Development of a Descriptive Cost Effectiveness Model for a Subcontractor with Limited Resources

It only takes one failed project to wipe out an entire year s profit, when the projects are not managed efficiently. Additionally, escalating costs of materials and a competitive local construction market make subcontractors a challenge. Subcontractors have finite resources that should be allocated simultaneously across many projects in a dynamic manner. Significant scheduling problems are posed concurrent multi-projects with limited resources. The objective of this thesis is to identify the effect of productivity changes on the total cost resulting from shifting crews across projects using a descriptive model. To effectively achieve the objective, this study has developed a descriptive cost model for a subcontractor with multi-resources and multi-projects. The model was designed for a subcontractor to use as a decision-making tool for resources allocation and scheduling. The model identified several factors affecting productivity. Moreover, when the model was tested using hypothetical data, it produced some effective combinations of resource allocation with associated total costs. Furthermore, a subcontractor minimizes total costs by balancing overtime costs, tardiness penalties, and incentive bonus, while satisfying available processing time constraints.