There is a need to better understand the capacity of the U.S. construction industry to rebuild post-disaster, when there is increased demand for construction resources. The current U.S. residential housing stock is particularly vulnerable to wind damage, with tornado events causing catastrophic damage to homes each year. A method is proposed to analyze construction capacity, defined for the first time here as the maximum building volume a regional construction industry can supply with available resources. Building on prior literature from construction supply chain management and supply chain risk management theories, salient regional supply chain elements are proposed (including both material and labor resources) that affect construction capacity. In addition, a method is proposed to analyze this capacity of communities that have been struck by recent tornado events to confirm if the anticipated construction capacity was able to meet the anticipated demand for replacement residential housing units. The corresponding research question addressed by this paper is: how can pre-disaster construction capacity be measured based on regional construction industry supply chain resources? Understanding construction capacity will ultimately assist communities in pre-disaster planning and resiliency efforts and may also improve coordination with local construction industry businesses and suppliers. In addition, the research will extend construction supply chain management theory by examining construction supply chains at the regional rather than project level. This research will also add to existing supply chain risk management theory by analyzing pre-disaster regional construction supply chain coordination mechanisms.
Arneson, E., Javernick-Will, A., Hallowell, M. and Thomas, W. (2016). “Construction Capacity: The Role of Regional Construction Supply Chain Resources in Post-Disaster Rebuilding.” Engineering Project Organization Conference. Cle Elum, WA.