Cost reallocation in social housing projects considering the desired values of end-users

Purpose – Challenges in social housing projects (SHP) in Brazil are mainly related to design and construction quality and cost constraints. Value delivery to end-users must be a goal, however, jointly considered with the restrictions of such developments. In the SHP context, tight cost constraints frequently have a negative impact on delivering value to end-users. The purpose of this paper is to put forward the proposition that value enhancement can be achieved by reallocating costs to better meet the attributes most valued by end-users, without increasing initial project costs. Design/methodology/approach – A set of tools used in value methodology (VM) is adopted to assist a systematic process with the goal of attaining an optimal functional balance between costs and value delivery to end-users. Desired values were indicated by users in a previous study, resulting in an Index of General Significance. A single case study was carried out to test the approach in a SHP. Opportunities for improvement guided by the desired values of end-users were evaluated. Findings – The VM approach suggests that initial project cost constraints do not necessarily induce value loss for end-users, a recurrent problem that designers and stakeholders frequently face in such contexts. Improvements were made possible through simple cost reallocation. Research limitations/implications – A single case study was carried out to validate this approach. To create a generalized approach for other similar context further tests should be undertaken. Practical implications – The proposed VM approach was shown to be efficient in assessing decisions which designers and stakeholders must take, bearing in mind cost constraints and improvements in value delivery to end-users. Social implications – Currently in Brazil, end-users’ perceptions are rarely considered into the design process of SHP. The research shows that the proposed approach could be used in similar contexts of social housing to enrich the design process and attain higher satisfaction levels. Originality/value – An important lesson learned was that subjective parameters based on the desired values of end-users could be combined with technical and functional analysis, thus an objective improvement process was devised. The approach can have clear implications for the product development of SHPs to best match the end-user's value propositions, without neglecting financial and economic needs in such a context.