Green building standards recommend use of a variety of new thermal insulation products. However, durability of wooden framing used in conjunction with new insulation materials has not been thoroughly examined, specifically in reference to interstitial condensation. This research used a single-sided hot-box design to measure moisture content of wood framing during a 60-day period. The resulting moisture content of the wood framing was compared as tested with spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane versus fiberglass batt insulation. The average moisture content of framing insulated with cellulose and polyurethane was greater than framing insulated with fiberglass. Based on the results from this research, the use of spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane insulation materials may increase the risk of structural durability. Green building standards, such as LEED for Homes or the National Green Building Standard, emphasize creating energy efficient structures to limit negative impact on the environment. Green building practices employed to increase energy efficiency of the building enclosure may overlook possible adverse effects that these practices may have on structural durability. Because spray-applied cellulose and polyurethane insulation increase moisture content of wooden framework within building enclosures, it can be deduced that energy efficient insulation may increase risk of moisture-related biodeterioration of the building enclosure. After review of points awarded for insulation materials within LEED for Homes and the National Green Building Standard, results from this study imply that the National Green Building Standard does not emphasize durability of wooden structures in their guidelines at the present time. / Master of Science

The goal of this study was to determine if innovative building methods and materials have the potential to lead to better productivity. Furthermore, this study endeavored to establish the premise that builders who use pre-fabrication, pre-assembly, and modular materials and building methods will perform more productively than those builders who don't. These ideas were pursued by first reviewing the history of home building in the United States to determine trends and patterns in innovation. The experimental phase of the study was accomplished by interviewing local and regional builders about their actual methods of construction used for residential construction. These methods were then analyzed to determine the contribution of these methods to the builder's productivity. Not surprisingly, builders choose one specific type of construction to build a majority of their projects. They use these methods because they are comfortable with them and confident in them; they know they work, and they believe that they are an efficient means of producing a house. It was determined that residential builders in these rural university towns tend to use traditional wood framing construction methods above all of the other available methods. However, there are builders who do use less-conventional methods including: wall panels, pole construction, and modular unit construction. The actual building methods used by builders are somewhat determined by several factors, including: project type, company size and structure, and area of the country. Furthermore, the builders who choose to use non-traditional construction methods with regularity tend to have higher rates of productivity as well as the ability to take on more projects. Higher rates of productivity and the ability to take on more projects have the potential to give builders a competitive advantage over their competition. / Master of Science

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has entered the construction industry and has permeated the commercial sector. Research is continually performed to expand the capabilities and applications within the industry. However, research has historically been mostly limited to the commercial sector and has seen little expansion to other sectors of the industry including the residential sector. The potential cause for this may be the limited number of industry professionals who utilize the software to the benefit of their companies. The focus of this study was specifically the custom home building sector of residential construction in the United States because of the unique and potentially complex nature of each project. The study was performed using a Delphi Panel, which utilizes a panel of experts to reach a consensus on a given subject. In this study, the goal was to reach a consensus on the most common uses challenges and benefits of BIM within the residential sector. In the first questionnaires, the experts were asked to identify, with a series of demographic questions including the number of employees in their company, the number of homes they build each year, and the average sale price of each home. Each expert's responses to the demographic questions were cross-referenced with the responses concerning uses, benefits, and challenges to provide other industry members wishing to implement with relatable demographic references to compare with their own company demographics. The experts then identified how they used BIM, what benefits they had seen, and any challenges they faced. The uses, benefits, and challenges identified in this questionnaire were ranked in the following questionnaire to identify the most common uses, greatest benefits, and greatest challenges.The top uses identified by this expert panel were design and visualization, the creation of construction documents, and quantity take-offs. The most common benefits identified by this panel were client visualization, plan accuracy, improved client communication, and ease of plan revisions. The most common challenges identified by this panel were high software costs, the steep learning curve when training employees, and the time-consuming nature of creating and maintain models correctly.

