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The Use and Non-use of Time in New Construction of Residential Buildings: The Case of Sweden

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Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate

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Abstract

There is a continuous debate on costs in construction. Customers are complaining on the high costs, while suppliers are focusing on cutting costs. Experiences from successful companies in other industries show another logical way for lowering costs. By prioritizing reduction of errors and other disturbances there is easier to foresee the processes as well as benchmarking processes in order to shorten lead-times. Shorter lead-times lead to lower costs. While costs, defects and delays are discussed among academics, the use of available time seems to be less covered in research papers. This paper aims to describe how time is used and not used in construction. Examples from Swedish construction are given. Some examples from Chinese construction projects are given as a benchmark. One perspective on how time is used concerns lead-times from briefing to final delivery. A second perspective concerns the fact that work is only going on 40 h a week. A third perspective concerns to what extent resources, here human resources and equipment, are used. The main argument is to focus more on the use and non-use of time as a way to improve construction.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 64, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Per-Erik Josephson

  2. School of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Chao Mao

Authors
  1. Per-Erik Josephson
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  2. Chao Mao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Per-Erik Josephson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China

    Jiayuan Wang

  2. Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China

    Zhikun Ding

  3. Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China

    Liang Zou

  4. School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Jian Zuo

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Josephson, PE., Mao, C. (2014). The Use and Non-use of Time in New Construction of Residential Buildings: The Case of Sweden. In: Wang, J., Ding, Z., Zou, L., Zuo, J. (eds) Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35548-6_66

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