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Design+

ARTICLE
Rating the importance of material selection

and sustainability criteria in building material
selection

Serkan Yildiz*

Department of Real Estate and Development, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Ankara University,
Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Material selection is one of the most critical steps in constructing a building that
is safe, economical, esthetically pleasing, durable, and functional, and ensuring
building sustainability has become an indispensable task nowadays. Multiple
options are available for people interested in owning their own residential property:
(1) Purchasing finished houses; (2) building their own houses, which entails selection
and purchase of building materials; and (3) purchasing unfinished houses and
carrying out large-scale renovations. In this study, a survey with 141 participants was
conducted to identify the extent of importance our respondents attach to 11 material
selection criteria and seven sustainability criteria for building material selection. The
*Corresponding author: survey data were subjected to descriptive and inferential analyses, which revealed
Serkan Yildiz no significant difference in the participants’ opinions according to their demographic
(serkan.yildiz@alumnimail.metu. characteristics. Thus, the results were generalized by determining the relative
edu.tr)
importance of the criteria. Durability and availability of materials and availability of
Citation: Yildiz S. Rating the skilled labor force were identified as the most important material selection criteria.
importance of material selection
and sustainability criteria in building Durability, ease of maintenance, and energy efficiency were determined as the most
material selection. Design+. important sustainability criteria. Although cost is viewed as one of the obstacles to
2025;2(1):4491. sustainable building construction, more than half of the participants stated that they
doi: 10.36922/dp.4491
could bear an additional cost ranging from 5% to 15% for sustainable materials. By
Received: August 10, 2024 comprehensively depicting the perspective of non-professionals, the results of this
Revised: January 15, 2025 study provide a crucial reference for the stakeholders of the construction industry.
Accepted: January 23, 2025
Published online: February 17, Keywords: Building material; Inferential analysis; Relative importance; Sustainability
2025
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms 1. Introduction
of the Creative Commons
AttributionNoncommercial License, At its core, people expect a building to be safe, economical, esthetically pleasing, durable,
permitting all non-commercial use, and functional. In addition to these, sustainability is also indispensable nowadays. To
distribution, and reproduction in any meet all these criteria, the right project must be executed using the right materials and
medium, provided the original work
is properly cited. workmanship. In this respect, material selection is critical in meeting these requirements
of a building. However, the use of hundreds of different materials and products in the
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with construction of buildings makes material selection a complex process.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional This complex process is an important task for designers, contractors, and users. To
affiliations. achieve what is expected of the building, material selection is also directly related to

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 1 doi: 10.36922/dp.4491