Labour Productivity Measurement for

Construction Projects

By Kapuganti Jagannadha Gupta

BE, MBA, PMP, CCE
Productivity

What is Labour Productivity?

Productivity = Output / Input
(Earned hours / Worked hours)

Examples:
• Kilograms of rebar fixed per manday
• Cu.m Concrete poured per manday
• Sq.m of formwork placed per manday
• Sq.m of block laid per manday
Building C Super
Sructure
• Sq.m of tiles laid per manday
 Why Measure Productivity?
• You Can’t Correct a problem if you don’t know it exists
• By the time the job is over, you have lost the more
• You will have current information to manage and control
your project
• You should correct losses arising from internal problems
• You may be able to recover losses arising from external
causes.
•Extremely vital performance measurement tool within the
Building C Super
Sructure

construction industry
•Productivity growth is important to an individual
enterprise, an industry or an economy
Common causes of labour overruns
External:
• Overtime
• Changes
• Crowding
• Trade stacking
• Weather
• Site Access

Internal:
• Poor Planning & Management of
work
• Rework &Building
Errors
C Super
Sructure
• Bad Estimate
• Lack of Training
• Morale Problems
• Staff turnover
• Material and equipment availability
Themes for Productivity Improvement

• Consistent Practices
• Process versus Results Management
• Consistent Procedures and Practices
• Proactive versus Reactive Management
• Measurement and Analysis of a defect
• Risk or Variation Analysis
• Vital Few versus Useful Many
• Planning Versus Reacting
Building C Super
Sructure

• Focus on Quality first

• Pride and a Positive Attitude
 Methodology and Data Collection

• Daily activity form sheet will be distributed to concerned site engineer

•Site engineer will assign works to foreman, each foreman will fill the data in form.
•The contents in the form majorly covering:
•The quantity of activity completed for the activity being carried out
•The quantity of skilled & unskilled used to complete the activity
•End of each shift these forms are collected by Productivity Engineer and compiles
the information and generates reports e.g. building wise trade wise, etc.
• Generally monitoring major works like Steel, Formwork, Concrete, Block, Tiles etc.
Building C Super
•From the above reports are very useful to site management to take necessary
Sructure

corrective action to improve productivity wherever necessary

 Methodology and Data Collection
DAY WORK SHEET
DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT
SECTION ENGINEER FORM

SUB- WORKDONE NO OF MEN

Sl.No WORK TASK DESCRIPTION BUILDING LEVEL TRADE
ZONE QTY. UNITS DAY NIGHT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TOTAL: 0 0
REASON
FOR
WORK: Building C Super
REWORKS VARIATIONS IDLE TIME
SCOPE OF Sructure
WORKS
FOREMAN NAME & SIGNATURE: DATE SUPERVISOR / ENGINEER NAME & Signature DATE:

Validating the progress at site on daily basis in micro level monitoring

 Productivity Rates
1. Productivity Rates for Structure works 2. Productivity Rates for Finishing works
Planned Productivity Planned
Description Rebar Shutter Concrete Description of work Productivity
(Kg/Manday) (m2/Manday) (m3/Manday) (m2/Manday)
Retaining Wall 300 4.00 5.00 Water Proofing - Horizontal 25.00
Watertank Wall 300 5.00 5.00 Water Proofing - Vertical 15.00
Core Wall 300 7.00 8.00 Protection Screed 10.00
Raft 380 7.00 15.00 Blockwork 7.00
Slab (Conventional) 150 7.00 10.00 Wall tiles 5.00
Slab (PT) 100 10.00 10.00 Floor tiles 8.00
Beam 250 7.00 8.00 Plaster(Wall) 10.00
Column 250 7.00 5.00 Staircase tiles 5.00
Ramp 250 8.00 8.00 Staircase Plaster 8.00
Staircase 100 3.00 5.00 Ceiling Plaster 5.00
Building C Super
Sructure
 Total Quantities – Concrete Works
Structural Works
Planned
Concrete Mandays to
Level Rebar (KG) Shutter (m2) Productivity
(m3) Complete
(MD/Cu.m)

