Managing a construction site can be challenging, especially when deadlines are missed and costs increase. But to avoid these problems, being committed to increasing productivity in civil construction is essential.

Knowing how to do this is important to take action with adjustments before issues compromise the project. 

In this article, we will present the main indicators and how to calculate them to optimize the performance of your construction site.

Continue reading and see in detail: 

• What is productivity in civil construction?

• Main productivity indicators in civil construction

• How to monitor productivity in a more practical way?

• Benefits of the management indicators panel

• How to measure productivity in civil construction

• Reduce the need for on-site visits for monitoring your construction by up to 50%!

What is productivity in Civil Construction?

According to the Brazilian Chamber of Industry of Construction (CBIC), productivity in civil construction is understood as the relationship between the amount of services performed and the resources used for its execution, including labor, materials, and time.

In this sector, productivity can be analyzed in different ways:

• Labor productivity: the amount of production generated by each worker or team. For example, how many square meters of masonry the masons can build in a day;

• Physical capital productivity: the efficiency with which equipment and machinery are used in production. This may include the analysis of how much each of them contributes to the total;

• Productivity of productive processes: the efficiency of the methods and processes used in construction. This may include the analysis of how the stages of a project are organized and executed.

Main productivity indicators in Civil Construction

In civil construction, some of the main productivity indicators include:

1. Productivity indicator, also known as IP

The calculation is done as follows: IP = Resource or effort / Product or result.

2. Labor indicator

For this indicator, the Unit Production Ratio, also called RUP, is used. Its calculation is done as follows:

RUP = Man-hours (Hh) / Quantity of services performed (QS)

Within this indicator, you can calculate in various ways, because there is:

• Cumulative RUP: it considers what went right and wrong in the construction, i.e., the total accumulated. It is important for budgeting;

• Potential RUP: refers to the ideal productivity that is expected to be achieved during the execution of a service, under ideal conditions, without interruptions or obstacles.

This indicator is associated with work cycles in which all factors that could negatively impact execution are absent, such as delays, communication failures, logistical problems, or lack of resources.

3. Material usage indicators (CUM)

One of the frequently used indicators is the Unit Consumption of Materials (CUM), which is calculated as follows:

CUM = Quantity of material (Qmat) / Quantity of service (Qservice).

4. Equipment productivity

Assesses the yield of equipment used on the site, such as excavators, cranes, etc.

Productivity is the amount of service (Q) that a piece of equipment can perform in a given time. 

This depends on two factors: its capacity (C) and the frequency (f), that is, how many cycles it can complete in a period of time. The general formula is:

Q = C × f

And you can also calculate variations, such as: 

- Maximum productivity (theoretical): Refers to the maximum yield that the equipment can achieve under ideal conditions, considering the shortest possible cycle time (t_min):

Maximum Q = C × 1/t_min

- Effective productivity (real): Represents the actual yield of the equipment on site, accounting for delays, breaks, or unforeseen circumstances that increase the cycle time (t_ef):

Effective Q = C × 1/t_ef

5. Rework rate

Indicates the percentage of activities that had to be redone due to errors or failures.

Rework rate = Volume of reworked work / Total volume executed × 100

6. Safety index (accident rate)

The work accident index is an important indicator, and NBR 14280 is the Brazilian standard that sets criteria for recording and analyzing work accidents. 

One of the calculations is the frequency rate that measures how many accidents occur in relation to the number of hours worked. This indicator is useful for understanding the frequency of accidents in a specific company or project. See how to measure: 

TF = Number of accidents with time off × 1,000,000 / Total man-hours worked

7. Deadline compliance

Assesses how much the project adheres to the schedule:

Deadline compliance = Planned deadline / Actual deadline × 100.

Regarding this indicator, you can use the Construct IN platform to monitor your construction site. In addition, we have a feature for construction scheduling where you can follow in real-time without the need to use formulas.

How to monitor productivity in a more practical way?

Using the management indicators panel, also known as a dashboard. It is a visual tool that gathers and presents key performance metrics in one place.

With our Construct IN platform, you access a dashboard with the main information about your construction projects.

There, you track the construction summary, the number of reports, days remaining until project completion, RDO, and much more. 

See more in the video:

Benefits of the management indicators panel

Implementing an indicators panel brings various benefits to organizational management:

• Facilitates decision-making: by centralizing important information, managers can perform faster and more accurate analyses;

• Allows access to information: improves internal communication and promotes an organizational culture focused on results;

• Saves time and resources: automates manual tasks, allowing employees to focus on more strategic activities;

• Reduces risks: with updated data in a single panel, it is possible to identify risks early and develop preventive strategies;

• Greater integration between sectors: promotes employee engagement and collaboration among different areas of the company.

How to measure productivity in civil construction

To measure productivity in civil construction, the following steps are recommended:

• Define clear indicators: choose which metrics will be used to evaluate productivity;

• Collect data regularly: implement a system to record data on hours worked, costs, and progress of the projects. You can rely on the help of our remote monitoring platform for this;

• Analyze the data: use analytical tools to interpret the collected data and identify trends or issues;

• Compare with benchmarks: compare the results obtained with industry standards or internal goals to assess performance;

• Adjust processes as necessary: implement improvements in processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Reduce the need for on-site visits for monitoring your construction by up to 50%!

Save time and money spent on travel! With the Construct IN project management software, you will be able to monitor the progress of your construction remotely, using 360° images and videos and complete reports, such as: RDO, Photographic Report, among others.

Integrate BIM, centralize all information in one place, and track detailed dashboards!

- Read also: 7 steps to implement technology in civil construction