In-housing or out-sourcing on-site materials handling in housing?
Journal article, 2013

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover whether on-site materials handling should be performed in-house or out-sourced. This is done by studying visible and hidden costs related to materials handling and of the managers' awareness of these costs. Design/methodology/approach – The data have been gathered through 15 interviews, a number of short discussions on construction sites, and direct observations on six occasions in four housing projects in Scandinavia. Findings – Indirect and waste costs for materials handling on construction sites are unknown and are often underestimated during budgeting, planning, scheduling and organizing construction projects. Practical implications – The short case-studies indicate that the benefits of out-sourcing on-site materials handling outweigh the costs. Originality/value – The solution for materials handling in practice studied in the paper is undergoing rapid development in Scandinavia.

Author

Samuel Lindén

Per-Erik Josephson

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Construction Management

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology

1726-0531 (ISSN)

Vol. 11 1 90-106

Areas of Advance

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Production

Subject Categories

Construction Management

DOI

10.1108/17260531311309152

More information

Latest update

4/6/2022 5