One of the challenging aspects in planning construction projects is finding the optimum allocation of the constrained labor resources. Different scheduling methods have been established to minimize activities durations and lags in projects with constrained resources. However, most of the approaches assume single-skilled labor. In the literature, utilization of multi-skilled labor gives flexibility in the construction that allows for improvement in productivity and reduction in indirect labor costs; that is why researchers recently have proposed new techniques employing the multi-skilling concept. In this research, a model was developed to optimize the labor resource allocation of a typical multistory building to obtain the minimum project duration. The model takes into consideration the probability that any labor resource can work as any other labor resource with a dynamic effect on its productivity. The model is run using genetic algorithms to optimally allocate the available different labor resources in the required activities. By comparing the model's results to those of another model with the same case but with single-skilled workforce, it was clear that in the multi-skilled labor model, the duration was decreased significantly without compromising the labor cost.
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