The life cycle energy of a building consists of construction energy, operational energy and demolition energy. Construction refers to initial construction as well as recurring maintenance and repair work. Initial construction represents manufacturing of construction materials, transportation and site related on-site construction processes. Only a few studies focused on life cycle energy use of Indian residential buildings. However, the energy use due to on-site construction processes is either ignored or not modelled with adequate level of detail at present. This paper presents a case study on life cycle energy analysis of a residential development consisting of 96 identical apartment-type homes located in Southern India. Energy use due to transportation of materials and construction equipment use at site are quantified. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to study the influence of building service life and monthly electricity use per home on the relative significance of construction energy and operational energy. The construction energy is found to be a significant component of life cycle energy of residential buildings with partial or no air-conditioning. Further, reduced building service life period and increased energy efficiency achieved in the operational phase makes the construction energy as important as the operational energy with respect to life cycle. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.