Parquet
Net cement finishing
Cement plaster (stucco)
Cement paints, 2 coats
Acrylic paint, 2 coats
Enamel paint, 2 coats
Aluminum paint, 2 coats
Bituminous Asphalt, 1 coat
Average

1.99
2.46
1.44
1.15
1.68
1.04
0.54
1.31
2.26
2.41
1.33
1.91
1.63

1.16
1.2
1.1
1.02
1.18
0.90
0.46
1.1
1.21
1.20
1.13
1.60
1.11

Table 5. Activities where prefabrication (Standard Size) is

possible.
Labor requirement factor
Activities

Smaller firms

Larger firms

Reinforcement
Form work (beam)
Form work (foundation)
Form work (slab)
Timber roof trustees
Eaves
Plywood partitions
Plywood ceiling
Wood flooring
Average

4.45
3.06
3.14
2.98
12.37
2.18
1.49
2.65
2.50
3.87

3.15
1.65
1.53
1.50
2.21
1.46
1.16
1.10
1.57
1.70

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The level of construction productivity varies for different countries depending, in part, on the degree
of development and industrialization. This article
presents data concerning construction productivity for
a developing country like India and is compared with
that of a developed country such as the US. For example, the findings suggest that the overall comparative
labor requirement factor for smaller firms in India is
2.56. In contrast, larger firms, which tend to be less
labor intensive, experience a factor of 1.35. This indicates that there may be, overall, approximately 3 times
more workers on a construction site in a typical developing country compared to that of a developed region.
In summary, the data presented involving productivity and safety should be of universal interest to any
contractor considering projects in developing countries. Developing countries normally exhibit low labor
productivity. Utilizing the labor requirement factors
in this report will facilitate the efficient management,
estimating, scheduling, monitoring, and updating of
resources required for construction operations. The
application of this data should assist international
contractors in achieving their goal of successfully
completing quality construction projects in developing
countries.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to recognize Ms. Linda Dousay for
her assistance with the production activities involved
in preparing this paper.

India, may be calculated as a weighted average to be

equal to 2.56. In the case of larger firms the distributions are approximately 18 percent, 20 percent, 32
percent, 30 percent respectively, and the overall comparative labor requirement factor is calculated as a
weighted average to be equal to 1.35.

691

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