Recently there has been growing interest for using mass timber as a building material. Ithas been gaining momentum as an innovative alternative to traditional concrete and steel building methods, finding application in a growing array of construction projects ranging from mid to high rise buildings. Despite these efforts, developers/owners are still reluctant to choose mass timber as mainstream building material for the construction. Various significant barriers are faced by the community in migrating towards mass timber construction which majorly consists, lack of mass timber knowledge and case study projects which makes it difficult for the community to study the overall feasibility of the new construction method. This study aims to mitigate these barriers by conducting holistic exploratory study using total cost of ownership analysis for a 14 story 277749 sq. ft mass timber building to be constructed in Madison. To analyze the financial and economic impact of using mass timber as a building material, this study compares capital cost and total cost of ownership of functionally equivalent building design with alternative materials like hybrid steel/timber, concrete and steel. This would enable owners/developers to realize the impact of using mass timber as a viable construction method. It was realized that front end cost of mass timber was around 10% more costlier than concrete but it saved around 8.4% in longer term. Furthermore, we explore stakeholder interests through a qualitative and quantitative interview tailored to case study buildings, offering valuable insights into their inclinations and priorities. The insights gleaned from this thesis will provide valuable contributions to construction stakeholders, offering fresh perspectives on the use of mass timber building materials.
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