Sustainable development reduces construction waste by 43%, generating 50% cost savings. Residential construction executives lacking adequate knowledge regarding the benefits of sustainable development practices are at a competitive disadvantage. Drawing from the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge acquisition within the bounds of sustainable residential construction. The purposive sample size of 11 executive decision makers fulfilled the sample size requirements and enabled the extraction of meaningful data. Participants were members of the National Home Builders Association and had experience of a minimum of 5 years in residential construction. The research question addressed how to improve knowledge acquisition relating to the cost benefits of building green homes and increase the adoption rate of sustainable development among residential builders. Data were collected via semistructured telephone interviews, field observation, and document analysis. Transcribed data were validated via respondent validation, coded into 5 initial categories aligned to the focus of the research, then reduced to 3 interlocking themes of environment, competitive advantage, and marketing. Recommendations include developing comprehensive public policies, horizontal and vertical communications networks, and green banks to capitalize sustainable development programs to improve the diffusion of green innovation as a competitive advantage strategy. Business leaders could benefit from this data by integrating sustainable development practices into their business processes. Sustainable development reduces operational costs, increases competitive advantage for builders, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Implications for social change increase energy independence through conservation and developing a legislative policy template for comprehensive energy strategies. A comprehensive energy strategy promotes economic development, technological gains in all business sectors within the energy industry, and reduces energy costs for consumers.

Taiwanese residential construction experienced a massive rise and then fall in residential unit completions during the period 1992-1997. Completions rose nearly 200 per cent between 1992 and 1994 alone. A series of questions arise in relation to this phenomenon (referred to here as 'the Peak'): Why did it occur? How was this increase in construction achieved in such a short time? What were its impacts? Was it a supply-side or a demand-side phenomenon? And what are the significance and implications of the Peak? This thesis adopts a distinct methodological stance, being explanatory and interpretative rather than concerned with theory construction and testing. It is argued that this is appropriate as the Peak was a singular phenomenon, and not part of the regular fluctuations in a residential market cycle. Consequently, it is treated as an event and event-triggered, rather than as part of a continuing time-series. In addition, given that it was influenced by an enormous array of exogenous factors, including politics, the economy, and government regulations and policy, as well as by demographic, historical and geographical factors, a holistic approach is employed, as opposed to a reductionist one. The purpose is to build as complete an interpretation as possible. A major trigger for the Peak was the announcement of a residential density regulation (vohme control) in early 1992. This regulation, which threatened to dramatically reduce the profitability of development land, caused a massive acceleration in the rate of residential development approvals and ensuing completions. The regulation is viewed as interacting with a loosening of development and construction credit restrictions in late 1990 to precipitate a massive Peak in residential construction. This took glace over a very short period of time. This is analysed for each city and county in Taiwan as well as for Taiwan as a whole, the same factors applying throughout the country with the exception of Taipei City. In Taipei City, the peak occurred in a milder form in the 1980s rather than in the 1990s, due to an earlier implementation of volume control. This provides support for the overall interpretation of the thesis. After its announcement a grace period before the regulation was to come into effect allowed existing developers and landowners to propose and execute land development and construction under the old regulation. This period also induced new developers into the market, in part based on an expectation of higher unit prices resulting from volume control. This created a huge new stock of smaller-size apartments. Accompanied by falling prices, this outcome is consistent with the supply-side explanation of the Peak. Additional evidence of a supply-side phenomenon includes the high vacancies and unsold developer inventories that resulted. The rush to construction under the old regulation meant that the demand and supply market feedback loop could not effectively operate. The presence of simultaneous production peaks in all cities and counties is just one piece of evidence that this feedback loop was ineffective. A pooled cross-sectional time-series model, based on supply and demand factors of all cities and counties during 1982-1998, was used to further analyse this model of the Peak. Again the results are consistent with the supply- side interpretation. While credit loosening and volume control triggered the Peak, it is the existence of huge production flexibilities in the residential construction industry that enabled such a massive and rapid increase in construction. These flexibilities flowed, in part, from a dominant reinforced concrete construction method, as well as the Taiwanese subcontracting system, and residential construction industry networks. It is argued that these networks provided a form of quasi-public good that could be exploited. These same factors also facilitated the rapid entry of new developers into the industry. Conversely, this was associated with a decline in construction quality, as the limits of flexibility were reached. Some evidence for this was revealed by the 1999 earthquake. Imputed construction costs rose enormously during the Peak, with profits necessarily declining under the combined pressures of falling prices and rising costs. This resulted in bankruptcies and other exits from the industry. The impacts of oversupply -such as a high vacancy rate, growing developer inventories and falling prices -are expected to be long-term. The vacant stock is calculated as equivalent to ten to twelve years of pre- Peak construction. This thesis concludes that the Peak was a discontinuity phenomenon. It was triggered by a unique set of events, rather than being part of a continuous historical development. While developer behaviour was individually rational, collectively their decisions were disastrous for themselves and the industry

