Evaluation of the construction equipment replacement policies of construction contractors in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

The objective of this thesis is to study the equipment replacement methods and practices of major contractors in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, to present the most popular practice of the contractors.; The needed data were collected via a structured questionnaire from 21 contractors out of 70 contractors in the population. The contractors were divided into three grades based on their annual work volumes. The collected data were analyzed using the SAS software which produces statistics, frequency, and cross tabulation charts.; The elements of the equipment replacement policies were cross-tabulated against the grades of the contractors for finding possible significant differences in the contractor's practices. The equipment replacement methods along with the factors that are considered during the financial evaluation of the equipment replacement proposals were identified and studied in order to find the best replacement practice. Finally, the findings of this study were compared with findings of similar studies conducted in USA for finding significant commonalities and differences in equipment replacement practices.; Although only one-third of the contractors have written equipment replacement policy, all the contractors practice almost similar and uniform procedures for selecting, acquiring, operation and maintenance, record keeping, and replacement analysis. It was interesting to notice that contractors in Saudi Arabia follow replacement procedures that are almost similar to those procedures followed by contractors in USA.