Abstract—A cost control of a construction project is a crucial management task which is a key to success of the business. It requires a number of up-to-date input data consistently throughout the construction phase. Small and medium sized contractors (SMCs) with limited personnel and investments normally fail to monitor and control their project costs. Sources of actual cost data are often scattered in various billing documents. The timeliness and the accuracy of these input data directly affect the effectiveness of the control task. The collection and preparation of the actual cost data become critical drawbacks. The Barcode-based Cost Control System (BCCS) is developed on the spreadsheet software for SMCs. BCCS compares the actual costs to-date against the budgets which are arranged from the bills of quantity and the common cost account structures. Results from the system development and verification with construction project cases find that BCCS can help reduce time-effort and input-errors compared to the manual method. It is an easy-to-use but efficient tool for SMCs to control their project costs.
Index Terms—Barcode, construction project control, cost control, small and medium-sized contractors.
The authors are with School of Civil Engineering, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhonratchasima, Thailand (e-mail: vacharapoom@sut.ac.th).
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Cite: Vacharapoom Benjaoran, Anucha Kaewsikhoa, and Wisitsak Tabyang, "A Development of Practical Cost Control System for Small and Medium-sized Contractors,"
International Journal of Engineering and Technology vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 243-247, 2012.
