How to improve productivity in the construction industry

While the UK’s construction industry is worth more than £300bn to the nation’s economy, it is notoriously inefficient. According to ONS data, the output per hour of a UK construction worker is £35.69 - some 13.5% below the national average.

This significant productivity gap has been identified by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) as a critical issue for the industry as a whole, setting a goal to close the productivity gap between construction and the rest of the UK by 2035 and launching a Construction Productivity Taskforce to help tackle the problem.

But what are some of the key drivers of productivity in the construction industry, and how can it be improved?

Productivity in construction is how efficient a company is at completing and delivering the tasks involved in a project within an agreed timeframe. It is calculated by looking at the rate of output – typically a specific task – per unit of input, which is the work, time and materials used.

Productivity is usually measured using KPIs and these KPIs look at how much work is completed with a set amount of time, labour, materials, and other resources. 

As no two projects are the same, construction productivity is harder to define than in other industries, and therefore software can often be used to collate the data and generate performance insights to improve it.

The most effective way to assess it is by examining those metrics over an extended period of time to establish a baseline, but disagreements and confusion can arise when there are variations between different contractors, subcontractors and clients on these figures.

The best way to assess it is by examining costs, work hours, and resources used over time and comparing these numbers to work completed. Eventually, enough data can be collected to set baseline productivity values that indicate how efficiently the team performs.

The variety of conditions encountered also makes it harder to measure construction industry productivity compared to industries like manufacturing, which are more consistent and repetitive. Everything from the weather to leadership skills can come into play, so low productivity in construction jobs doesn’t always come down to the workers themselves.

1. Poor Planning: A lack of planning ahead of construction work starting is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to productivity. Poor pre-planning can lead issues such as incorrect equipment being on site, or those working on the project not having the correct credentials or briefings – all of which can cause delays.
2. Slow decision making: Often caused by a lack of access to information and data, slow decision making can cripple a project’s productivity.
   
   Not only does better access to data ensure that a project moves along at the pace it should, but it also reduces the chance of errors occurring, as well as raising standards across the site.
3. Changes on the project: Changes that occur during a project can significantly slow down productivity. These changes can be out of your control but can also happen due to a lack of planning or design errors.
   
   Regardless of what has caused the changes, the job of the project management team is to ensure that the impact on the project remains on schedule and that productivity is maintained.
4. Fatigue: Even with advances in technology, the construction industry still relies heavily on manual labour, and with that comes fatigue. This has an adverse effect on productivity and the overall safety of the site, so it is important that fatigue management is a key part of any project planning.
5. Supply chain delays: Delays within the supply chain can often be out of the project team’s control, but their impact on productivity can be the difference between success and failure. By keeping on top of material management and ensuring that teams have full visibility of the relevant data, delays and shortages can be prevented.

In the construction industry, competition is high. The sure way to remain profitable is to keep construction productivity benchmarks higher than your competitors.

By utilising technology and data analytics to identify productivity bottlenecks, teams can keep on top of any issues of the project that might be preventing workers from giving their best at work before they become an issue.

Improving productivity in the construction industry is an ongoing process, and our experts are always on hand to help. To find out more, you can also visit our contact page and fill out our contact form.