Analysis of technology, time and costs of three methods of building a single-family house: traditional brick, reinforced concrete prefabrication, timber frame
 
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Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Institute of Civil Engineering, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2022-06-13
 
 
Final revision date: 2022-11-02
 
 
Acceptance date: 2022-11-22
 
 
Publication date: 2023-06-30
 
 
Archives of Civil Engineering 2023;2(2):23-39
 
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ABSTRACT
The article presents a comprehensive analysis of technology, time and costs of three methods of building a single-family house; traditional brick, reinforced concrete prefabrication and timber frame. The goal of this study was to determine if prefabricated and timber frame building methods and materials have the potential to replace traditional method of construction in the context of cost and time. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis was performed, including a list of benefits of each of the analysed construction technologies and a quantitative analysis in which the cost of finished houses per 1 m2 of usable area was compared. The analyses were conducted for two single-family houses with similar characteristics using scheduling and cost estimation software. The conducted analyses have shown that the shortest time to build a house is in the prefabricated reinforced concrete technology. The used construction technology from ready-made prefabricated elements affects the time of building house and thus, the costs of its construction. The construction time for the house in case of a timber frame structure and made of ready-made reinforced concrete prefabricated elements is similar but the cost of a timber frame structure is much higher. It takes longest time to build a house in traditional brick technology and requires the involvement of the largest financial resources from all three analysed construction technologies. Despite this, traditional brick technology is the most used in construction in Poland and other Central and Easter Europe countries. This is due to the widespread belief of investors about the durability of a building made in this technology and the habits of investors resulting from a long-standing tradition of construction. However, the study’s results in the world showed that a change in build technology is a step in addressing the concerns of poor quality and reduce construction costs and time, increasing the construction sector’s productivity and sustainability.
eISSN:2300-3103
ISSN:1230-2945
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