CE 524 TECHNICAL

ELECTIVE 2
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
MANAGEMENT
 MANUAL LABOR AND CONSTRUCTION
EQUIPMENTS
Manual Labor
Labor is either physical or mental effort that
provides the goods or services in an economy.
A physical work or a work that involves the use of
hands is called manual labor. A person who does a
manual labor, which usually involves hard physical work
that is not skilled, is called laborer, or a construction
helper. On the other hand, a person who does a manual
labor that requires skill is skilled laborer and the one
that requires special skill is specialty laborer .
Division of Labor
In building construction, manual labor is classified with corresponding job
description as follows:
1. Laborers – for hard works (assisting the skilled laborers) like in earthwork,
concrete proportioning and mixing, transporting and curing, demolition,
clearing and grubbing and similar works.
2. Semi-Skilled Laborers - for rough works requiring moderate skill like CHB
laying, leveling and finishing concrete surface, light welding, simple
formworks fabrication, installation and stripping, paint surface preparation
and similar works.
3. Skilled Workers – for fine works requiring high level skill like cement
plastering, tile setting, painting, complex formworks, heavy welding of steel
trusses, columns, beams, finish carpentry, ceiling, roofing, insulation and
other same works.
4. Specialty Laborers – for specialty works that need technical and special
skill like plumbing, electrical, mechanical (pumps, and fire protection,
elevator, escalator), communication installation, sophisticated concrete and
steel moldings, water proofing, landscaping, sprinkler irrigation. Specialty
laborers must be under the direct supervision of an experienced and
competent professional.
LABOR ESTIMATE
Labor estimate involves:
a) Determination of man-hours and
b) Application of labor wage.
Labor man-hours can be estimated by labor productivity
while labor wage must conform to minimum wage
law prescribed by the Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE). The main concern of the
estimator in labor cost computation is the
determination of the total man-hours required to do a
piece of work. Labor man-hours are calculated by
“Labor Productivity Analysis”.