The productivity of the construction value chain has been measured for the first time in Finland based on actual working hours. The results of the first phase of the construction industry RT and Aalto University's research show that construction here can be as much as twice as efficient as in Singapore.
According to the study, it takes an average of 13 hours in Finland to complete one gross square meter of a precast concrete apartment building. Out of the number, about one hour is spent on planning, two on pre-fabrication and ten on construction production on the site. Manufacturing of building materials and earthworks are not included in the figure.
The data was collected in the study from a total of eleven apartment building projects of three large construction companies, which were completed in 2023. The range of working hours used in the projects was very large: the smallest was 10 hours and the largest was almost 20 hours per gross square meter.
"As far as we know, productivity has not been measured in this way anywhere else in the world, but in Singapore we found a point of comparison that gives direction", director responsible for construction development Antti Aaltonen Construction industry from RT tells.
Singapore's Government Construction Agency (BCA) collects information on working hours from all construction sites. When comparing free-financed residential apartment buildings, approximately 0,4 gross square meters are achieved on a construction site in Singapore during one working day, and 0,8 in the projects that were the subject of research in Finland. However, no comparison has been made of the properties of the products, i.e. completed apartment buildings.
In the study, labor productivity is thought of in terms of hours instead of euros
Normally, productivity is looked at in different industries through value addition, whereby purchases are deducted from the sales price and the difference is divided by the working hours used. Measured by value added, the productivity of the construction industry has stagnated in recent decades, both in Finland and internationally, and has lagged behind the development of other industries.
A study published a few years ago by ETLA, the University of Tampere and BES Built Environment Services oy regarding the competitiveness of the construction industry revealed that although productivity growth in construction has stopped, productivity in the construction value chain has increased. According to the study, one of the reasons for this is the transfer of some work phases to factories, in which case the increased efficiency is not reflected in construction productivity.
"The measurement method based on value addition does not fully describe the benefits of, for example, pre-fabrication. That's why we started developing a new measurement method that specifically measures the labor productivity of the construction value chain," says Antti Aaltonen.
"The research examines productivity over time instead of money. The hours are unambiguous, and they can be collected with sufficient accuracy, for example, from the site's access control information. In this way, we aim to increase understanding of productivity bottlenecks and find ways to improve the efficiency of the entire value chain."
The study found that labor productivity is typically better in larger construction projects than in smaller ones. In addition, the use of preforms reduces the total hours. Planning in the different phases of construction, standardization and industrial manufacturing would seem to be key means of improving construction productivity.
Staffan Fagerudd did a diploma thesis based on the research, of which they acted as supervisors professor Antti Peltokorpi From Aalto and RT's director of development Antti Aaltonen. In the future, the aim is to collect data even more extensively and use the information to develop work productivity.
More information
Antti Aaltonen, director of development, tel. 040 524 3626
Merja Vuoripuro, communications director, tel. 040 587 2642