Optimizing Cash Flow of Construction Projects through Different Bid Pricing Schemes

Abstract

Successful construction projects should meet the planning and design objectives within budget and time constraints. Planning and scheduling for the construction projects and their resources are essential tasks for overall project success. Cash, in particular, is an important resource for construction companies. It is worth noting that while pricing bill of quantities in unit price contracts, the contractor might ignore the related cash flow which may be insufficient for contractor. Further, the resulted financial threats also might be ignored. Therefore, it is important for the contractor to have an overall optimized system to improve all financial aspects related to the contract. This paper presents a cash flow optimization model that aims at maximizing cumulative concurrent investment profit (CCIP) and minimizing maximum monthly overdrafts (OMax). The model utilizes Genetic Algorithms for optimization. The performance of the developed model is validated using an actual case study of "Beni Suef Power Station Project" located in Beni Suef, Egypt.

Keywords

• construction projects
• cash flow, concurrent investment, cost estimating, bill of quantities, multiobjective optimization, non sorting genetic algorisms