Labour is a crucial resource for construction projects. More risks are associated with this than with other resources, such as materials and equipment. Contractors need tools to make more precise estimations concerning labour productivity that will allow them to minimise these risks and manage labour resources in the most efficient way possible. To achieve this, use can be made of construction simulation techniques, however, depending on the complexity of the problem, applying a single simulation approach might not be enough to appropriately model construction. Hybrid simulation approaches seem to be suitable because they combine the advantages of their components to reflect the dynamic nature of construction processes better and consider the number of uncertainties. Hybrid approaches can combine traditional discrete-event simulation (DES), agent-based modelling (ABM) or system dynamics (SD) with each other or with, for example, fuzzy logic (FL) to better capture the factors influencing productivity. To address these issues, a framework for modelling a masonry construction process that uses hybrid simulation is presented. Because masonry works are one of the most labour-intensive construction processes, and skilled labour resources are scarce, the use of such a framework would help contractors to make more realistic schedules based on accurate labour productivity estimation; thus, enabling them to utilise their resources more efficiently.

Good pre-construction planning efforts are a vital part of the effective management and delivery of construction projects. In order to prepare more accurate schedules and cost calculations, realistic productivity rates to improve precision are needed. The use of simulation for modelling the elements of construction processes can assist with this aspiration. The application of hybrid simulation approaches is particularly appropriate as they can capture complicated behaviour, uncertainties, and dependencies. This paper discusses the use of one such approach combining discrete-event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD) to determine more accurate productivity rates. The DES component models the operations with the workflow of the tasks performed. Its input consists of the task elements with their durations and resource information. The factors that influence the productivity rates are taken into account with the help of the SD component. Input for this part of the model includes the factors as well as considerations of their interrelationships and effects. In this work, a case study of such input data for masonry worksfor brick-and blockworkis presented. It shows the input data and its integration in the DES-SD approach for modellers to determine more realistic productivity rates.