Developing a mobile database applicaton on material cost for residential construction projects

• Main Authors: Aloria, Aaaron Edward., Arcega, Vic Nicholle, Batungbacal, Paolo Joseph, Ortego, Christopher John
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Subjects: Building materials; Building > Prices; Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/6447
• Institution: De La Salle University

The construction industry does not fully undertake the usage of mobile computer technology as compared to other industries. Moreover, construction estimating applications used by Filipinos somehow become inaccurate and unreliable since they are not based on the Philippines' constructions industry context. Hence, a lot of people nowadays encounter problems with the planning phase of construction projects given the rise and fall of construction materials' prices. The unstable prices of construction materials greatly affects cost estimation of projects since building materials account for 50 to 60 percent of the total project cost. The researchers in this study carried out canvassing of prices of construction materials from four locations namely Metro Manila, Pampanga, Cebu ands Davao, which are considered the major hubs in each region of the Philippines. Based on the canvassing of prices, the researchers were able to come up with the construction material price database which was then incorporated into a mobile phone application. This mobile phone application is capable of giving users the prices of construction materials based on the four locations at a press of a button. The application also considers inflation based on an inflation trend created by the researchers. The inflation refers from historical data. The application is available from the Play Store for android users free of charge. Regarding application performance, the application was subjected to evaluation through a conducted survey. The survey was participated by both professionals and non-professionals. Overall, the application was able to meet the standards of the evaluators who comprise of engineers, contractors, students, as well as citizens who have no direct knowledge with the field of construction proving the application to be an efficient, easy-to-use, practical tool for construction materials' price reference. Negative feedbacks from the survey resulted from the initial setting of limitations of the study while others were addressed through the recommendation part of the paper.