Framework of Success Criteria for Design/Build Projects

Success has always been the ultimate goal of every activity, and a construction project is no exception. Due to the ambiguous definition of project success and the different perceptions of participants toward this concept, it may be difficult to tell whether a project is successful as there is a lack of consensus. Time, cost, and quality have long been the success criteria used to evaluate the performance of a construction project. However, such a list has been criticized as not being comprehensive. Even studies of the project success of a particular construction method, such as the design/build procurement system, are lacking in most previous research considering construction projects in general. This paper sets out to establish criteria for project success for a design/build project in construction, first by identifying relevant measures of project success for a construction project in past studies, with particular emphasis on design/build projects, and then by establishing a comprehensive assessment framework for project success for design/build projects. The significant impacts on the construction field of study, in terms of educational value and practical use, are also presented. With little research in the project success of design/build projects, the writers suggest a research focus for the study.     

Renovation Projects: Design Process Problems and Improvement Mechanisms

This paper presents a case study of a recent office renovation project. The paper investigates the problems that occurred during the design process, analyzes the causes of design iterations and rework, and proposes changes that can improve the design process. The analysis illustrates two design challenges that cause iterations and rework: (1) preexisting, hidden conditions identified late in the design process, and (2) limitations of downstream systems that were not accounted for in upstream decisions. The recommendations propose mechanisms to reduce design rework and duration, and increase the quality of the design solution. The recommendations are (1) to accelerate the discovery of existing conditions, (2) to identify the project constraints that design and construction have to meet, (3) to select the project team early, and (4) to accelerate the iterative design process with a team-based rapid development of schematic design (rapid prototyping).     

Owner–Contractor Work Structures: Process Approach

This paper describes a process to assist project managers, within owner companies, define work relationships between owners and their contractors for capital project development, and execution. The owner–contractor work structure process was developed by the Construction Industry Institute as a step-by-step process for making rational decisions about the most appropriate owner–contractor work structure for capital projects. A work structure is described by a set of project competencies and the extent of involvement of the owner and contractor in performing, leading, and/or providing input with respect to those project competencies. The process is described using a formal process modeling technique. Three case studies, conducted to validate the owner–contractor work structure process, are discussed. The results from these case studies suggested some basic changes to the process that would enhance its use in practice. A modified owner–contractor work structure process is then presented.     

Effect of Delivery Methods on Design Performance in Multifamily Housing Projects

Existing studies on the performance evaluation by the delivery method generally indicate that the design build (DB) method is superior to the design-bid-build (DBB) method in terms of construction duration, cost, and quality. As opposed to the performance of construction duration and cost, where quantitative evaluation is relatively possible, most performance evaluations of quality are based on interviews with the owners. Therefore, this paper aimed at evaluating the level of design performance to conduct a quantitative evaluation on the performance of quality. To achieve this goal, this paper analyzed the impact of delivery methods on design performance in terms of the quantitative evaluation based on the case studies analyzing construction drawings and specifications of public multifamily housing projects delivered through the DB and DBB methods since 2000. The Delphi and analytic hierarchy process methods were used to develop objective standards and contents for evaluating the design performance. An analysis of variance test was conducted to analyze which delivery methods would have an effect on the design performance. Construction industry practitioners can use the results of this study in selecting a delivery method appropriate to the project characteristics.     

Global Dimension of Robust Project Network Design

Managing the increased complexity, emerging uncertainties, and diversity of cultures on global projects is creating significant challenges for architecture, engineering, and construction firms. In global projects, differences in “institutions”—including language, beliefs, values, group norms, work practices, professional roles, industry organizations, and legal frameworks—among team members from different national backgrounds can lead to misunderstanding and conflicts that cause delays, increase costs, and reduce quality. Previous research has examined risk factors associated with international project execution. However, little research to date has explored whether reconfiguring project networks might mitigate such risks. Project organizational simulation tools have been combined with “robust design” experimental techniques to design robust project networks that can perform reliably in uncertain conditions. This paper extends project network design research to examine whether robust designs for given project networks differ between “domestic” and “global” projects, given differing organizational uncertainties. The results demonstrate that robust project network designs may differ for global project networks. This finding has significant implications for the design of project networks in an industry where firm participation in global project networks is increasing, both domestically and abroad.     

Role of Error-Recovery Process in Projects

To reduce errors in projects, knowledge about their causes, through examining their chain of events, and costs should be made available. With this in mind, this paper examines the role of the error recovery process in detecting human-related errors with reference to seven Swedish building construction projects. A total of 2,879 human errors were identified, and those that were found to be the most costly were examined in detail. Industry practitioners’ opinions as to how the identified errors could have been prevented were solicited. It was revealed that the major areas of error reduction lay with improving communication between participants, introducing incentives, improving resourcing levels in projects particularly during design, and the encouragement of individual and organizational learning. The paper concludes by suggesting that the most effective learning takes place in projects when the entire error-recovery process is performed (i.e., detection, indication, and correction) and not parts thereof.     

