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The cost of construction project highly depends on the requirements of labor for various activities during construction.
There are direct and indirect costs associated with the labor. They are the salary of labors, their accommodation, food, insurance cost etc. Thus it is essential to understand the number labors required for each activity of the construction to estimate the final cost of project.
Labor Requirement for Various Construction Works
There are different types of labors that are required for the construction:
- Skilled labor
- Semi-skilled labor
- Unskilled labor
All these types of labors have different skills and different salaries. Their optimum use in every work in construction is essential to minimize the construction cost.
The table below shows the recommended labor requirement for various civil engineering/building/construction works:
| S.
No. | Description of work | Unit | Labor | Recommended constant in days. |
| 1) | Excavation over areas (hard/dense soil),depth up to 1.5m and removal (up to one meter from edge) | M3 | Mate
Labor | 0.06
0.62 |
| 2) | Excavation in trenches (soft/ loose soil),for foundations not exceeding 1.5m in width and for shafts, wells, cesspits and the like, not exceeding 10m3 and on plan, depth up to 1.5m and removal(up to one meter away from edge) | M3 | Mate
Labor | 0.05
0.50 |
| 3) | Returning, filling and ramming of excavated earth in layers not exceeding 20 cm in depth, watering, well ramming and leveling, lead up to 50m | M3 | Mate
Labor Bhisti | 0.02
0.25 0.02 |
| 4) | Concrete :
Mixing by machine (mixer) at banker, cement concrete (with 20mm graded coarse aggregate) | M3 | Labor
Bhisti Mixer operator Mixer | 0.50
0.10 0.07 0.07 |
| 5) | Mixer mixed cement concrete | M3 | mason
Labor bhisti mixer operator mixer vibrator | 0.10
1.63 0.70 0.07 0.07 0.07 |
| 6) | Reinforced cement concrete in situ in foundations, footings, bases for columns, etc excluding form work and reinforcement. (The constants for items include mixing, pouring, consolidating and curing. This does not include fair finish.) | M3 | mason
Labor bhisti mixer operator mixer vibrator | 0.17
2.00 0.90 0.07 0.07 0.07 |
| 7) | Reinforced cement concrete in situ in suspended floors/roofs excluding form work, and reinforcement. | M3 | mason
Labor bhisti mixer operator mixer vibrator | 0.24
2.50 0.90 0.07 0.07 0.07 |
| 8) | Mortars: Mixing by hand, cement mortar of any mix/proportions (Labor required will be approximately same for different mix proportions.) | M3 | Labor
Bhisti | 0.75
0.07 |
| 9) | Brick work (straight walls): Brick work in walls exceeding one brick thick, in cement / lime mortar (The constants include labor involved in scaffolding.) | M3 | mason
Labor bhisti | 0.94
1.80 0.20 |
| 10) | Brick work in walls, one brick thick, in cement/lime mortar. (The constants could be adopted for brick work with any mix or mortar.) | M2 | mason
Labor bhisti | 0.25
0.40 0.10 |
| 11) | Formwork / Shuttering: a) fabrication and erection with all supports, struts, braces, etc, and dressing with oil as cleaning of formwork: 1) rectangular column and walls 2) suspended floors/roofs 3) sides and soffits of beam | M3
M2 M2 | Carpenter
Labor Carpenter Labor Carpenter Labor | 0.25
0.20 0.23 0.20 0.30 0.20 |
| 12) | Reinforcement: Bar reinforcement including cutting to length, hooked ends, cranking or bending, hoisting and placing in any position, binding wire and holding firmly so as not to be disturbed while placing and ramming of concrete | Quintal | Bar bender
Labor | 1.00
1.00 |
| 13) | Plastering and pointing: a) 15mm thick cement plaster to ceiling including mixing of mortar. b) 15mm thick cement plaster on brick walls (exterior) including mixing of mortar c) Tuck pointing to random rubble masonry in cement mortar including mixing mortar. | M2
M2 M2 | mason
Labor bhisti mason Labor bhisti mason Labor bhisti | 0.08
0.10 0.10 0.06 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.15 0.10 |
| 14) | Damping proof course: a) Laying damp proof course 40mm thick cement concrete including form work and fair finishing to edges and mixing. | M3 | Mason
Labor bhisti | 0.10
0.10 0.01 |
Note: Bhisti means water carrier.
