Novel Hybrid Method in Time–Cost Trade-Off for Resource-Constrained Construction Projects

Time and cost are two of the most important issues for construction planning. Nowadays, the relationship between time and cost becomes more crucial due to the competitive conditions. The contradiction of these two project factors which are affected by the various project constraints needs to be balanced. In this study, time–cost trade-off (TCT) problem is considered as a multi-objective problem. To solve TCT, a novel hybrid algorithm (NHA) is suggested. This method, which is developed by hybridization of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm, is compared on the application with standard PSO. NHA, which is expected to be more efficient in terms of avoiding local best points and searching the solution space, also presents shorter and more economical alternatives of the project.