Construction productivity of multistory buildings in developing countries

In developing countries such as India or Bangladesh, construction of different types of multistory buildings requires both skilled as well as unskilled labor during the various phases of a project. Here, labor saving mechanical equipment may be available and can possibly be utilized in metropolitan regions or cities. However, in all other parts of the country most of the construction work is labor intensive. In particular, the role of labor in the construction of multistory buildings will be studied in this presentation. The economic use of specialized machinery for excavation and the placement of concrete will be presented. An effort will be made to investigate the special skills and labor productivity of particular regions of the country. This directly impacts construction costs in various regions. It is shown that the prime reasons for the shortage of large construction equipment is its high capital expense combined with the low cost of local construction labor.