International Journal of Advances in Mechanical and Civil Engineering, ISSN: 2394-2827 Volume-3, Issue-4, Aug.

-2016

COMPARISON OF THEORETICAL MAN-HOUR VALUES AND

PRACTICAL MAN-HOUR VALUES IN TURKEY
1
AYNUR KAZAZ, 2TURGUT ACIKARA, 3BAYRAM ER
1,2,3
Civil Engineering Department, Akdeniz University, Turkey
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
1

Abstract—In construction projects most of the resources are used in the construction phase. Therefore, the cost and time of
each construction activity are the main determinants of the total project cost and time. In this aspect, for an effective project
management it is crucial to calculate the cost and time of activities accurately. The main data for calculating the time and
accordingly the cost of an activity is the labor productivity rate. Since, labor productivity is affected by many factors; its value
rate varies from region to region. This circumstance, forced academicians and industry participants to measure labor
productivity rates for a specific region. One of the commonly used terms for expressing labor productivity in construction
industry is the man-hour value. This value is simply defined as the time required for a labor to finish unit work amount and is
widely used by planning engineers for cost and time analysis. Although, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization
publishes every year the man-hour values for many construction activities; it is believed that these values are not appropriate
for all regions in Turkey. In this study it was assumed that labors can better evaluate the time they require to finish unit work
amount compared to on site measurements. In this context, actual man-hour values of specified construction activities were
determined by interviewing 126 labors employed in Antalya, Turkey and compared with those values of the Ministry of
Environment and Urbanization. The results revealed that, there are significant differences between these man-hour values and
for an accurate calculation the values of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization must be updated for each region in
Turkey.

Index Terms—Construction Labor Productivity, Construction planning, Man hour values, t- test

I. INTRODUCTION periodically monitored throughout the construction

phase. For this purpose labor productivity and labor
Time, cost and quality are the 3 main conflicting efficiency variances must be expressed with numerical
constraints of a construction project. In this aspect, the values. The man-hour value is a widely used term in
primary goal of project management is to manage the literature and construction industry for expressing
these constraints within the project’s scope. labor productivity. In this study man-hour values of 5
Especially, in today’s competitive environment different construction activities were investigated. For
finishing a project in the shortest time with lowest cost this purpose 126 craft workers employed in 5 different
and highest quality became an important goal for the construction project in Antalya were interviewed by
project managers [1]. To achieve this goal, the assuming that they can better estimate their
resources used in construction activities must be productivity rates compared to on site measurements.
utilized effectively throughout the project life. Then the results of the survey were compared with the
Construction activity resources are categorized under man-hour values published by the Ministry of
3 groups named as labor, material and equipment [2]. Environment and Urbanization and the differences
Since labor is affected by many internal and external between practical and theoretical values were
factors, it has the most uncertain nature among these discussed.
resources. Even under the same working conditions,
the productivity rates of labor may vary [3]. In II. MAN-HOUR VALUES AND UNİT PRİCE
construction industries of many developed and ANALYSİS
developing countries, labor productivity is one of the
main factors causing time and cost overruns [4]-[8]. Man-hour value is simply defined as the time
The labor cost of a project comprises approximately required for a labor to finish unit work amount. A
20 to 50% of the total cost [9]-[11]. Therefore, an construction project involves numerous activities that
increase in labor cost will also increase the total cost of have different characteristics. To calculate the total
the project significantly [12]. In other words, time and cost of a project the time and cost of each
improving the labor productivity is one of the effective activity must be considered. Man-hour values are the
ways of cost reduction [8]. Similarly, labor main data used by the planning engineers in the design
productivity has also a significant impact on project phase. These values are used for establishing the
time. As known construction projects constitutes of schedule, determining the number of craft workers and
many dependent and successive activities. Therefore, estimating the labor cost. In addition, man-hour values
any delay in these activities will also cause a delay in are also a common measurement method for
the succeeding activity and accordingly, in the total evaluating the productivity rates during the
project time. To prevent time and cost overruns in a construction phase. In this sense, periodically
construction project, labor productivity rates should be measurements of man-hour values will provide a

Comparison of Theoretical Man-Hour Values and Practical Man-Hour Values in Turkey

