Purpose A “pre‐project peer review” (PPPR) is conducted by a construction company or CM‐at‐risk firm to mitigate or reduce project risks prior to committing to a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) or lump sum. The purpose of this paper is to find out the common PPPR practices that may affect the outcome of a GMP/lump sum contract and to provide guidelines to the construction industry for PPPR implementation. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to the top 400 construction companies listed by Engineering New‐Record that also includes the top 100 construction management firms . The closed survey method was used. Respondents were asked to select from multiple answers to each question. The survey preparers worked on the predetermined answers carefully to ensure that respondents are comfortable with their selections. For some questions, respondents were allowed to provide their own answers in addition to the selection. Findings Even though conducting formal PPPRs is not common practice in the industry, the results confirm the necessity and importance of this process in GMP or lump sum contracts. The other findings provide information about the current practices related to PPPR implementation. For example, more companies prefer conducting PPPRs on an informal basis; the PPPR team in most companies is composed of professionals in the local office with day‐to‐day responsibilities; the cost of PPPRs is included in the budget as part of overhead; and finally, a follow up process to PPPRs is conducted by many companies and is considered to be a critical by even those companies that do not conduct PPPRs. Originality/value A literature survey indicates that there are no published studies related to PPPRs. The study reported in this paper fills this gap.
Building up knowledge stocks in a firm is achieved through organizational learning, an important activity in a rapidly changing and competitive business environment. This paper investigates the impact of organizational learning on the performance of architectural design firms in Turkey. A questionnaire survey was administered to Turkish architectural design firms to collect information about the extent of learning at individual, project, and organizational levels and to measure the performance of the firm. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Three hypotheses were tested to explore the interrelationships between learning at different levels and firm performance. The findings indicate that the extent of learning at the individual level positively affects the extent of learning at the project level, which in turn affects learning at the firm level. It is the extent of learning at the firm level that governs the firm's performance, while learning at individual and project levels have an indirect effect.
Assessing the impact of delay and resolving disputes are contentious issues since courts and administrative boards do not specify standard delay analysis practices. First, the advantages and disadvantages of widely used delay analysis methods, including the as-planned versus as-built, impact as-planned, collapsed as-built, time impact, and productivity analysis methods are summarized. Fifty-eight claim cases associated with time-based disputes in government work during the 1992–2005 period are extracted and analyzed to observe issues in time-based claims, including the reasons why they occur and the common practices in their resolution. The effects of various factors on the selection of a delay analysis method are examined. These factors include the type of schedule used, the schedule updating practice, the use of existing versus newly created schedules, and the availability of expertise, information, time, and funds. A project management system that makes use of regularly updated network schedules, and that maintains adequate project records should allow a scheduling expert to select a delay analysis method that would make a claim quite convincing.
Compared to other categories, the Energy and Atmosphere category contributes the most to the maximum obtainable points in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification system. The objective of the study was to identify the extent to which project teams take advantage of the credits in the Energy and Atmosphere category of LEED. This study analyzes the performance of practitioners in achieving points in the Energy and Atmosphere credits of LEED-New Construction (NC) 2009 for 1500 buildings that received LEED certification in the US. For a better understanding of the credit patterns, the differences in the performance of practitioners are investigated relative to certification levels and project ownership. Achievement in credits is calculated in terms of percent of maximum points (PMP), since the maximum achievable points differ for each credit. Practitioners’ achievements in the credits were ranked as follows: (1) enhanced commissioning, (2) optimized energy performance, (3) enhanced refrigerant management, (4) green power, (5) measurement and verification, and (6) on-site renewable energy. The largest achievement differences were observed in the on-site renewable energy credit. Concerning building ownership, investors were found to optimize mostly energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy, but to mostly skip enhanced refrigerant management. Performance in the measurement and verification credit was similar for all owner types, whereas investors performed differently from corporations, and government agencies in the enhanced commissioning credit. Practitioners who recognize these priorities and differences are expected to be better positioned to make sustainability-related decisions in building design and construction.
Obtaining, handling and distributing information among participants in the building design process has become more difficult with increasing project complexity. In individual areas such as scheduling, estimating and drafting, it is possible to have access to computerized tools but it is clear that there is a gap in architects’ offices regarding the integration of these tools into a unified system. Architects work closely with engineers, clients, suppliers, and public authorities. Managing the information flow among these participants may not be much of a problem in small offices. But the larger architectural offices face serious management‐related problems in the design process because of the lack of an efficient information system. This paper presents a computer‐based information system called ASAP that was developed to respond to the stated problem of large architectural offices. The conceptual framework as well as a description of the prototype are presented in this paper.
The organizational design of subcontracting in the construction industry has received limited attention. This article integrates transaction cost economics and resource-based view to investigate how the governance capabilities of the general contractor impact the organizational arrangement of subcontracting and how the goal orientation of project moderates these relationships. Regression analyses were conducted on information collected by a questionnaire survey administered to a sample of 279 respondents who were employed by Chinese general contractors and who were privy to strategy information in construction projects. The results showes that the general contractor with strong governance capabilities tends to increase the extent of the work to be subcontracted and the dispersion of subcontractors used in projects. Moreover, these relationships change when the goal orientation in projects differs. In projects that display an exploitative goal orientation, the positive impact of governance capabilities on the extent of subcontracting will be weakened while the impact on subcontractor dispersion will be strengthened. In contrast, the relationship between governance capabilities and the extent of subcontracting will be stronger, and the relationship between governance capabilities and the subcontractor dispersion will be weaker in projects that exhibit an explorative goal orientation. The findings contribute to the subcontracting literature by distinguishing between the extent of subcontracting and subcontractor dispersion and by highlighting the importance of the general contractor's governance capabilities and project goal orientation when setting up a subcontracting arrangement.
