Manpower output in building construction in the Arab oil-producing countries of the Gulf

S M Fereig
and economic problems. This situation is typical in all the Arab countries of the &if, except in Iraq, where the indigenous population work in construction. To regulate this influx, each contractor, once he has secured a public building-construction project, agrees with the agency concerned on the total amount of labour needed to carry out the work. On the basis of this agreed number, the government issues the required number of work permits to the contractor to bring in the manpower needed for the project, and, on completion of the work, the contractor i&rms the govemment about the final status of his labour, and takes the required action recommended by the government for his case. Thus, agreement about the required amount of manpower needed to carry out the work is of great importance for both the government agency and the contractor. If the amount is less than is needed for the required work, this results in delays and cost overruns. Similarly, bringing in an excessive amount of labour can result in high costs, overheads, and various types of social and economic problem. The main objective of this paper is, first, to investigate the different factors affecting manpower output and, second, to establish the manpower output that can be expected, so that the manpower required to carry out building-construction projects can be realistically estimated. The scope is confined to the major activities of public-building construction. LABOUR-FORCE BACKGROUND

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public building-construction projects in the Arab oifproducing countries of the Gulf (excluding Iraq) have been established so that contractors and governmental agencies may be able to estimate realistically the manpower required. They must then make a judgment to aflow for losses of output due to these factors. Manpower output was measured at five different construction sites in Kuwait to arrive at a recommended output rate
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due to lack of education and training, harsh weather conditions, and religious observances. Keyword: building, construction, power, output

Gulf, Kuwait, man-

The construction industry in the Arab countries of the Gulf area consumes substantial portions of the governmental budgets. In Kuwait, this will continue after the country has repaired its oil-production facilities, which are devastated by the recent Gulf War. The oil sector is scheduled to reach its prewar capacity by the end of 1992. Apart from in the oil industry, construction occupies ornmrlnm;n,,nt vnln ;.-a th, CXLQ J PPT\~~-,~x, ThE, h.-.nm ;n O,-PII~ u y~.lr.,o#r ,,L 111 L.b w.LIII1J_ IL,&, Lll .I the construction industry started in the mid-1970s, accompanying the rise in oil prices. Nevertheless, very few of the indigenous population are employed in construction. Thus, to satisfy the needs of this industry for manpower, a sizeable number of expatriates have to be brought in. Such an influx of foreign engineers and labour has to be controlled to avoid any related social
Department Petroleum, of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering & Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, 13060 Kuwait, Kuwail

For any construction company to involve itself in construction work, the company has to go through an accreditation system managed by a central tendering agency, which is also a government agency. This agency classifies the contractors into various categories, depending on the size of work that they are capable of 0 1992 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 239