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International Journal of Advances in Mechanical and Civil Engineering, ISSN: 2394-2827 Volume-3, Issue-4, Aug.-2016

comparison of labor productivity rates in different comparing the practical man-hour values of all
times and accordingly, will ease determining the activities with those of the Ministry of Environment
reasons of the fluctuations. Labor productivity is and Urbanization would be unpractical. In context of
affected by many internal and external factors which the study, 5 different activities namely erecting flat
make it inconstant throughout the construction phase surfaced formwork for concrete and reinforced
[2]. Therefore, labor productivity has a complicated concrete, erecting curved surfaced formwork for
non-linear characteristic in the construction industry. concrete and reinforced concrete, bending and fixing
In this context, classical statistical methods such as the ribbed bars with diameter of 8-12 mm, scaffold
normal distribution are not appropriate to explain installation and soldier pile installation were
labor productivity [14]-[15]. investigated. These activities are labor intensive and
As mentioned before, man-hour values are used for common almost in every construction project. In Table
expressing the labor productivity rates. Therefore, the 1 the name of the activities and their codes are shown.
dynamic nature of labor productivity also makes the
man-hour values dynamic. This dynamic nature TABLE I
complicates the estimation of the man-hour values. In Task names and their codes in UPA
this aspect, expressing the man-hour values by a
constant number is not acceptable for the planning
engineers in this dynamic nature [16]. Regarding this
issue, different comparative studies were conducted in
UK, Germany and France [17]-[20]. The result of
these studies revealed that the man-hour values
predicted by the planning engineers from these 3
countries differ significantly in some activities such as
reinforcement fixing, formwork erecting and concrete
pouring. Also in the Turkish construction industry the
man-hour values depends on the experience of the The necessary data for estimating the practical
planning engineers and hence, significant differences man-hour values of the activities were obtained by
may be observed among the same activities. Imitation interviewing 126 craft workers employed in 5
of man-hour values obtained from the previous different projects. After these interviews minimum,
projects is another method used for estimating the mean and maximum man-hour values for each activity
labor productivity rates. However, the project specific were determined. During the calculation of mean
characteristics of each project will also cause values the same number and qualification of craft
differences between the man-hour values of a specific workers determined in UPA were used. The
activity in this method. Although man-hour values are procurement time was neglected and only working and
inconstant, planning engineers rarely update labor idle durations were included to the man-hour values.
productivity rates [21]. One sample t-test was used for the statistical analyses
In Turkey, unit price analysis published by the of the obtained data. This test allows comparing a
Ministry of Environment and Urbanization are used simple value with the mean value of a sample data. In
for preparing the tender documents of public projects. other words, one sample t-test is used for comparing
Similarly these analysis are also used in private the observed and expected values. In this study,
projects with some modifications since there does not man-hour values obtained from the interviews and
exist any alternative resource [3]. In these analyses UPA were accepted as observed and expected,
besides material and labor cost, also the man-hour respectively.
value of each activity is calculated. Although
man-hour values are region dependent, unit price IV. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
analysis published by the Ministry of Environment
and Urbanization embraces all regions of Turkey by In Table 2 the number and qualifications of craft
neglecting the regional differences[23]. In addition, workers together with their man-hour values of each
the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization only activityare comparatively shown. For example,
updates the cost data of the analyses without changing according to UPA to erect 1 m2 flat surfaced
the man-hour values. This circumstance makes these formwork both 1 skilled and 1 unskilled labor have to
analyses outdated and accordingly inapplicable for the work 0,75 hours which makes the total time 1,5 hours.
Turkish construction industry [3]. On the other hand, the survey result revealed that the
actual time needed for the same activity was 1,13
III. METHODOLOGY hours. Indeed, all of the expected man-hour values of
the investigated activities were higher than the
Construction projects involve numerous different observed ones. In other words, craft workers had a
activities and in this context approximately 1400 higher productivity rate compared to expected ones.
construction activities were analyzed by the Ministry The main reasons of these differences are the low
of Environment and Urbanization [3]. Therefore, wage policy and inflation in Turkey [2].