The accurate prediction of the future condition of bridge components is one of the vital parts of any bridge management system (BMS). Two different methodologies are proposed to determine the deterioration rates of bridge components after improvement works. Ratings data associated with 2601 bridges for which records were available in the Illinois Structure Information System database in the period 1976 to 1998 were analyzed and the results of the two methodologies are compared. Both methodologies consistently showed that the rate of deterioration of reconstructed bridge decks is remarkably faster than the rate of deterioration of new decks.
In submitting conference proceedings to <i>Engineering Proceedings</i>, the volume editors of the proceedings certify to the publisher that all papers published in this volume have been subjected to peer review administered by the volume editors [...]
Age-dependent failure in the construction industry is explored over two 11-year periods (1973-1983 and 1984-1994) by analysing the age distribution of failed construction companies in each year and computing age-specific failure probabilities over a 10 year period (1985-1994). The conflicting perspectives of organizational theory are reconciled by taking advantage of the complementary nature of the adaptationist and organizational ecology theories while the effects of the characteristics of the construction industry are also considered. The research findings reveal an age-dependent business failure pattern in the US construction industry where the risk of failure increases initially with increasing age, reaches a peak point and decreases thereafter as companies grow older. Newness of a construction company which implies lack of organizational learning and lack of legitimacy, appears to be the main factor explaining this pattern.
In this study, neural networks were used to predict the outcome of construction litigation. Disagreements between the owner and the contractor can arise from such considerations as interpretation of the contract, changes made by the owner, differing site conditions, acceleration and suspension of work, and so forth. When there are disagreements between the contractor and the owner, the result is the inefficient use of resources and higher costs for both the owner and the contractor, as well as damage to the reputation of both sides. Neural networks may help to predict the outcome of construction claims that are normally affected by a large number of complex and interrelated factors. Data composed of characteristics of cases and circuit and appellate court decisions were extracted from cases filed in Illinois appellate courts in the last 12 years. A network was trained using these data, and a rate of prediction of 67% was obtained. If the parties to a dispute know with some certainty how the case would be resolved if it were taken to court, it is believed that the number of disputes could be reduced greatly.
Learning lessons from past experiences, thereby avoiding the same mistakes and repeating successes achieved in the past can enhance a construction company's competitiveness in the marketplace. Almost every existing lessons learned system in the construction industry either tries to solve design-related problems or is limited to a specific type of project. The construction industry has been inadequate in capturing the lessons learned from its projects relative to construction management practices. The objective of this study is to create a lessons learned system that allows a construction company to acquire, store, retrieve, and disseminate lessons learned about construction management practices. For this purpose, construction management practices were categorised into 12 main categories that were in turn broken down into five hierarchical levels of subcategories; the relationships between the subcategories were systematically identified; and the information was organised into a database named 'CMAID' that allows easy input and retrieval of construction management-related lessons.
The first International Online Conference on Buildings with a focus on advances in building structures, materials, repair/renovation, energy, environment, systems, architecture, urban planning, and construction management was held on 24–26 October 2023 [...]
The objective of the study presented in this paper is to provide owners with a decision-making mechanism that will free them from automatically taking the typical "transfer the risk to a surety" option and will allow them to make intelligent and economical decisions that include retaining or avoiding the risk of contractor default. The methodology involves using artificial neural network (ANN) and a genetic algorithm (GA) training strategies to predict the risk of contractor default. Prediction rates of 75 and 88% were obtained with the ANN and GA training strategies, respectively. The model is of relevance to owners because once the likelihood of contractor default is predicted and the owner's risk behavior is established, the owner can make a decision to retain, transfer, or avoid the risk of contractor default. It is of relevance to surety companies too as it may speed up the process of bonding and of reaching more reliable and objective bond/not bond decisions. The comparative use of the ANN and GA training strategies is of particular relevance to researchers.
All efforts for handling resources, including extraction, processing, transportation, and manufacturing require energy. Thus, energy is a very valuable, albeit an indirect resource in the development of any country. Dependence on energy has a direct impact on the environment as well as the cost of products. Sustainability efforts focus on minimizing environmental impacts within a reasonable cost. Green building rating and certification systems around the world handle energy-related issues by considering the regional priorities of the country where they were first introduced. Certification systems rely on standards that are in effect locally. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was first introduced in the U.S. and is currently the most widely preferred green building certification system around the world. The “energy and atmosphere” category in LEED v4 NC amounts to 33 points, which corresponds to approximately 26.2% of the total points that a building can receive. Because LEED was first introduced in the U.S., it heavily relies on U.S. standards such as ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA, which limit its applicability in countries other than the U.S. In this study, the standards that are referred to in the energy-related categories of the Pearl Building Rating System (ESTIDAMA) of Abu Dhabi and LEED-India are analyzed and compared to the standards referred to by LEED v4 NC. It is hoped that the outcome of the study will provide valuable knowhow for professionals in other countries where efforts are underway to improve existing standards and/or to introduce new ones.