Vol 10 No 4 November

1992

024~7863/92/~40239~4

Manpower output in building construction in the Arab oil-producing countries of the Gulf carrying out. On the basis of their classification, the contractors are qualified for different jobs. Each contractor maintains a skeieton staff of technicians, quantity surveyors and necessary support personnel. They also maintain the necessary equipment. Whenever they secure a major construction job, they start to recruit the manpower needed from the Middle East and Far East. Although the accreditation system can differ from one country to another, there is always some kind of classification system in place, and all the contractors of the area keep a skeleton staff and recruit as the need arises. They are guided either by past experience with such manpower, or, if this is their first experience of obtaining labour, they visit the source of prospective supply to obtain a realistic idea of the kind of output that such manpower can deliver. The environment and economic circumstances of these countries, however, are considerably different from those of other Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries. The differences, apart from that of climate, are considerable in terms of social environment, economic factors, standard of living, specifications, quality of workmanship and supervision. All of these, of course, affect the expected output. The need to establish a realistic estimate of the output is thus of great importance. FACTORS AFFECTING MANPOWER OUTPUT the evening, after the site has been provided with the necessary lighting. Another element that affects work is sandstorms, during which ii is imgossibie to \riork WI any site, and work is generally closed down until the weather clears. Sandstorms last from a few hours to a couple of days. Job satisfaction The main source of job satisfaction and motivation for most manpower coming to the area stems from very high pay relative to the pay in its country of origin. Generally, however, there are no fringe benefits, social security or unemployment insurance for such labour, since its stay in the country is temporary. The workers come motivated to work as hard as they can for a relatively short period, hoping that, with their savings, they can start a new and better life when they return home. Payment is always tied to output, even though this may be at the expense of quality. This means that the labour may have to redo any work that is rejected by the inspector, which ensures at least a satisfactory level of quality. Also, the labour force is dependent on the construction company for its continued employment. This kind of dependency also ensures a satisfactory level of performance. Religious observances During the month of Ramadan, when the Gulf area observes one month of fasting, during which the people refrain from eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset, construction activities slow down considerably. Also; during this month; the contractor works shorter hours, starting at sunrise for a period of 6 h. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION The building-construction system under consideration consists mainly of a reinforced masonry skeleton composed of reinforced concrete columns, beams and slabs. This skeleton is infilled by concrete-block curtain walls. It rests mainly on isolated or strip footing. The internal walls are plastered, and then painted, while an appropriate cladding is used for the outside facing of the walls. The most economical cladding is sand-lime brick, since the material is readily available and is manufactured locally in the area. The construction activities needed for such buildings rn P fr8ll~..x.. aILb, b*L.Q*cILIII) ftnr PYc..,.,;n nloi., ,.r\n~~,a+c. Icwm(11L aa III?vz.. a yKuu bIIc-I-Lb nu,-, 100 mm thick, is cast to provide a clean base for the reinforced-concrete foundation. Then, the substructure is constructed with the necessary underground services for the building, followed by the superstructure. The skeleton is constructed, floor by floor, in a series, until the required number of storeys is completed. After the construction of the first-floor skeleton and the removal of the formwork, the curtain-wall blocks are laid. This ~,.t;.,;t., .a ~nm~+;rn,=r ,.nrt..,nn,~I ,.nt;l rn~r~ than 11W LLbLIIIJ ;.z .T.ItiLII.I~Li yc.LyII~u UllLll lllU LanU.I nne storey has been completed, depending on the decision of the management. However, generally, the blocklaying activities overlap the skeleton-construction activities. After the block walls have been constructed, the initial electrical work and door and window frames are installed, followed by wall plastering, ducting, International Journal of Project Management

Knowledge, education and training When the construction companies recruit manpower, the wages for such workers are a major factor in decidingCIthe source of iabour, The oPreat maiority of ~~~~~~J expatriate labourers are illiterate; they have not been through any formal education programme, nor any organized vocational training, which would make it difficult to arrange a formal training programme if the need arose, and their response would be relatively slow. Since there are no such programmes available in these countries, the contractor would have to establish his own training system if necessary. In many circumstances, the contractor faces the problem that the only available manpower, which is accustomed to different work practices, specifications and inspection standards, would have to go through some kind of training programme to enable it to deliver the work required by the contractor. This process is, in practice, extremely expensive, and it offsets any savings hoped for through .h- .. ..a 1 LUwqJ InI.,....,XF ,.hon.. Enl h; ..c.mnn.. +l.e ,.r\..+rnr+r\r L11G UJF; I, LLUJ IG;aJ11) Lllr; LllllaLcI looking for manpower should make sure that it is already trained to do the required work according to the specifications and level of inspection required.
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Effects of environment The environment in the Gulf area is pleasant to work in from October to the end of April. The summer months 0-a .._..., h,.t L11.U) _n L~_.-..P .,-rl 11 J11,G ,in.rr thca +amr\am+,,m m-x, a,lr Lly ,,I) uay3, Lll\r r~lrlyL,arul~ uruy exceed 50 C. During such days, work must stop. Nevertheless, during normal summer days, it is always over 40 C. Working in such extreme heat obviously reduces manpower output. To overcome this problem, most contractors start the workday very early, at 4 or 5 a.m. If a second shift has to be worked, this is done in 240

