Optimization Model for Construction Processes in Residential Buildings

Abstract

Residential building projects have a considerable economic standing in construction industry in Gaza Strip. Many previous researches demonstrated that conventional planning and scheduling methods that are commonly used do not achieve optimum resource plans, which have direct influence on the project costs and duration. This paper integrates simulation and optimization of construction processes as a key solution for planning and scheduling residential building projects in terms of time and cost with the optimum number of resources. A general simulation model was developed for typical residential building projects with most possible scenarios. The model was developed by formulating a conceptual model that represents the typical construction processes. The conceptual formulation was then modeled using ARENA simulation software. The simulated model was verified and validated. The optimum number of resources crews for the various activities were determined based on the minimum cost and availability constraints using OptQuest. A visual basic interface was developed to facilitate using the model. The developed model was found to be an effective tool for planning and scheduling residential building projects with complex relationships between activities and considering the uncertainties in activities' durations. The optimization process achieved 7.5% decrease in the total cost from the actual cost through finding the optimum number of resources. The practical application of the model helps the construction firms and the planners to build effective plans with better accuracy for the utilization of resources in residential building projects