Underlying the construction process, from conception to demolition, is a lot of useful economics. And economics should not only be seen as dealing with the appraisal of costs only. Construction Economics is a branch of economics that studies patterns of development and the effectiveness of capital construction. It is concerned with the allocation of resources.

If one takes the time to think about life, you will find that many of the world’s resources (factors of production such as land, labour, capital and enterprise) are finite, yet people have infinite wants. Our problem is scarcity and people need to make careful choices in order to deal with scarcity. One could say that economics is the science of choice, meaning that when we make choices, there are other wants and desires that are being foregone. But really does it deal with?

In brief, construction economics deals with following:

• The organizational forms of management.
• The planning of capital investment and construction production.
• Research in the economic efficiency of capital investments.
• Scientific and technological progress in construction.
• Works out the economic principles underlying construction planning.
• Standardization of construction work.
• Industrialization of construction and its implications.
• Developing a system of interrelated cost and physical standards for technological and economic regulation and management of construction production in all phases of the investment process.
• Resources of capital construction and the effectiveness of their utilization.
• Development of material and technical basis for construction.
• Improvement of wage system.
• Organisation of the system of material and technical supply.
• It also means economic accountability within the industry.
• National economic planning.
• Methodological basis for determining the effectiveness of technical solutions to problems in the designing of construction projects and in the performance of construction work.

There is quite a bit of information that you can find on construction economics. Take a quick look through the internet and libraries, or check in on this website soon and we will have some more to share.