Determining residual value Assessing the residual value of construction materials

When a building is demolished, many potentially reusable building materials are lost due to
the complexity and labor required to remove them. Aside from these technical aspects, there
is also a financial aspect. What is the value of these materials in the current market? This study
aims to determine this using the concept of residual value. By creating a framework that
determines the residual value by considering the current quality, detachability, regulations
(law and legislation), culture (mindset), and information known about the material. This can
be used to determine the value and cost necessary to restore the material to a usable
condition. Apart from that will the model also be used to foresee with what changes the
residual value can become positive and create a healthy business case. Where in the current
situation reuse of materials is still not feasible. This is done with the method of System
Dynamics and System Thinking which can determine the influences of different aspect on the
bigger picture.
To do this, the residual value and the important factors that determine the residual value were
first determined. These factors are the most important elements that can potentially render
the building element worthless. These factors were determined through 17 expert interviews
combined with a literature review. Finally, these 5 factors were used to create a framework
to first calculate the residual value of the material in the current scenario and then show the
impact of these 5 factors on the residual value. The framework is intended to show how, for
example, the degree of detachability can affect the residual value in 5/10/15 years.
The entire process and methodology that led to this framework is also presented in the thesis.
By the chapters. The first chapter begins with the introduction and causes of the problem and
the research, followed by the literature and methodology before the creating of results begins.
The investigation begins with the interviews, followed by the determination of the factors
from both the literature and the interviews. The creation and validation of the framework is
then described in the next two chapter, after which a conclusion is drawn followed by
recommendations and limitations.