Systematic Quality Cost Evaluation Model for Multi-Story Residential Building Construction

Quality in residential building construction is critical for ensuring occupant safety and health, structural durability, and minimizing lifecycle costs. To achieve such quality outcomes, improvements must be grounded in systematic performance assessments and benchmarking against established standards. One such standard, CONQUAS, is a well-recognized tool for quality benchmarking in construction; however, its applicability in developing countries such as India is limited due to differing construction practices and materials. In response to this gap, the present study aims to develop a context-specific benchmarking tool to evaluate and rate the quality of residential building construction in India. Quality-related attributes were first identified and grouped into four major components and 15 sub-components. These attributes were then prioritized using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on pairwise comparisons of expert-assigned scores. A cost-wise analysis was also conducted to understand the financial implications of key quality parameters. The outcome of the study is a rating model for benchmarking the quality of multistoried residential buildings in the Indian context.