Waste-based management in residential construction

The strength of housing construction has a profound effect on the national economy and the society. As a consequence, achieving high productivity, quality, and safety are considered of high priority for this industry segment. This paper proposes to replace the traditional management approach for site operation with a management philosophy that has as its sole and unifying objective the elimination of process waste. It will be demonstrated that a waste-based management philosophy creates a culture of continuous improvements and innovative progress driven by the goal to reduce wastes from injuries to unproductive work activities. Wall framing and masonry construction are used to demonstrate how the waste-based management approach functions. The results of the test case application provide evidence that paying attention to minimizing resource wastes at all levels, from laborer to site manager, will produce drastic effects on productivity, safety, and quality of residential construction.