Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

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May 2012

Volume 138, Issue 5, pp. 585-677

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back to top Contracting and Project Delivery Systems

Design Error Costs in Construction Projects

Robert Lopez, Ph.D. and Peter E. D. Love, Ph.D.

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 585 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000454 (9 pages)

Online Publication Date: 30 July 2011

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Design errors can adversely influence project performance and can contribute to failures, accidents, and loss of life. Although there has been a considerable amount of research that has examined design error causation, little is known about design error costs. With increasing emphasis placed on the use of nontraditional forms of procurement methods as a result of various government reports and the advent of Building Information Modelling there is a general perception that design error costs will be significantly less than those projects procured by traditional means. By using a questionnaire survey, estimates for design error costs were obtained from 139 projects. The mean direct and indirect costs for design errors were revealed to be 6.85 and 7.36% of contract value, respectively. Design error costs were found not to significantly vary with procurement method and project type used. Although the research provides invaluable insights into practitioners’ perceptions of design errors costs, their actual costs remain relatively unexplored.
back to top Information Technologies

Nanotechnology and Its Impact on Construction: Bridging the Gap between Researchers and Industry Professionals

Jochen Teizer, Manu Venugopal, Winfried Teizer, and Jakub Felkl

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 594 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000467 (11 pages)

Online Publication Date: 12 August 2011

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Nanotechnology research and product development are actively conducted in many industries, (such as industries that manufacture advanced materials and semiconductors) and in medicine. Few studies have presented the potential application areas of nanotechnology in, and the needs of, the construction industry while identifying the benefits and barriers of entry in research and development. Some construction industry sectors follow research and development in nanotechnology; however, the industry does not take on a leadership role. With proper knowledge of the potential products and techniques offered through an investment in nanotechnology, the construction industry may potentially improve the efficiency of its processes and offer better products to clients such as those that exist in building and infrastructure construction and in environmental and petroleum engineering. This paper analyzes the understanding of nanotechnology in the context of construction and explores the current status of nanotechnology in the construction industry. Findings from a literature review, from a survey among construction industry professionals, and from expert interviews with leading researchers in construction-related nanotechnology research and development are presented to identify the potential benefits and existing barriers of using nanotechnology in construction. A multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) framework was developed to rank application areas of nanotechnology that will have major effects in the construction industry. Tasks were identified that will make the application of nanotechnology in construction successful in the future.
back to top Labor and Personnel Issues

Political Skill for Developing Construction Safety Climate

Riza Yosia Sunindijo and Patrick X. W. Zou

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 605 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000482 (8 pages)

Online Publication Date: 3 September 2011

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Political skill, which consists of social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, and apparent sincerity dimensions, is considered as one of the most important skills in general management. However, its importance in construction management, particularly construction safety management, is still not as well known. The aim of this research is to understand the role of political skill in implementing safety management tasks and developing construction safety climate. Quantitative research methodology was adopted to test the theoretical model developed in this research. Data were collected via a web-based online survey and the analysis was done using structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The results of the analysis support the research hypotheses which proposed that project personnel’s political skill positively influences the implementation of safety management tasks and promotes the development of construction safety climate. Apparent sincerity and social astuteness are the political skill dimensions that initiate the whole relationships. They are the precursors of networking ability and interpersonal influence dimensions. Thereafter, interpersonal influence has positive impact on the implementation of safety management tasks. Finally, apparent sincerity and implementation of safety management tasks promote the development of construction safety climate. It is suggested that construction companies should incorporate the training of political skill into their human resource development programs and include safety management tasks into their safety management programs.
back to top Organizational Issues

Novelty and Technical Complexity: Critical Constructs in Capital Projects

Michael S. Puddicombe

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 613 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000459 (8 pages)

