Search results

The inevitable change orders in construction projects have either direct or indirect impacts on a project’s duration. Reduced productivity is one of the indirect consequences that lead to major delays in the completion of the project. The purpose of this study is to develop a model that could quantify the impact of change orders on labor productivity and result in the establishment of policies to lessen their effects.

A model was developed to analyze the effects of change orders on labor productivity, then policies for managing their impacts on productivity and project duration were established. A water treatment case study was selected to serve as the scenario in which to implement and evaluate the model and policies.

The results of this study indicated that pressure to adhere to a schedule initially leads to an increase in labor productivity, but it is often followed by a significant drop that is a result of employee frustration. It was concluded that the pressure can be positive if it is applied for a short period of time; however, it continues for a significant length of time, the duration of the project will increase appreciably.

The proposed model can be implemented to identify the factors that affect labor productivity in a construction project. Its utilization will also help project managers assess when change orders occur and determine, which policies will be most effective in optimizing labor productivity.

The building sector is vital to a nation’s economy, as it has a major influence on economic activity and growth, job creations and the advancement of infrastructure. Intricate challenges that are inherent in crises such as the COVID-19 outbreak lead to material scarcities, project delays, labor shortages, escalated expenses, funding challenges, regulatory obstacles and dwindling investment funds, all of which culminate in costs that are in excess of those budgeted. While numerous studies have explored the ramifications of COVID-19 on project budgets, there is little, if any, data available on forecasting the magnitude of this impact.

This investigation seeks to bridge this knowledge deficiency by devising a predictive tool grounded in an ordinal logistic regression method. An online survey was designed and disseminated to gauge the views of construction field experts about the diverse contributors to excessive costs during the viral outbreak, and a predictive tool, crafted from the survey participants’ feedback.

Findings showed that smaller-scale enterprises and contractor-centric establishments faced greater adversities than medium-to-large ones and consultancy-or-owner-type entities.

The insights from this research shed light on the amplified risk of higher project costs amid health crises or analogous events, underlining the imperative need for fortified risk management approaches to bolster project outcomes. By factoring in demographics, this research offers policymakers a refined lens through which to customize interventions and promote balanced and enduring advancement in the construction industry.

In the aftermath of hurricanes, the damage levied on transportation infrastructures increases the timeliness of emergency responses and recovery procedures, making it essential that they are reconstructed as quickly as possible – on time and within budget. The aim of this study was to determine significant performance indicators (PIs) that considerably affect cost and schedule performance as well as reworks in post–hurricane reconstruction of transportation infrastructure including highways, bridges, roadways, etc. Additionally, the determined PIs were clustered to investigate key components.

The root causes of reconstruction projects' poor performance were identified through the existing literature, and 30 transportation infrastructure case studies were analyzed to determine the significant PIs that corresponded to cost, schedule performance and reworks. The factor analysis method was used to cluster the significant PIs and determine the key components affecting them.

Eight key components were found for cost, eight for schedule performance and six for reworks. The key components of cost performance are shortage of resources, information management, coordination, safety, location, quality of materials, quality of resources and project complexity. The key components of reconstruction schedule performance are human resources, risk management, work suspension, material resources, productivity, on-site inspections, geometrical characteristics and level of reconstruction complexity. The six key components of reconstruction reworks are logistic management, pace of decision-making, accommodation for staff, environmental issues, available temporary paths and volume of debris.

The outcomes of this research will assist authorities and decision makers in identifying and evaluating the critical root causes of poor cost performance, poor schedule performance and reworks and will enable them to facilitate the timely and effective allocation of resources.

Effective internal communication facilitates the transfer of data and information among project parties throughout the execution of construction projects. It minimizes the distortion of data and major cost overruns and delays. The aim of this study was to determine main components of the project characteristics that affect quality of internal communication within owners, designers and contractors in construction projects.

Project characteristics that significantly affect quality of internal communication were identified through existing literature. Forty case studies associated with national and international construction projects were gathered. Since data regarding other aspects of collected case studies, which were not included in the case study data, were required, a structured survey was developed and distributed to the primary stakeholders. The factor analysis method was adopted to determine the key components of effective internal communication.

The results demonstrated that project targets, bureaucracy, location and coordination affect the quality of internal communication among owner entities. Additionally, design and technology, clarity of the project’s scope, resources, delivery, construction management and design management affect quality of internal communication within design entities. Qualified field labor, objectives, restrictions, material quality, equipment quality, availability of qualified project managers and equipment turnovers affect the quality of internal communication within contractors.

The findings of this study help project managers evaluate the effectiveness of internal communication of a construction project during the early stages of the project. Additionally, the outcomes guide project managers to allocate sufficient resources to their projects and adopt proactive strategies which prevent/reduce miscommunications and their unintended consequences.

The purpose of this study is to ascertain and list the most effective management strategies in efficiently handling the project complexities to enhance the performance of the project.

To fulfill the aim of this study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted, and the qualitative Delphi technique in two rounds was applied. Participants of the Delphi technique consisted of 12 subject matter experts (SMEs) with cumulative experience of 250 years in working in construction projects. In the first round of the Delphi technique, SMEs were asked to provide complexity management strategies to address the complexities due to 37 complexity indicators (CIs) under 11 complexity categories. In the second round of the Delphi technique, SMEs identified the top three management strategies for each of the 37 CIs.

This study collected the outcome of the two-round Delphi technique and based on the output developed the list of strategies to manage complexities related to each indicator. For example, establishing a well-informed governance team, assigning a Project Manager (PM) when the number of projects is more than one in an organization, and assigning a PM efficient enough to communicate with higher authority effectively will help in managing complexity that arises due to faulty assessment of the influence of a project on the organization’s overall success.

This study will help practitioners in effectively managing the project complexities, and thus will reduce the monetary loss associated with project complexities.

It is estimated that more than half of the construction industry’s projects encounter significant cost overruns and major delays, resulting in the industry having a tarnished reputation. Therefore, it is crucial to identify key project cost and schedule performance factors. However, despite the attempts of numerous researchers, their results have been inconsistent. Most of the literature has focused solely on the construction phase budget and time overruns; the engineering/design and procurement phase costs and schedule performances have been rarely studied. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The objective of this study was primarily to identify and prioritize engineering, procurement and construction key performance factors (KPFs) and to strategize ways to prevent performance delays and cost overruns. To achieve these objectives, more than 200 peer-reviewed journal papers, conference proceedings and other scholarly publications were studied and categorized based on industry type, physical location, data collection and analysis methods.

It was concluded that both the time required to complete engineering/construction phases and the cost of completing them can be significantly affected by design changes. The two main causes of delays and cost overruns in the procurement phase are construction material shortages and price fluctuations. Other factors affecting all phases of the project are poor economic condition, equipment and labor shortages, delays in owners’ timely decision making, poor communication between stakeholders, poor site management and supervision, clients’ financial issues and severe weather conditions. A list of phase-based strategies which address the issue of time/cost overruns is presented herein.

The findings of this study address the potential confusion of the industry’s practitioners related to the inconsistent list of potential KPFs and their preventive measurements, and pave the way for the construction research community to conduct future performance-related studies.