Introduction
Resource management is one of the key success factors that allow construction contractors to remain competitive in today’s construction business environment. Proper resource management helps to keep the operational expenses of the project within budget and the schedule on time (Cheng and Tran 2014; Damci et al. 2013; Hossein Hashemi Doulabi et al. 2011). Construction resources consist primarily of manpower, equipment, materials, funds, and expertise. Obviously, proper management of these resources plays a significant role in the successful accomplishment of any project.
One of the most common problems faced by construction project managers is a scarcity of resources. Timing the need for resources should be determined during project scheduling. However, project schedules generated using network scheduling techniques, such as PERT and CPM, often cause resource fluctuations that are impractical, inefficient, and costly to implement (Martinez and Ioannou 1993). In fact, resource fluctuations become a troublesome issue for contractors because hiring and firing the workers necessary to harmonize with fluctuating resource profiles is impractical (Christodoulou et al. 2010). Thus, contractors are inevitably burdened by a certain percentage of idle resources during