Design/Build for Water/Wastewater Facilities: State of the Industry Survey and Three Case Studies

Documented successes of innovative delivery methods and recent changes in procurement laws are enabling water and wastewater utility owners to use alternative delivery methods for the construction of new facilities and the expansion of existing facilities. This shift toward alternative project delivery systems, such as design/build, has resulted in demand for additional guidance for owners and practitioners. This paper provides the results of an industrywide survey and three in-depth case studies. The survey results indicate large-scale growth in the use of design/build project delivery for water and wastewater facilities throughout the United States. The findings from the case studies indicate that common practices exist with regard to selecting a delivery system, contracting, allocating risk, evaluating proposals, determining the level of design in the request for proposals, using consultants, establishing trust, identifying key players, and permitting. These results serve as best practices for owners and practitioners using design/build delivery for the first time.     

Construction Productivity Improvement

Construction productivity has been on the decline in the last decade. The results are presented on a survey of the Engineering News‐Record 400 largest contractors to obtain their views on where productivity improvements would most help and to compare the trends with a similar survey carried out in 1979. Data were collected on the general company characteristics of the responding contractors, and on the contractors' opinions on potential areas for productivity improvement in the office and in the field. Findings indicate that immediate research should concentrate on improving marketing practices, planning and scheduling, labor‐management relations, site supervision, industrialized building systems, equipment policy and engineering design; and that governmental regulations have lost the immediate urgency attached to them in 1979.It is also recommended that similar surveys be conducted every 3 to 4 years to identify new trends and to steer research in the appropriate direction.     

Designing Project Organizations: An Expanded Process

To the traditional elements of structure, expanded views of organization add means of coordination, location of decision‐making, and requirements for positions. This paper describes these expanded views of organization, illustrates significant diversity in organization structure with data from eight industrial projects, and develops a method for practical application of expanded views in the systematic design of project organization structures. The conclusions highlight the benefits of designing an organization rather than letting it evolve.     

Integrated Methodology for Project Risk Management

This article presents a generic project risk management process that has been particularized for construction projects from the point of view of the owner and the consultant who may be assisting the owner. The process could also be adapted to the needs of other project participants, and many points referred to in the article can be directly applied to them. Any project risk management process must be tailored to the particular circumstances of the project and of the organization undertaking it. First, the article explains a complete or generic project risk management process to be undertaken by organizations with the highest level of risk management maturity in the largest and most complex construction projects. After that, factors influencing possible simplifications of the generic process are identified, and simplifications are proposed for some cases. Then the application to a real project is summarized. As a final validation, a Delphi analysis has been developed to assess the project risk management methodology explained here, and the results are presented.     

Industrial Project Constructability Improvement

Constructability is defined as the ability of project conditions to enable the optimal utilization of construction resources. Constructability improvements may heighten the construction‐sensitivity of designs, render the communication of engineering information as more effective, optimize construction‐originated construction techniques, increase the effectiveness of construction management policies, improve vendor∕subcontractor services, or identify needs for designer‐constructor communication during the project. Constructability improvement ideas collected on a large refinery expansion project are analyzed for content, and classification frequencies are observed. Analysis of engineering rework exposes the causes and costs of rework that occurs as a result of constructability problems.     

Measuring Relevance in Support of Design Reuse from Archives of Building Product Models

This paper investigates the use of text analysis techniques to measure relevance between objects in product models. This relevance measure is used to support design reuse from an archive of product models from previous projects. We consider several techniques from the field of information retrieval for comparing documents. Next, we explore whether we can improve the performance of the relevance measure by considering contextual building model elements. The paper concludes with an evaluation and discussion of the techniques considered. We conclude that relatively good retrieval results can be achieved with short texts and sparse building models such as those that occur in current industry practice.     

Reducing Variability to Improve Performance as a Lean Construction Principle

Variability is common on construction projects and must be managed effectively. New management thinking, like that of lean production, has suggested that better labor and cost performance can be achieved by reducing output variability. Efforts to utilize lean thinking in construction, so far, have generated limited evidence to support this claim. This paper investigates the relationship between variability and project performance to test the notion that reducing output variability will result in improved labor performance. Using productivity data from concrete formwork activities on multiple projects, various measures of output variability are tested against construction performance. It is shown that variability in output is inevitable and that there is little correlation between output variability and project performance, but that variability in labor productivity is closely correlated to project performance. It is concluded that lean improvement initiatives should be redirected to adaptable workforce management capabilities to reduce variability in labor productivity instead of output in order to improve project performance.     

Embodying Product and Process Flexibility to Cope with Challenging Project Deliveries

Four factors make it challenging to manage semiconductor fabrication facility (“fabs”) projects: technical complexity of the product design, need to compress the project duration, need to reduce upfront costs, and unexpected project changes. The strategies employed by practitioners to cope with these challenges form an intricate puzzle. We empirically develop a framework that provides a structure for helping to solve this puzzle, which comprises two principles: investing upfront in a flexible product design and structuring a flexible process. Empirical findings reveal that project teams make commitments early on by overdesigning but also postpone critical decisions by differentiating the scope of their work. Project teams employ other strategies such as increasing communication, using modular architectures, engaging in four-dimensional computer-based modeling, and fabricating components and subsystems off-site. Our analysis yields understanding on the purposes and performance tradeoffs of these strategies, and on how they embody the two principles. Project managers may find the framework useful when deciding which strategies best suit other equally challenging projects.     