This research initiative attempts to empirically determine, with reality-based evidence from un-biased sources, the cost disadvantage, energy advantage, and expected pay-back period associated with building an above-code residence in Victoria, BC. In addition, this initiative created a much-needed benchmark for contractors to gain a firm understanding of the construction details required to achieve the various levels of the “Step-Code” in the newest edition of the BCBC. It was important to gain this information specific to Victoria B.C. to make an appropriate estimation of the actual “cost challenge” for building above code in the local housing market. This was accomplished through: a simulated tendering process with local contractors, an energy analysis of a case-study residence with the same floor plan, and an in-depth study into the variables governing time-to-amortization. The contractors provided quotes for an “above code” residence (ACR), and a minimum-code residence (MCR) with the same floor plan. The results were then compared to the as-built construction costs of the residence. When compared to the MCR, it was found that the ACR has a cost-disadvantage of approximately 22.5% ($74,400), an energy advantage of 22.5 kWh/m2/yr , and a payback period of over 79 years when a fuel inflation rate of 2% is considered. However, many of the components in the ACR assemblies were either for aesthetic appeal (metal-roofing), or comfort (floor-cavity insulation), and therefore it was possible to reduce the cost-disadvantage to just 2.1% ($7,759), while maintaining an energy advantage of 15kWh/m2/yr and step-level 3 designation. This was dubbed the hybrid-residence (HR) as it employed a combination of above-code and minimum-code construction assemblies. The HR has a pay-back period of approximately 16 years when the same inflation rate is expected in the price of fuel. / Graduate

The topic of this diploma thesis is the development of the construction of residential properties in Brno – Jundrov. The work describes the gradual development of build-up area in individual time sections. From the 13th century to the present. The subject of the description is the gradual expansion of development, which is accompanied by the development of the municipality's infrastructure. This development is divided into a historical context. The thesis includes used building methods and forms of residential buildings. It also contains a description of interesting structural features and their visual impression. Last part of the description is the possibilities of building for the future

The main topic in the licensing debate is whether licensing affects construction quality. Available literature and previous studies indicate that it does not. The real question is not whether licensing improves quality, but whether the improving quality is the actual purpose of licensing. There is little information available on the purpose of licensing as defined by state licensing departments as well as a general lack of information on how states evaluate whether licensing is fulfilling the intended purpose. In order to effectively resolve some of the issues surrounding the construction licensing debate, the true purpose of licensing and the methods used to evaluate licensing must be defined by state licensing departments, not the industry. The sharing of such information could lead to better construction regulations, improved evaluation techniques, further research, and ultimately, a resolution of the licensing debate. State licensing departments indicated the purpose of licensing as well as methods of evaluating licensing currently used by state licensing departments. Contrary to popular thought, the true purpose of residential general contractor licensing (as defined by state licensing departments) is not to improve construction quality but to protect the consumer's health and life. The license debate will continue as long as there exists a discrepancy between what the industry thinks is the purpose of licensing (improve quality) and what the purpose truly is (protect the consumer). If the main purpose of licensing is, as the states expressed, to protect the consumer, then policy must reflect that idea. Protecting the consumer can be accomplished through mandatory building code inspections without a barrier to entry such as licensing. The information gained from the study provides a foundation for further research on licensing issues that will benefit the construction industry, the economy, and society alike.

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According to production process theory, customization is directly related to cost and inversely related to volume, efficiency, and productivity. However, customers generally desire products that are individually tailored to their wants and needs. For this reason, as residential contractors grow, they struggle to meet customers' demands for flexibility. This struggle to increase customization is not unique to the construction industry and many other industries have studied this problem in depth. While the inverse relationship between customization and cost is generally true, mass customization can enable increased customization with limited or no increased cost. The residential construction process employs many mass customization enabling principles, including modularity and product family design. However, the preconstruction process fails to employ these same principles. The purpose of this study was to explore how mass customization principles can simplify customization in the residential preconstruction process. Two rounds of interviews were conducted with residential construction industry preconstruction experts. Using their input, a process for implementing mass customization was developed. The results demonstrate that implementing mass customization principles can greatly simplify the purchasing, estimating, and option pricing processes for residential contractors. However, mass customization also significantly affects company structure, cost control strategies, trade relationships, and leanness. This research is enlightening to residential contractors struggling to manage customization. It also provides direction for software developers targeting the residential construction processes.