Publications

The “Sell-Build” model in residential project transactions involves a home buyer agreeing to pay the developer in monthly installments starting very early in the design or construction phases of a project. It is hypothesized that the success of this transaction depends on (1) the home buyer’s knowledge about the transaction process and (2) the mutual trust between home buyer and developer. A survey was administered to 250 home buyers and 70 developers in Turkey to collect demographic information about the participants and about the participants’ perceptions of not only the success of the transactions they were involved in, but also of the impacts of how informed home buyers are about the transaction process and how much the two parties trust each other. The data collected was subjected to statistical analysis. The findings indicate that (1) the home buyer should make a special effort to study relevant materials and consult specialists before entering into an agreement with a developer, and (2) the trust between home buyer and developer depends largely on the buyer’s uninterrupted flow of monthly installment payments starting early in the project. The contribution of this study is that it provides a useful guideline to home buyers and developers.

A discussion about movies used to monitor activities on a construction site is presented. A new concept in time-lapse photography is introduced, where the user records pictures of a construction site shot at an optimal frame rate and is able to playback time-lapse movies at lower frame rates, this way adjusting the running time and detail of the playback movie. A software package is built in the Windows visual environment, capable of generating a time-lapse movie of a desired frame rate from a regular digital movie shot at the construction site. The selection of the most appropriate frame rate to handle different managerial issues such as analyzing claims, investigating accidents, and monitoring progress is discussed. Solutions are sought to the problem of storing the vast amount of digital information generated by movies, using commercially available storage devices.

The objective of this research study was to identify and measure the effects of nighttime construction conditions on worker safety and to investigate the performance of different high-visibility garments worn by construction personnel on highway projects under different lighting and weather conditions. After a comprehensive review of the literature, an analysis of Illinois accident records was conducted to identify the type, frequency, severity, and share of accidents caused by worker visibility problems in construction work zones. Three surveys were administered to Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) operations personnel, resident engineers, and contractors involved in nighttime construction to identify safety concerns on the part of these participants and to compare the results. The questionnaire investigated issues associated with the risk of workers being involved in accidents with the driving public and with equipment operating in the work zone, the efficiency of high-visibility garments, the effects of visibility problems on various critical factors, sources of high-visibility garments, fabric/material preferences, local practices, and high-visibility garment selection criteria. A comprehensive list of manufacturers and distributors of high-visibility garments was compiled. A survey was administered to DOTs other than IDOT that make use of high-visibility garments in nighttime construction. Based on the findings of the surveys, a set of six high-visibility garments was selected for testing. The findings of a series of tests run on these six vests, conducted under different work, lighting, and weather conditions, indicated that the safety vest recently adopted for use by IDOT performs best.

The objective of life-cycle costing (LCC) analysis is to optimize the total cost of ownership over the life span of an asset. A survey was conducted in the early months of 1995 of the largest municipalities in the U.S. to investigate the use of LCC analysis. The survey indicated that 40% of the municipalities use LCC analysis and that some had been using it for over 20 years. The reasons why 60% of the municipalities did not use LCC analysis include the lack of formal guidelines and the difficulty of estimating future costs and incomes. Other aspects of the survey included the typical profile of the LCC analysis process including project types, work categories, and project stages. The criteria used in selecting projects for LCC implementation appear to be arbitrary. Finally, most municipalities assessed their LCC analysis process as a successful or a somewhat successful operation.

Recent research shows that construction of new houses takes the majority of the recovery time after a tornado. The rapid procurement of new houses depends largely on the existing construction capacity in the region affected. In this study, information about the construction industry in a tornado-prone region is extracted from U.S. economic Census data by using NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) categories. The present capacity of the construction industry is calculated by extracting (1) the inventories of materials and supplies, and (2) the value of new houses put in place in a targeted tornado-prone region, in this study, Oklahoma. A method is proposed to calculate the extra construction capacity in the targeted region using the information extracted from U.S. Census data. The extra construction capacity hence calculated is then compared to the anticipated need for new houses after a severe tornado, calculated by considering the historical records of damages caused by past tornados. The results of the study indicate that the existing construction capacity in the Oklahoma region is not enough to rapidly respond to the anticipated need for new houses after a tornado.