Online Publication Date: 5 August 2011

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One of the challenges in project management research is that projects, by definition, are unique. However, the degree to which any project differs from another varies on the basis of a range of attributes. Two industrial facilities that vary by an order of magnitude in size may, in fact, be very similar and experience similar outcomes. However, two identical industrial facilities that are constructed by different contractors may experience vastly different outcomes. In the first case, the two buildings may have the same set of technical characteristics. In the second case, all else being equal, the different outcomes may be attributable to the contractors’ experience with the construction of this type of facility. This paper expands on these two cases and proposes that all projects can be partially defined in terms of two distinct attributes: technical complexity and novelty. The technical characteristics of a project define its technical complexity. The degree of the project participants’ experience with the technical characteristics defines its novelty. The literature from the architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has long acknowledged the impact of complexity but has not examined the effect of novelty. This is in contrast to research in new product development (which also employs a project approach) where novelty and complexity are recognized as distinct constructs that affect project performance. This paper addresses this gap in the literature. In addressing this gap, the opportunity to expand research grounded in contingency theory is expanded. The paper contributes to the practice of construction management in that achieving superior project performance is shown to require recognition of the distinct impact of these constructs. An analysis of more than 1,300 projects demonstrates that technical complexity and novelty are important characteristics of a project that have distinct effects on project performance.

Predicting Construction Contractor Default with Barrier Option Model

H. Ping Tserng, Hsien-Hsing Liao, Edward J. Jaselskis, L. Ken Tsai, Ph.D., P.E., S.E., and Po-Cheng Chen

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 621 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000465 (10 pages)

Online Publication Date: 11 August 2011

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This is the first study to apply the barrier option model to predict defaults of construction contractors and to assert that the path-dependent characteristic of the model is very suitable for describing the behavior of contractor default. Different from existing contractor-default prediction models, this research uses a much larger contractor sample in empirical analyses to alleviate sample-selection biases, and employs a Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve to assess the model performance. Empirical results of this study show that the proposed model outperforms traditional financial ratio models in differentiating the risk of defaulted and nondefaulted construction contractors. Additionally, the barrier option model has markedly better discriminatory power than when applied to non–construction-related industries. The results of this paper support the postulation that the barrier option model has significant advantages for the construction industry.
back to top Quantitative Methods

Decision Models to Support Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction from Transportation Construction Projects

Hakob G. Avetisyan, M.ASCE, Elise Miller-Hooks, and Suvish Melanta

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 631 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000477 (11 pages)

Online Publication Date: 31 August 2011

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In this paper, an optimization-based methodology is proposed to permit a construction firm to assess its equipment needs while accounting for the GHG emissions resulting from equipment use and policy makers to set carbon price, caps, and penalties for noncompliance. Specifically, the problem of optimally selecting equipment for project tasks to simultaneously minimize emissions and project costs given project duration, workload, compatibility, working conditions, equipment availability, and regulatory constraints is formulated as a multiperiod, biobjective, mixed integer program (MIP). Two techniques are considered for its solution: a weighting technique, which seeks to create the Pareto-frontier, and a constraint approach whereby costs are minimized while maintaining an emissions cap. Off-the-shelf MIP solvers, such as CPLEX, can be used to provide solutions once the model input data and parameters are specified for a particular application. These techniques are applied on a case study involving construction of a roadway in Maryland. The developed approach is generic and can be applied over varying geographic locations, site elevations, soil properties, and other factors that affect equipment operation and productivity.

Comprehensive Hybrid Framework for Risk Analysis in the Construction Industry Using Combined Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, Fault Trees, Event Trees, and Fuzzy Logic

Mohamed Abdelgawad, Ph.D., P.Eng. and Aminah Robinson Fayek, M.ASCE

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 642 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000471 (10 pages)

