Proactive Design Quality Assessment Tool for Building Projects
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
Building projects have become increasingly complex in recent decades for various reasons, including continuously improving technology, ongoing demand for more sophisticated design, and larger numbers of project stakeholders. Consequently, project teams find it increasingly difficult to attain design quality without errors or omissions. To provide a proactive approach to design quality management of building projects, this study focused on developing a design quality assessment tool based on the contributing causal factors and impacts of high-priority design defects. To this end, the authors first conducted interviews with 66 industry professionals to identify the contributing causal factors and impacts of quality-problematic design defects. Based on the results of these interviews, the authors generated 160 leading indicator questions to incorporate into their design quality assessment tool. The developed implementation tool enables practitioners to assess project design quality and prevent undesirable risks in a timely manner. This study deepens understanding of building design defects and supports design quality improvement through an effective design quality assessment tool.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data-sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the Construction Industry Institute (CII). The authors would like to express gratitude and appreciation to the industry panels, survey participants, interviewees, and support staff at CII for their participation in the research effort.
References
Abdalaziz, S. 2009. Factors affecting the quality of design and contractual documents in Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip: Islamic Univ. of Gaza.
Abolnour, M. M. 1994. “The relationship of fee structure in engineering offices and design deficiency.” Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Construction Engineering and Management, King Fahd Univ. of Petroleum and Minerals.
Al-Far, M. I. 2005. Factors affecting design documentation quality in construction industry. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: King Fahd Univ. of Petroleum and Minerals.
Atkinson, A. R. 2002. “The pathology of building defects: A human error approach.” Eng. Constr. Archit. Manage. 9 (1): 53–61. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb021206.
Burati, J., and J. Farrington. 1987. Cost of quality deviations in design and construction. Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Burati, J. L., J. J. Farrington, and W. B. Ledbetter. 1992. “Causes of quality deviations in design and construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 118 (1): 34–49. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1992)118:1(34).
Busby, J. S. 2001. “Error and distributed cognition in design.” Des. Stud. 22 (3): 233–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(00)00028-4.
Chalabi, A. F., B. J. Beaudin, and G. F. Salazar. 1987. Input variables impacting design effectiveness. Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Dickmann, J., and M. Nelson. 1985. “Construction claims: Frequency and severity.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 111 (1): 74–81. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1985)111:1(74).
Gann, D. M., A. J. Salter, and J. K. Whyte. 2003. “Design quality indicator as a tool for thinking.” Build. Res. Inf. 31 (5): 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1080/0961321032000107564.
Giddings, B., M. Sharma, P. Jones, and P. Jensen. 2013. “An evaluation tool for design quality: PFI sheltered housing.” Build. Res. Inf. 41 (6): 690–705. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2013.775895.
Homes and Communities Agency. 2011. “Housing quality indicators.” Accessed March 1, 2020. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/housing-quality-indicators.
Kirby, J. G., D. A. Furry, and D. K. Hicks. 1988. “Improvements in design review management.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 114 (1): 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(1988)114:1(69).
Lopez, R., P. E. Love, D. J. Edwards, and P. R. Davis. 2010. “Design error classification, causation, and prevention in construction engineering.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil. 24 (4): 399–408. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000116.
Love, P., P. Mandel, and H. Li. 1997. “A systematic approach to modeling the causes and effects of rework in construction.” In Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Construction Industry Development: Building the Future Together, 347–355. Singapore: National Univ. of Singapore.
Love, P. E. D., D. J. Edwards, Z. Irani, and D. H. T. Walker. 2009. “Project pathogens: The anatomy of omission errors in construction and engineering projects.” IEEE Trans. Eng. Manage. 56 (3): 425–435. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2008.927774.
McGeorge, J. F. 1988. “Design productivity: A quality problem.” J. Manage. Eng. 4 (4): 350–362. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)9742-597X(1988)4:4(350).
Minato, T. 2003. “Design documents quality in the Japanese construction industry: Factors influencing and impacts on construction process.” Int. J. Project Manage. 21 (7): 537–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00083-2.
Mokhtar, A., C. Bedard, and P. Fazio. 1998. “Information model for managing design changes in a collaborative environment.” J. Comp. Civ. Eng. 12 (2): 82–92. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3801(1998)12:2(82).
O’Connor, J. T., and H. Koo. 2020. “Analyzing the quality problems and defects of design deliverables on building projects.” J. Archit. Eng. 26 (4): 04020034. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000432.
O’Connor, J. T., and J. Woo. 2017. “Proactive approach to engineering and design deliverables quality enhancement.” J. Manage. Eng. 33 (4): 04017005. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000508.
Queensland. 2005. Getting it right the first time: An examination of an industry problem as it applies to Queensland and recommendations for solutions and actions. Barton, Australia: Engineers Australia.
Reason, J. T. 1990. “The contribution of latent human failures to the breakdown of complex systems.” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 327 (1241): 475–484. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1990.0090.
Steffen, M. P., and M. J. Houston. 1990. Quality management in the design and construction of enclosure systems. Portland, OR: Walsh Construction.
Tilley, P. A. 1998. Causes, effects and indicators of design and documentation deficiency. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Univ. of Technology.
Tilley, P. A. 2005. “Lean design management—A new paradigm for managing the design and documentation process to improve quality?” In Proc., 13th Annual Conf. of the Int. Group for Lean Construction, 283–295. Sydney, Australia: International Group for Lean Construction.
Tilley, P. A., and R. Barton. 1997. “Design and documentation deficiency—Causes and effects.” In Proc., 1st Int. Conf. of Construction Process Engineering, 703–712. Gold Coast, Australia: Griffith Univ.
Tilley, P. A., S. L. McFallan, and S. N. Tucker. 1999. “Design and documentation quality and its impact on the construction process.” In Proc., CIB W55 & W65 Joint Triennial Symp. Customer Satisfaction: A Focus for Research and Practice. Highett, Australia: CSIRO Building, Construction and Engineering.
Tilley, P. A., A. Wyatt, and S. Mohamed. 1997. “Indicators of design and documentation deficiency.” In Proc., 5th Annual Conf. of the Int. Group for Lean Construction, 137–148. Gold Coast, Australia: Griffith Univ.
Torrington, J. 2007. “Evaluating quality of life in residential care buildings.” Build. Res. Inf. 35 (5): 514–528. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613210701318102.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147 • Issue 2 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 31, 2020
Accepted: Aug 28, 2020
Published online: Dec 11, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: May 11, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.