This paper compares the performance of three different decision-tree-based methods of assigning attribute weights to be used in a case-based reasoning (CBR) prediction model. The generation of the attribute weights is performed by considering the presence, absence, and the positions of the attributes in the decision tree. This process and the development of the CBR simulation model are described in the paper. The model was tested by using data pertaining to the early design parameters and unit cost of the structural system of residential building projects. The CBR results indicate that the attribute weights generated by taking into account the information gain of all the attributes performed better than the attribute weights generated by considering only the appearance of attributes in the tree. The study is of benefit primarily to researchers, as it compares the impact of attribute weights generated by three different methods and, hence, highlights the fact that the prediction rate of models such as CBR largely depends on the data associated with the parameters used in the model.

The pricing strategy predominantly used in construction is cost based. But this pricing logic may lead to the underpricing or overpricing of a bid offer. In response to this problem, alternate pricing strategies are proposed in this paper that make use of market-based approaches. These models are centered on marketing intelligence functions. In this paper, marketing intelligence systems developed and used in manufacturing industries are explored, including marketing research, marketing information systems, and decision support systems. The current developments and practices of marketing intelligence in construction are reviewed. The findings of a survey that investigates the marketing intelligence and pricing strategy practices of the largest 400 U.S. contractors are presented. In conclusion, it is discovered that contractors use mostly traditional marketing intelligence strategies. It is recommended that contractors develop computerized intelligence activities such as using resources on the Internet and developing management information systems and decision support systems. As expected, it is found that "marketing intelligence capabilities" is a significant variable associated with pricing strategy.

The Future of Automation and Robotics in Construction Activites David Arditi, Shankar Sundareswaran, Arturo E. Gutierrez Pages 447-454 (1990 Proceedings of the 7th ISARC, Bristol, United Kingdom, ISSN 2413-5844) Abstract: It is the general consensus in the literature that the potential that the potential for the development and use of advanced robotics in construction is promising. It is belived that automation and robotics will put a stop to the decline in construction productivity that occured in the last 20 years and achieve productivity increases like those experienced between 1920 and 1970. Indeed, computer technology, remote sensing, signal and control systems, artificial intelligence, and material science and engineering have advanced far enough to allow for the introduction of robotics technology into the construction industry. How do contractors feel about that? Are they ready for this new technology? Do they think it is feasible? What areas in particular do they regard as most appropriate for this kind of application? What advantages do they see for the use of robotics in construction operations? What type of robots do they think lends itself best to internal and external construction activities? Do they conduct or support research and development activites in this field? The paper reports the findings of a survey that was carried out of the top 400 contractors reactions to automation and robotics in construction oprations. Keywords: No keywords DOI: https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC1990/0057 Download fulltext Download BibTex Download Endnote (RIS) TeX Import to Mendeley

The degree to which the design of a building embraces maintenance considerations has a major impact on its performance. A survey was conducted of the largest 211 building design firms in the United States to investigate the relationship between design practices and maintenance considerations. The findings shed light on the extent to which maintenance issues are considered when designers specify building materials and service equipment; the level of designers' knowledge in maintenance-related issues; the degree to which design personnel is exposed to training in maintenance-related matters; the extent to which designers consult property managers and maintenance consultants; the relative importance of maintenance issues to other design factors; the level of difficulty in cleaning, inspecting, repairing, and replacing various building components; and the magnitude and frequency of maintenance-related complaints that designers receive from clients and tenants. The performance of buildings is likely to be enhanced if designers are cognizant of maintenance-related matters.

This paper proposes a radical change in industry practice that will improve the quality of the construction process and the levels of customer satisfaction derived from it by evaluating the quality performance of the contractor. An alternative theory is developed of what constitutes quality, client satisfaction, performance, and their interrelationships in the context of the construction industry. It should be noted here that the term construction client includes both the owner (i.e. the agency or organization funding the project) and the end-user of the construction (i.e. the general public). A comprehensive view of construction quality is proposed that deals with both the service (as received by the owner) and product (as received by the end-user) aspects of the construction project as well as the corporate quality culture. Such a dissection of construction activity facilitates developing strategies to define, operationalize, measure and improve construction quality. A frame4 work for the assessment of a contractor's quality performance is established. This involves gathering a list of contractor quality performance (CQP) indicators that are derived from various quality-related practices of the contractor at the corporate and project level. Finally, a contractor quality performance (CQP) evaluation model is introduced that can be used in a contractor prequalification and/or selection system. The CQP indicators are operationalized within the theoretical framework of the CQP evaluation model.

