Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon

The critical housing shortage in some cities of developing countries such as Cameroon generates an ever-growing desire to increase the housing supply. Due to the complex legislature system of Cameroon, housing policies and high costs associated with the acquisition of housing from the formal sect...

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Main Authors: Manjia, Marcelline, Pettang, Chrispin, Abanda, Fonbeyin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.usm.my/42182/
http://eprints.usm.my/42182/1/ART4_jcdc16-2.pdf
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author Manjia, Marcelline
Pettang, Chrispin
Abanda, Fonbeyin
author_facet Manjia, Marcelline
Pettang, Chrispin
Abanda, Fonbeyin
author_sort Manjia, Marcelline
building USM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The critical housing shortage in some cities of developing countries such as Cameroon generates an ever-growing desire to increase the housing supply. Due to the complex legislature system of Cameroon, housing policies and high costs associated with the acquisition of housing from the formal sector, the majority of urban residents are resorting to what are termed “informal practices”, such as self-construction. This mode of housing provision, although diffcult, has become the dominant mode of housing provision within the construction sector of most developing countries. As an informal sector, practices are characterised by unclear accounting methods, including labour costing and by often-present sub-par management techniques, which lead to delays in the completion of some projects. To address these issues, a method of estimating labour cost based on a developed matrix model is presented in this paper. Through the introduction of a fnite dimensional vector space composed of standard tasks, the model presented directly relates the quantity of work to the labour cost. Application of this new approach to a case study in Cameroon shows how labour costs could be reduced by 37% compared to the simple matrix method examined by other researchers.
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spelling usm-421822018-09-28T07:46:19Z http://eprints.usm.my/42182/ Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon Manjia, Marcelline Pettang, Chrispin Abanda, Fonbeyin TH1-9745 Building construction The critical housing shortage in some cities of developing countries such as Cameroon generates an ever-growing desire to increase the housing supply. Due to the complex legislature system of Cameroon, housing policies and high costs associated with the acquisition of housing from the formal sector, the majority of urban residents are resorting to what are termed “informal practices”, such as self-construction. This mode of housing provision, although diffcult, has become the dominant mode of housing provision within the construction sector of most developing countries. As an informal sector, practices are characterised by unclear accounting methods, including labour costing and by often-present sub-par management techniques, which lead to delays in the completion of some projects. To address these issues, a method of estimating labour cost based on a developed matrix model is presented in this paper. Through the introduction of a fnite dimensional vector space composed of standard tasks, the model presented directly relates the quantity of work to the labour cost. Application of this new approach to a case study in Cameroon shows how labour costs could be reduced by 37% compared to the simple matrix method examined by other researchers. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia 2011 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/42182/1/ART4_jcdc16-2.pdf Manjia, Marcelline and Pettang, Chrispin and Abanda, Fonbeyin (2011) Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries , 16 (2). pp. 69-90. ISSN 1823-6499 http://web.usm.my/jcdc/vol16_2_2011/ART4_jcdc16-2.pdf
spellingShingle TH1-9745 Building construction
Manjia, Marcelline
Pettang, Chrispin
Abanda, Fonbeyin
Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title_full Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title_fullStr Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title_full_unstemmed Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title_short Urban Self-building Labour Cost Modelling In Cameroon
title_sort urban self-building labour cost modelling in cameroon
topic TH1-9745 Building construction
url http://eprints.usm.my/42182/
http://eprints.usm.my/42182/
http://eprints.usm.my/42182/1/ART4_jcdc16-2.pdf