S M FERElG

tiling, and the final stage of electrical and mechanical works. This is followed by the base-coat painting of the internal walls, and the final stages of finishing. The work inside the kitchens and bathrooms is carried out
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Table 1. Proposed output rates for various

activities

Type of work Sabstr~ct~rul activities: Foundation: Formwork

Crew

Daily output rates

ing, the installation of AC equipment, cladding and site works, are carried out concurrently with the internal finishing. Fereig and Fereig and Horn have shown the CPM network for this type of construction. MANPOWER OUTPUT RATES

Foreman Carpenters Helper (labour) Steel fixer Helper (labour) Foreman Carpenters Helper (labour) Steel fixer Cement finisher

0.10 MH/m* 0.50 MHlm 0.50 MHim 30.00 MH/ton 30.00 MH/ton
0.10 MHlm

Reinforcement Casting

MethodoIogy for obtaining output rates

The construction documents and records were obtained for five projects built in Kuwait, all of which were very similar in nature. They consisted of the building of twostorey detached governmental housing units with a total built-up area of 350 mz on a 400 m* plot of land. The project size was 400-400 houses per project, with a
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0.20 0.70 0.15 0.30

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Superstructural activities: Columns and walls: Formwork Foreman Carpenters Helper (labour) Steel fixer Helper (labour) Foreman Camenterp. --r--m-Steel fixer Helper (labour) 0.10 MH/m3 0.90 MH/m 0.90 MH/m3 35.00 MH/ton 35.00 MH/ton 0.30 0.50 0.40 3.00 MHlm MI-Urn MWm3 MH/m3

documents, the quantities for each type of work per house were calculated. The construction-supervision authority included the number of workers, skilled and unskilled, who were involved in each type of work, and it detailed the amount of work completed. It also reported on the weather conditions at the site. The investigation studied only the construction activities given in Table 1. The output during Ramadan (the
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Reinforcement Casting

are generally reduced, and output is usually very low. Days of bad weather, such as excessive heat or sandstorms, were also excluded. The quantities completed over a period of four months were calculated. The total actual man-hours spent in carrying out this work were calculated, on the basis of the construction records, to obtain the average output rate during the period studied. The total quantities calculated were then divided by the total man-hours spent on the job. This was done for the five housing projects, and an average was obtained, and then rounded off as shown in Table 1. The initial period of construction was disregarded, since work is generally slow at this stage, owing to the learning process and the solving of unexpected problems, the clarification of ambiguities, errors, and adaptation to any variation orders. These figures therefore do not include any time during which there was a loss of productivity caused by an inability to provide the necessary materials or tools, a lack of instruction, waiting time for inspection, an interruption of work for unexpected reasons, a lack of access to the work area due to delays in other related activities, or a lack of coordination and good p1anning3. Recent studies in the USA4 show that loss of output due to such factors can be as high as 50%. As mentioned above, some of the labour force brought into the area are not fully trained for the activities that they are hired to carry out. The output of such labour has been eliminated from this study, since it would be very difficult to estimate, owing to the workers being engaged in a learning process. Thus the output rates given in this study represent those of a well trained labour force, whose members are well acquainted with the local construction methods, and are capable of producing work at the required level of quality, with no Vol 10 No 4 November 1992

Floor slabs: Formwork Foreman Carpenters UPI-r Ilohntwi ..-.yU. \.UY., Steel, fixer Helper (labour) Foreman Carpenters Steel fixer Helper (iabour) Cement finisher 0.10 MH/m 0.80 MH/ms 0.80 MH!m3 35.00 MHlton 35.00 MHlton 0.10 0.30 0.20 1.20 0.30 MH/m3 MHlm MHJm MHlm MH/m