There exist several reasons for construction firms to expand their business into international markets. But the complex international environment is affected by diverse factors and creates risks that are not well understood by companies that are active mostly in domestic markets. It is therefore essential for construction companies to follow a disciplined and well-informed strategy when deciding whether to enter international markets. Company strengths relative to conducting business in international markets, the threats and opportunities associated with overseas work, and the costs and benefits of undertaking construction projects in specific countries need to be considered in this decision. The interactions between the complex factors can be structured in a model that can help one to make a rational judgment. The International Expansion Decision Model developed in this study is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) improved by the addition of a Delphi survey. The main objective of this research study is to facilitate the entry decision into foreign markets and to highlight the importance of the factors involved in this decision. This study is of relevance to practitioners as it allows executives of construction companies to test if their company is ready for expansion into international markets in general and into a specific country in particular. It is also of relevance to researchers as it demonstrates the successful use of the combined Delphi and AHP methods.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of exogenous factors in the strategic performance of construction companies. A conceptual model is proposed where strategic performance is influenced by a two‐dimensional construct composed of market conditions and strategic alliances. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was administered to 73 construction companies. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis that strategic performance is impacted by exogenous factors. The individual constructs used in the study passed the internal reliability test, all factor loadings were statistically significant at α =0.05, all goodness of fit indices consistently indicated a good fit, and the hypothesized path coefficient was large and significant at α =0.05. Findings The hypothesis was supported by the data and analysis. Indeed, macro‐economic, political, legal, socio‐cultural conditions and the level of competition and demand are expected to impact differentiation strategies, and market/project/partner selection strategies. The quality of the relationships with government agencies and clients is expected to influence client/project/market selection strategies, while the quality of the relationships with labor unions may affect the ability to differentiate by using innovative construction methods, materials and equipment. Research limitations/implications It is likely that endogenous factors such as company resources, capabilities and project management competencies also impact strategic performance. But the study is confined only to the exogenous factors of market conditions and strategic alliances. Practical implications The findings of the study benefit construction company executives in that they make the executives more cognizant of the market environment and they draw the executives' attention to the importance of alliances with other parties. While market conditions are beyond the control of construction executives, relationships with other parties are somewhat within their sphere of influence. Originality/value Only a few studies have ever investigated non‐financial measures to assess the effectiveness of company strategies. Also, exogenous factors which are unavoidable in a project environment were also rarely discussed in the construction management literature. The originality of this study is that it uses non‐financial measures to assess the effects of exogenous factors on strategic performance.

Line-of-balance (LOB) methodology produces a work schedule in which resource allocation is automatically performed to provide a continuous and uninterrupted use of resources, but the distribution of resources could be further improved by resource leveling even if multiple resources are involved. The objective of this study is to develop a genetic algorithm (GA)-based multiresource leveling model for schedules that are established by LOB. The proposed model postulates that the production rate and duration of an activity are governed by the resource that requires the longest duration in completing a unit. Once the LOB schedule is established, resource leveling is performed according to the principle of optimum crew size that makes use of a utility data curve, which shows that productivity will suffer if the crew size is different than the optimum crew size, and the principle of natural rhythm that allows shifting the start times of an activity forward or backward at different units of production by changing the number of crews employed. The duration of an activity in any one unit and the precedence relationships between activities do not change during the leveling procedure. When applied to the LOB schedule of a pipeline project that was used to illustrate the model, it was observed that the proposed multiresource leveling model provided a smoother resource utilization histogram while maintaining optimum productivity.

The history of the use of network analysis in the construction industry is reviewed. The difficulties encountered in the diffusion process from country to country, from industry to industry, and from company to company are examined. Differences between industrialized and developing countries are also considered. It is found that: (1) Research and development activities in the construction industry are inadequate whereas implementation problems in network applications require thorough investigation; (2) the diffusion of networks in developing countries is taking place with a delay when compared to the diffusion in industrialized countries, mainly because of the smaller sizes of companies and projects, limited resources, and because of the inherent higher uncertainty in the construction industry; (3) most civil engineering curricula have recently been revised and incorporate new management topics; and (4) successful introduction of network planning into construction companies, and therefore the rate of diffusion, seem to be directly dependent on the reasons why they were introduced initially.