Comparison of Theoretical Man-Hour Values and Practical Man-Hour Values in Turkey

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International Journal of Advances in Mechanical and Civil Engineering, ISSN: 2394-2827 Volume-3, Issue-4, Aug.-2016

Table II.
Comparison of Theoretical and Practical Man-hour values

Theoretical Practical
Total Total
Task man-hours man-hours
Title of theoretical practical
code in Labor value for a value for a Unit
activity Man-hours Man-hours
UPA craft craft
value value
worker worker
Erecting flat 1 skilled
0.75 0.52
surfaced worker
formwork for
21.011 concrete and 1 1.50 1.13 (Hour/m2)
reinforced unskilled 0.75 0.61
concrete worker

Erecting 1 skilled
1.50 1.34
curved worker
surfaced
formwork for
21.021 1 3.00 2.71 (Hour/m2)
concrete and
unskilled 1.50 1.37
reinforced
worker
concrete

1 skilled
Bending and 25.00 8.35
worker
fixing the
1 helper 60.00 9.18
23.001/2 ribbed bars 125.00 25.61 (Hour/ton)
2
with diameter
unskilled 40.00 8.08
of 8-12 mm
worker
1 skilled
0.225 0.22
worker
Scaffold
21.065 2 0.55 0.39 (Hour/m2)
installation
unskilled 0.325 0.17
worker
1 skilled
1.05 1.04
worker
Soldier pile
14.023/2 1 2.10 1.96 (Hour/m2)
installation
unskilled 1.05 0.92
worker

In Table 3 the results of the one sample t-test are expected ones, respectively. The reason why the UPA
shown. As seen from the table, in 3 activities the gaps of these two activities loosed their validity and
have been proved to be not statistically significant currency is that the Ministry of Environment and
(p>0,05). In other words, there is not a statistically Urbanization neglects the technological and
significant difference between the observed and methodological advancements in the construction
expected man-hour values. In this context, the UPA of industry and only updates the material and labor costs
these activities should be revised instead of renewing. every year without changing the man-hour values.
On the other hand, the gaps have been proved to be In addition, the man-hour values estimated by the craft
statistically significant (p<0,05) in the other 2 workers for the same activity had also varied. For
activities. example, the maximum rate of “erecting flat surfaced
formwork for concrete and reinforced concrete” is
This result revealed that the expected man-hour values almost 7 times higher than its minimum rate (Table 3).
of these 2 activities have lost their validity and Indeed, the differences between the craft workers’
currency which means that their UPA must be estimations increase as their standard deviation
renewed. As seen from Table 3 the observed man-hour increases. These variations can be explained by
values of “bending and fixing the ribbed bars with differences of some factors such as motivation, wage,
diameter of 8-12 mm” and “scaffold installation” working conditions, region etc.
activities are almost 5 and 1,5 times higher than the

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International Journal of Advances in Mechanical and Civil Engineering, ISSN: 2394-2827 Volume-3, Issue-4, Aug.-2016

Table III.
One sample t-test results
Task code in
21.011 21.021 23.001/2 21.065 14.023/2
UPA
Erecting flat Erecting curved
Bending and
surfaced surfaced
fixing the
formwork for formwork for Scaffold Soldier pile
Title of activity ribbed bars
concrete and concrete and installation installation
with diameter
reinforced reinforced
of 8-12 mm
concrete concrete
Productivity
1.50 3.00 125.00 0.55 2.10
rate in UPA
Average of
Craft workers
1.13 2.71 25.61 0.39 1.96
productivity
rates (ACPR)
Minimum rate 0.48 0.84 8.00 0.24 1.37
Maximum rate 3.20 4.57 48.00 0.58 2.37
Difference 0.37 0.29 99.39 0.16 0.16
Standard
0.691 1.15 10.73 0.114 0.462
deviation
Lower Limit of
95 %
0.89 2.10 20.00 0.32 1.573
confidence of
ACRP
Upper Limit of
95 %
1.47 3.31 31.20 0.46 2.355
confidence of
ACRP
p-value 0.057>0.05 0.380>0.05 0.000<0.05 0.003<0.05 0.600>0.05

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be updated by considering regional differences.
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