Reinforcement Casting

~injshing activities: Block work (20 X 20 X 40 cm) Brick work Masons Helper (labour) Masons Helper (labour) Plasterer Helper (labour) Terrazzo layer Helper (labour) Ceramic layer Helper (tabour) Painter Helper (labour) Three carpenters Two helpers (labour) m: metre.] 1.OOMHlm 0.50 MHIm* 1.hO MHlm 0.80 MHima 0.40 MH/m 0.40 MH/m 0.45 MHlm* 0.45 MH/m* 0.35 MH/m 0.35 MH/m* 0.12 MHlm 0.06 MHlm 10.00 frames/day

Plastering Tiling work (terrazzo) Tiling work (ceramics and porcelain) Painting Door and window frames [MH: man-hour,

241

Manpower output in building construction in the Arab oil-producing need to spend time in training or improving their performance. These figures have also been checked against those for another four sites, and found to be in close agreement with their actual output. In comparison with the output rates published in the USA,, the rates mentioned in Reference 5 are found to be more in agreement with the figures shown in this study. Therefore, the output rates given in Table 1 are recommended for use in the Gulf areas building industry so that the manpower required to carry out these activities can be arrived at. In addition to the manpower-output figure arrived at, the manpower required to carry out other activities should also be added. A judgment must also be made to account for the loss of output which can be expected from the factors explained above in detail. SUMMARY The construction of public buildings in the Arab oilproducing countries of the Gulf (excluding Iraq) consumes substantial portions of the government budgets each year. However, very few of the native population are employed in construction. It is thus necessary to bring in a sizeable amount of foreign labour. Many problems, however, can occur when the required manpower is under- or overestimated. Hence, it is crucially important for the government and the contractor to have a reliable means of realistically estimating the output of such manpower, in order to avoid delays and cost overruns. To establish realistic output rates for the area, five public-building-construction sites in Kuwait were studied, and the output rates were measured while the manpower was directly carrying out the work. A brief descnption has been given of the type of construction under consideration. Work periods during which there was a loss of output due to various causes were excluded. Similarly, the work of untrained or intraining manpower was not considered. Thus, the rates established by this study represent those of well trained, experience manpower that is able to produce work at the acceptable level of quality. These rates were checked against the actual output of four other comparable sites, and found to be in close agreement. The factors that lead to loss of output due to labour training, environment, job conditions and satisfaction have also been discussed.

countries of the Gulf

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences for its financial support of this research, and also Engineer Shereef El-Sharkowy for his help in gathering the output information.

REFERENCES
Fereig, S M Construction planning and control of public housing projects in Kuwait Study of P/arming and Engineering Aspects of Public Housing in Kuwait Report No 5 Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science, Kuwait (1984) Fereig, S M and Horn, M New economic building system for Kuwaiti housing projects J. CfB: Build. Res. & Pratt. Vol 18 No 5 (1990) pp 292-296 Fereig, S M and Qaddumi, N H Construction problems - Arabian Gulf experience Proc. 4th Znt. Symp. Organization & Management of Construction - Vol 3 University of Waterloo, Canada (1984) pp 753-755 Callahan, M T Construction productivity improvement techniques Proc. 4th Int. Symp. Organization & Management of Construction - Vo12 University of Waterloo, Canada (1984) p 537 Page, J S Estimators General Construction ManHour ~anuaZ (2nd Ed.) Gulf Publishing Company, USA (1978) Building Construction Cost Data R S Means, USA (1983)

M Fereig is an associate the Department of Civil Engineering at Kuwait University. He received a &SC. from Ein Shams University, Egypt and an MASC. in management science (operations research) and a Ph 11in civil engineering (structures) from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr Fereig has over 20 year.s of professional experience in strucmralengineeringand construction engineekng and management. His research interests are in the area of computer appiications in comtruction management.

Sami

professor in

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Journal of Project Management