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HOME > TRAINING > MEASURING PRODUCTIVITY IN CONSTRUCTION

Measuring Productivity in Construction

Dr. Perry Daneshgari and Dr. Heather Moore Mar 24, 2011

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Applying the new ASTM standard E2691-09 for measuring construction productivity at task, project, and
industry levels

The construction market has a new standard for measuring job productivity. The
American Society of Testing and Materials International (ASTM) recently adopted a new
standard for measuring construction productivity at task, project, and industry levels. The
new standard (ASTM E2691-09) is a fast-paced and real time measurement of
productivity, which relies on true input from the field for measuring construction put in
place and reflects on any gains or losses of productivity instantaneously. The new
standard is called job productivity measurement, or JPM. In addition to the rate of
productivity, JPM also measures the change of rate of productivity at the same time it Technical Skills Are Not Enough
measures job progress.
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The motivation for the standard is linked to a widely recognized need for productivity
Code (NEC) requirements.
improvement in construction. What gets measured gets managed, and without a standard
and correct measurement, the industry has suffered for decades. Overall, the United
States has enjoyed one of the highest productivity increases of workforce as compared
with all other nations. The national increase in productivity of all industries, however, is
not mirrored in the construction industry (Fig. 1). According to the National Institute of Join the Discussion on EC&M Talk
Standards and Technology (NIST), the construction industry is a major contributor to the Hot Topics Comments New Topics
U.S. economy; however, its contribution to the national productivity level lags by 10 times
the national average. Construction productivity cannot be improved unless it is correctly Renewable Energy 2

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Fig. 1. Construction productivity levels EC&M Webinars

have not grown as strongly as those in
the manufacturing sector.
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JPM identifies productivity trends of the total job as well as the field response to
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individual cost codes. The graphed productivity trends model the job, enabling you to Data Center Life
visualize, monitor, and root-cause the labor productivity variation from the fields Cycle Services

perspective. This insight into the job provides you with a way to manage the causes of
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labor productivity variation and, ultimately, to manage the relationship between labor
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productivity and job profitability. There is More to a
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Once a baseline construction budget has been established, the work is tracked with White Space; A
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regular frequent updates from the field. While current information comes with every Facility Monitoring and Control
update, productivity trends can be seen in just a few update cycles. JPM projects the
productivity through the end of the job based on individual cost codes, giving early VIEW MORE WEBINARS
warning signals regarding the outcome of the job.

Figure 2 (click here to see Fig. 2) shows a sample of the commercial application of JPM. EC&M TV
With the graph line positioning above the baseline, one can clearly see this project is IDEAL PowerBlade
proceeding more productively than planned. If the graph line fell below the baseline, this Cable Cutters 1
Big enough for any job...
would indicate the project was proceeding less productively than planned. Even more
important than the actual positioning of the line is the trend is the job or cost code
becoming more or less productive as the work proceeds?

Lets take a look at another example. The overall job in Fig. 3 (click here to see Fig. 3) is
showing a special cause variation evident in the downward trend of five consecutive data More

points, each lower than the last (the difference from expected productivity is lower and
BROWSE ALL VIDEOS
lower each week). To further identify the causes of variation in a job, the job can be
segregated into cost codes. By separately evaluating the individual components of the job
(click here to see Fig. 4), it becomes clear that most of the job is progressing as expected,
with the exception of one cost code.

In this example, we can see the installation of conduit is the underlying source of the

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Job Productivity in Construction 3/22/17, 10:02

productivity decline.

This job productivity measurement process begins with the development of a common
language a defined cost codes system of high level activity codes. These cost codes
should be used consistently across all projects on a company-wide (or division-wide)
basis. If your company has different divisions doing other types of work, you may need to
use a different set of cost codes. However, you should limit each division to about 15 to
20. Of this total, only seven to 10 different codes should generally be used to break down
any one job.

Old School Measurement Techniques

One of the most misunderstood concepts in the construction industry is the difference
between productivity and production. Due to the nature of accounting principles used to
manage company profitability, most measurements of job productivity really are EC&M Learning Center
bookkeeping measurements of production and not measurements of productivity.
Understanding the 2014 NEC,
The existing methods claiming to measure productivity primarily focus on accounting Volume 1 (Articles 90 to 480)
measures such as earned value analysis (EVA) and lack the capability to report the This resource has proven itself in the
ongoing events on the job site in time to make decisions or adjustments that would field and in the exam room. This latest

improve productivity. Accounting methods are primarily after-the-fact reporting of edition will provide you with a rock-solid
foundation...
quantitative or earned value measures and offer no information for improving
productivity of the construction project as it unfolds. Understanding NEC Requirements
for Grounding vs Bonding
JPM begins at the job planning stage of a project with the development of the work One of the most confusing areas of the
breakdown structure (WBS), which translates a job from the estimate to the field baseline trade continues to be grounding and

labor hour budget. Initially, your project planning team segregates the job into the cost bonding, which is why this book needs
to be in the hands...
codes according to the type of work being performed, creating a very high level work
breakdown structure of the major activities on the job. This work breakdown structure Changes to The NEC 2014
also includes activities from the fields perspective, which are more than likely not Don't let the scale of the code changes
thought of during the estimate. For example, activities such as layout, labeling, cleanup, intimidate you, this book will get you up

and commissioning are all identified up-front, so their contribution to the final to speed on the most essential...

installation can be measured and tracked.

BROWSE ALL TITLES
On the job, the electrician reports the Observed Percent Complete for each of the tasks
he has worked on during the update period. These completed percentages are compared
with the high level cost code labor hours submitted weekly for payroll. If the observed
completion is outpacing the planned hours, the job is deemed to be ahead of schedule and
therefore more productive.

On any job, two to four cost codes will generally be the driving cost codes that
encompass the majority of the work and are weighted accordingly in the graph reporting.

As noted in ASTM Standard E2691, 2009, JPM is a new standard practice for measuring
construction productivity by measuring work performed compared to construction put in
place. JPM measures quality of the construction outcome by measuring observed
completion of the project as accepted by the customer. Use of this practice will reduce the
need for end-of-the-job inspection on construction projects by providing ongoing and
periodic feedback on errors, repairs, and rework. These issues will be resolved as they are
identified with JPM as the job progresses.

By measuring productivity and its changes during construction projects, you can identify
problem areas and resolve them more quickly, resulting in better productivity on job
sites. Contractors who apply JPM tracking will be able to improve their cash flow and
profitability.

Daneshgari is president and CEO of MCA, Inc., Flint, Mich. Moore is an associate
implementer. They can be reached at perry@mca.net and hmoore@mca.net.

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