In‐housing or out‐sourcing on‐site materials handling in housing?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover whether on‐site materials handling should be performed in‐house or out‐sourced. This is done by studying visible and hidden costs related to materials handling and of the managers' awareness of these costs.Design/methodology/approach – The data have been gathered through 15 interviews, a number of short discussions on construction sites, and direct observations on six occasions in four housing projects in Scandinavia.Findings – Indirect and waste costs for materials handling on construction sites are unknown and are often underestimated during budgeting, planning, scheduling and organizing construction projects.Practical implications – The short case‐studies indicate that the benefits of out‐sourcing on‐site materials handling outweigh the costs.Originality/value – The solution for materials handling in practice studied in the paper is undergoing rapid development in Scandinavia.

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