Effects of General Contractor's Loading Strategies on Project and Trades' Performance

General contractor's (GC) loading strategies, defined as the amount of work GC assigns to trades in a given time, directly impact project and trades' performance. Previous researchers have discussed that it is beneficial not to load 100% of trades production capacity and account for variability in the flow of work passing from one trade to another. However, there has been limited research identifying to what extent underloading is beneficial for both trades and the project. By modifying the Parade Game model and considering different levels of workflow variability, this paper quantifies the effects of GC's loading strategies on project cycle time and trades' utilization. This study simulates a single-line production system in which GC controls the rate of work assigned to the production system. Results show that: (1) although underloading will result in shorter cycle times, 40% underloading could lower trades' average utilization up to 34%; and (2) in a variable production system with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.71, variability should be reduced 1.625 times more to achieve a short cycle time of 6 weeks but 14% more trades' average utilization, considering 70% trades' average utilization as a benchmark. The findings of this paper will be useful to project managers by enabling them to develop production strategies that lead to better project cycle time and trades' utilization.