A building material evaluation and selection model for the Turkish construction sector.

Purpose — The research project called "Designing a building material relational database management system for Turkish construction sector", aims to join "supply side" and "demand side" in the same environment that works on the subject of building material information in the Turkish construction sector. The paper aims to discuss the project findings. Design/methodology/approach — Data were gathered from the information supplied and demanded from the points of sources, levels and frequency of updating by the help of the questionnaires conducted. The data gathered were integrated into the pre-construction stage and used in the analysis of the process as to how this information was used by the "demand side" for building material information. IDEF-0, a structured methodology for functional process analysis, is used to figure out building material evaluation and selection processes in the pre-construction stage. Findings — Material evaluation and selection process for the pre-construction stage is figured out. Behaviors and requirements of demand-side and supply-side in building material information is studied. Difficulties in supplying and presenting building material information in Turkey are evaluated. Originality/value — Although the subject of the paper is well-known, Turkish practices and problems are evaluated, and an alternative model is suggested for the Turkish construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]