Evaluating Cost Overruns of Asphalt Paving Project Using Statistical Process Control Methods

While some projects will experience changes to the contracted cost by deduction or additions, construction cost overruns are becoming a common problem in the construction industry. Steps need to be taken to minimize cost overrun through cost and quality control techniques. This paper presents a study conducted to evaluate construction cost overruns of asphalt paving operations performed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The main objective is to analyze the main causes of cost overruns and evaluate the amount of cost overrun of asphalt paving operations, using statistical process control (SPC) techniques. Real data from projects in the year 2000 were collected from IDOT. These data contain cost information of 219 projects. The results indicate that the average cost overrun for the sample collected was 4% above the bid price. Reasons for cost overruns are analyzed and a Pareto chart and a cause and effect diagram are constructed. Individuals and Moving Range (MR) control charts are developed and their interpretation and use are discussed. Furthermore, the benefits and limitations of using the individuals and MR chart in cost control applications are pointed out. It is recommended that SPC analysis be an integral part in managing and controlling project costs.     

Implications of Even Flow Production Methodology for U.S. Housing Industry

Production building in the residential sector is often described as the portion of the construction industry that is most like the manufacturing sector. In modern tract construction in the United States, a small number of models are generally repeated several times in a relatively confined area, using specialized trade contractors to complete each phase of each home. Management of the handoffs between predecessor and successor trade contractors is therefore a critical component in the successful completion of a residential project. In order to bring more reliable planning to this process, a workflow-leveling strategy known as even flow production has come into use in the industry in recent years. Even flow production is a strategy intended to reduce the variability in the workflow for trade contractors in the process, thereby gaining production efficiencies. In practice, different operational definitions are in use. This paper describes a series of simulation experiments to identify the management implications of two common strategies (activity-based versus start-based). A special-purpose simulation template was built for the Simphony environment for this purpose. The pace chosen for the flow of activities was found to significantly affect the speed at which the subdivision was completed. The even flow strategy was found to affect the subdivision completion time only slightly, but to have a significant impact on workflow variability and management effort. Control of the pace of starts of only the first activity exhibited nearly the same degree of variability as if the pace of starts were matched to a sales pace.     

Can Design Improve Construction Safety?: Assessing the Impact of a Collaborative Safety-in-Design Process

This paper analyzes the impact of a large-scale safety-in-design initiative during the design and construction of a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Drawing on multiple data sources including individual interviews, group interviews, construction documentation, and an expert panel involved in the initiative, the writers identify 26 potential design changes on the project and assess the importance of timing, trade contractor involvement, and the type of design change in determining whether a proposed design change was ultimately integrated into the final construction plans. The writers further consider whether adopted design changes would have occurred in the absence of the safety-in-design initiative and whether the accepted design changes ultimately impacted construction site safety on the project. This analysis of a full-scale safety-in-design initiative provides important insights into how injury prevention efforts in the construction industry can begin upstream by involving designers, engineers, and trade contractors in preconstruction processes.     

Impacts of Constructability Improvement

An analysis of the construction resource utilization tradeoffs, which occur from constructability improvements, provides insight into the constructability improvement process. Matrices of construction and engineering impacts likely to result from constructability improvements are presented. Constructability improvements collected on a large industrial construction project are analyzed for their impact to the job. Frequencies of occurrence of both desirable and undesirable impacts are noted, as are the cost‐significances of the various impact types. Constructability strategies and methods for achieving the most cost‐beneficial impacts are presented. Numerous findings are presented, such as the following: (1) The likelihood of delays may be decreased most effectively by increasing engineering information availability and understandability; (2) the amount of required construction manpower may be most effectively decreased by simplifying the design, combining design elements, and seeking optimal design‐originated construction techniques such as optimal construction systems, modularization, and improved design details. Of course, additional engineering effort may be required; and (3) construction activity durations may also be most effectively decreased by seeking optimal design‐originated construction techniques.     

Virtual Teams: Guide to Successful Implementation

The successful initiation and execution of a virtual team is gaining increasing attention in the design and construction community. From opportunities to integrate international and multidisciplinary teams to the opportunity to leverage the best resources in an organization on a given project, virtual teams can transform the concept of project planning and execution. However, potential barriers exist in several areas to the successful implementation of virtual teams. The needs of increased management emphasis, social and cultural understanding, and emphasis on common goals are only a few of the nontechnical factors that can turn successful virtual teaming into virtual frustration. When combined with traditional technical challenges including compatibility of systems, security, and the selection of appropriate technologies, the line between leveraging virtual technologies for enhanced solutions and introducing additional complications into the project process is one that can be easily crossed. This paper presents the findings of research that addresses the opportunities and potential barriers to successful virtual teams in the engineering, procurement, and construction industry. Combining results from current research, industry practices, and early results from nonconstruction industries, the research findings provide an initial path to successful virtual team implementation.