AGC STP Unit 5: Improving Productivity and Project Costs

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This unit equips supervisors with the skills to effectively control costs and improve productivity on construction projects. Participants learn how labor, equipment, scheduling, and change orders affect project efficiency and profitability. The goal is to enable supervisors to anticipate, identify, and address productivity challenges while making informed cost-related decisions.

• Cost Control Systems
   
  • How construction firms track costs and production.
     
  • Using reports to detect variances and project final costs.
     
  • Supervisor responsibility for daily cost awareness.
     
• Labor Productivity Factors
   
  • Impacts of overtime, crew size, continuity, and the learning curve.
     
  • Environmental and site conditions affecting labor output.
     
  • The Hawthorne Effect and human factors in workforce performance.
     
• Continuity & Disruption of Work
   
  • Effects of trade stacking, concurrent operations, and interruptions.
     
  • Causes and consequences of rework and start-stop cycles.
     
  • Strategies for maintaining workflow and minimizing downtime.
     
• Change Orders & Loss of Productivity
   
  • How scope changes influence labor efficiency and project costs.
     
  • Research-backed categories of productivity loss.
     
  • Supervisor strategies for documenting and mitigating change-order impacts.
     
• Equipment Productivity
   
  • Balancing labor and equipment utilization.
     
  • The “10-step equipment productivity improvement program.”
     
  • Cost implications of ownership, operating, and idle time.
     

• Cost/Production Reporting: Practice interpreting cost reports to spot variances and forecast project outcomes.
   
• Productivity Calculations: Worksheets to calculate labor hour losses due to common jobsite conditions.
   
• Scenario Discussions: Case-based analysis of change orders and productivity disruptions.
   
• Equipment Utilization Review: Compare machine vs. labor efficiency and explore downtime costs.