The construction industry is one of the largest sectors in the world and is known to be worth well over USD 12,000 billion as of 2019. This enormous net worth is down to the fact that construction projects are being completed round the clock in nearly every corner of the world.
In this article, we discuss the four major types of construction projects that are commonly undertaken by corporations. We highlight the specifics of each type of project and detail the facets that make each of these projects unique.
In this section, we highlight the four major types of construction projects. These are:
The first type of construction is known as residential building construction. This includes all types of construction projects that have to do with building, remodeling, or repairing units that are predominantly used for housing individuals and families. Residential buildings can also be used to store various types of equipment and supplies as well.
Some of the most popular types of residential building projects include high-rise housing towers, apartments, condos, nursing homes, townhomes, and dormitories. They also include the construction of garages and other types of outbuildings such as utility sheds to store various objects.
In order to support the housing projects, additional infrastructural requirements are also undertaken in this department. This includes ensuring the availability of water lines and electricity lines for the houses.
Engineers and architects are the masterminds behind the design of residential building projects. The execution aspect is taken up by construction companies who then look to employ various subcontractors in order to tackle specific elements of the project.
For smaller, single-family construction ventures, the builders end up executing on the design and construction aspects of the project.
In Singapore, residential construction varies by the project. This entails various cost, but we've made a guide on the cost breakdown here.
The second type of construction project is referred to as institutional and commercial building construction. This includes various types of buildings such as sports complexes, shopping malls, schools, hospitals, retail centers, stadiums, and commercial skyscrapers.
Much like residential building projects, institutional and commercial building also includes creating new structures from scratch and renovating existing buildings as well.
Generally, the planning and execution of these projects comes down to the nature of the project itself. For example, retail stores are usually constructed by a company or the private holders responsible for the store.
Larger projects such as the construction of schools and hospitals are financed and executed by local or national authorities, sometimes in conjunction with private parties.
Specialized industrial construction makes for the third type of construction variation. In this type of construction, the construction process requires specialized skills and a competent labor force. The technical aspect of these projects make them unique, and this stands true with regard to the design, planning, and construction of these buildings.
Such types of projects are usually executed by large corporations or industrial giants. An example of this would be the construction of oil refiners by a large chemical corporation. Even the setting up of nuclear facilities or hydroelectric plants also falls under this category.
The final type of construction project is known as infrastructure and heavy construction. This category includes all the various projects that are responsible for the growth and development of the infrastructure of a region. As this is a wide category, it includes various sectors such as transportation, communications, and technology.
A bulk of such projects are often executed by the government bodies themselves and are mainly undertaken in the interest of the public. Although such projects tend to be truly enormous in scale, the profit motive is almost entirely eliminated from the equation and the focus remains on keeping the costs to a minimum.
The construction of pipelines, transit systems, drainage lines, bridges, tunnels, and highways all tend to fall under this broad category itself.
The construction industry is largely responsible for taking the world out of the dark and middle ages and bringing us into the 21st century. The type of projects being tackled by construction agencies around the world are truly immense. We see this when examining the number of skyscrapers in the world currently as every big city has at least a few large construction projects to boast of.
Construction equals growth, and there’s no turning back now!