Basement - 3 7,553,230 27,245 28,251 2.5 70,628

Basement - 2 1,821,000 26,747 7,202 2.5 18,005

Basement - 1 2,615,000 30,285 9,093 2.5 22,733

Building - A 2,506,000 60,539 16,135 2.5 40,338
Building - B 2,408,000 51,804 13,610 2.5 34,025
Building - C 945,000 25,472 5,412 2.5 13,530
Building - D 2,257,000 54,546 13,121 2.5 32,803
Total 20,105,230 276,638 92,824 2.5 232,060

Structural Works for a Single Level

Planned
Sub- Rebar Shutter Concrete Mandays to
Level Productivity
Zones (KG) (m2) (m3) Complete
(MD/Cu.m)
Building C Super
A-1 140,643 2,782
Sructure 665 2.5 1,663
A-2 133,652 2,225 599 3.5 2,097
B-1 132,000 2,521 605 4.5 2,723
Level - 1 B-2 128,000 2,264 529 5.5 2,910
C 120,000 2,625 538 6.5 3,497
D-1 159,000 2,887 557 7.5 4,178
D-2 81,000 1,512 341 8.5 2,899
 Total Quantities - Finishes
Finishing Works
Quantities
Description Planned Avg
Unit Building Total Planned
of work Basement Building A Building C Building D Productivity
B Quantity Man Days
(Unit/Md)

Blockwork m2 9,468 53,276 46,859 7,496 36,597 153,696 7 21,957

Plastering m2 72,797 64,448 6,205 50,006 193,456 9 21,495
Ceiling m2 537 7,918 13,736 2,416 13,736 38,343 5 7,669
Tile m2 622 48,380 42,960 5,281 42,960 140,203 7 20,029
Stone m2 350 3,756 3,663 2,338 4,534 14,641 7 2,092
Doors Nos 125 1,955 1,695 318 431 4,524 2 2,262
Building C Super
Sructure
 Current Status – Concrete Works
Planned Actual (As of Date)
Level/
Building Concrete Planned Mandays to Shutter Concrete
Rebar (KG) Shutter (m2) Rebar (KG) Mandays Productivity
(m3) Productivity Complete (m2) (m3)
Basement - 3 7,553,230 27,245 28,251 2.5 70,628 7,553,230 26,245 27,853 69,472 2.49

Basement - 2 1,821,000 26,747 7,202 2.5 18,005 1,343,000 21,117 7,202 31,096 4.32

Basement - 1 2,615,000 30,285 9,093 2.5 22,733 1,923,000 18,466 6,821 34,285 5.03

Building - A 2,506,000 60,539 16,135 2.5 40,338 781,000 25,630 3,653 19,249 5.27

Building - B 2,408,000 51,804 13,610 2.5 34,025 524,000 15,078 2,218 10,897 4.91

Building - C 945,000 25,472 5,412 2.5 13,530

Building - D 2,257,000 54,546 13,121 2.5 32,803 225,000 4,200 856 4,051 4.73
12,349,23
Total 20,105,230 276,638 92,824 2.5 232,060 110,736 48,603 169,050 3.48
0

% of Work Completed 52.36%

Actual Man Days 169,050
Building C Super
Earned Mandays Sructure
121,508
Loss / Gain -47,543
Required Man Days to complete remaining @ Current Rate of Productivity 153,809
Total Mandays for Completion (Expected) 322,859
Total Planned Mandays 232,060
Loss of Man days after Completion of Structure work -90,799
 Productivity History – Planned vs Actual
6.00 4.00

3.50
5.00

3.00

4.00
2.50

3.00 2.00

1.50
2.00

1.00

1.00
0.50

0.00 Building C Super

0.00
Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17
Sructure Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17

Planned Productivity (Avg/Month) Actual Productivity (Avg/Month)

Planned Productivity Cumulative Actual Productivity Cumulative
 Conclusion

•Various ways of improving productivity

•For an organisation to survive and prosper improving
productivity is a must

Building C Super
Sructure

By Kapuganti Jagannadha Gupta

BE, MBA, PMP, CCE