Feasibility study of a sustainable housing project from a builder's perspective

Global warming and climate change have far-reaching effects on our planet and have become the defining issues of our time. As one of the main polluters on the planet, the construction industry has a major role to play in terms of environmental impact reduction practices. This work intends to contribute to combat those serious impacts on the environment and make our cities more sustainable and oriented to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The present study assesses the feasibility of a housing project with sustainable parameters from a builder's perspective. Through forecasted cash flows, we compared a building already constructed using conventional systems with a building project of the same structure, but incorporating those sustainable parameters identified as the most important by the LEED standards and potential customers. Despite the relatively higher costs of sustainable construction, results indicated the viability of the project. Additionally, a factorial structure based on exploratory and confirmatory analyses is provided to evaluate two surveys used to determine those relevant sustainable factors which generate the greatest positive impact, and which are more valued by buyers. This statistical approach allowed the factors (latent variables) to be extracted in each of the two data samples, and it was found that the factorial structure reflects the underlying dimensions in accordance with the study results. Finally, our technical and financial studies demonstrate that green projects are feasible and there are opportunities to develop the green housing market.