Online Publication Date: 17 August 2011

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The nature of the construction industry is characterized by many risks and uncertainty inherent in every phase of the project life cycle. Risk management, therefore, is essential for a construction project to succeed in fulfilling its project objectives. In conventional event-tree analysis, the probability of the risk event, the probability of failure/success of different mitigation strategies, and the consequences of different paths must be assessed to allow for quantitative event-tree analysis. However, conducting quantitative event-tree analysis, especially in construction projects, entails several difficulties attributed to the lack of sufficient data. To overcome this challenge, this paper presents a comprehensive framework in which experts can use linguistic terms rather than numerical values to conduct event-tree analysis and calculate the expected monetary value (EMV) of risk events. The proposed framework is based on combining failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), fault trees, event trees, and fuzzy logic. This paper allows experts to express themselves linguistically to calculate the EMV of risk events, which is more appropriate for the construction domain. In addition, this paper introduces a comprehensive framework for risk management that combines three well-known techniques in reliability engineering in a novel way that considers the often subjective quality of risk-related data. The application of fuzzy logic provides an effective tool to handle subjectivity in the construction domain. The proposed framework is implemented in the form of two software tools entitled Risk Criticality Analyzer and Fuzzy Reliability Analyzer. To validate the framework, a case study is presented and the EMV is calculated using the proposed approach. The result of the proposed approach is then compared to the result obtained using Monte Carlo simulation, demonstrating that the proposed framework gives similar results to Monte Carlo simulation but provides the advantage of allowing experts to express themselves linguistically, making the proposed framework more practical and easier to apply in the construction domain.
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Achieving the Green Building Council of Australia’s World Leadership Rating in an Office Building in Perth

Peter E. D. Love, Michael Niedzweicki, Peter A. Bullen, and David J. Edwards

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 652 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000461 (9 pages)

Online Publication Date: 6 August 2011

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The issues influencing the construction of Western Australia’s first six-star Green Star energy-rated commercial office building are examined. Green Star is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating system that evaluates the environmental design and construction of buildings and is undertaken by the Green Building Council of Australia. A six-star rating signifies “world leadership” in environmentally sustainable design and construction. The case study presented in this paper describes how a client acted as a catalyst for driving the sustainability agenda. The client’s key drivers for implementing sustainable technologies were procurement and organizational resources. Existing building regulations and a lack of government incentives were identified as being the main barriers to implementing sustainable technologies. The case findings presented provide an opportunity for clients and practitioners to learn from the experiences of others who have, and continue to address the environmental challenges facing the built environment.

Determinants of Quits and Dismissals on a Long-Lasting Unionized Industrial Construction Project

Jaewhan Kim and Peter Philips

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 661 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000451 (9 pages)

Online Publication Date: 25 July 2011

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Labor-market conditions, remuneration, and personal and worksite characteristics all affected the probability of a worker quitting or being fired prior to a reduction in force (RIF) on a large, industrial, union project under construction between 1999 and 2002 in the South Central United States. Using a Cox proportional hazard survival regression model applied to weekly payroll and monthly labor-market data, hazard ratio probabilities for adverse separations (quits and dismissals) are estimated. Straight-time and overtime hours, in particular, retained workers more effectively than did periodic increases in collectively bargained wage rates. Workers coming from afar were less likely to be fired, whereas, ironically, increases in travel incentives made workers more likely to quit. Older workers were more likely to stay until a RIF, and compared to journey workers, apprentices were more likely to stay. Overmanning crews made workers more likely to quit or be fired. This case study underscores the importance of labor-market options and worksite remuneration as factors influencing adverse separations.

Construction Productivity Measures for Innovation Projects

Jan Bröchner and Thomas Olofsson

J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 138, 670 (2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000481 (8 pages)

Online Publication Date: 3 September 2011

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A 30-year retrospective analysis of resource use in a range of new construction and repair projects reveals insignificant productivity increase when applying traditional narrow measures, as shown in a case study of beam bridges. It appears as necessary to estimate hidden quality changes in both outputs and inputs. Changes in government regulations, in specifications, and the development of nonprice criteria for contract award emerge as important. Schemes for benchmarking the performance of construction projects as well as life-cycle analyses suggest that customer risk aversion and effects on customer productivity should be taken into account. The outcome is a set of measurements that can be applied to the selection of any type of proposed new construction or repair technology innovation according to their potential impact on industry productivity.
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