Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

The new Coleman Bridge at Yorktown, Virginia, presented many unique construction challenges. During the Revolutionary War, Cornwallis scuttled his ships exactly where the new bridge was needed. The results of his action 200 years ago was that the designers and builders of the new bridge were forced to develop a construction plan that would not disturb these important artifacts. The designers determined that the bents of the old bridge could be widened to carry the load of the new bridge, and Tidewater Construction Corp. developed an ingenious floating installation technique for replacing the old bridge's superstructure.

This paper presents a study carried out by Technion and the construction department of the Israeli air force, with the objective of identifying opportunities for shortening the duration of construction projects by the adoption of innovative construction technologies in selected areas. This study focused on technological aspects and did not deal with the examination of management practices or organizational issues. Promising candidates for technological improvement were identified and prioritized by means of a comprehensive in-depth survey conducted among the organization's most experienced experts. The survey was aimed at the use of multidimensional Pareto analysis, which distinctly identified (1) the technological resources, (b) the types of projects, and (c) the types of activities that would make the most effective impact. The partial results were intersected mutually to single out the most potent combinations. This paper describes both the method and the results of the analysis.

Developing countries pose greater challenges to international construction contractors because of inherent risks such as government instability, shortages of adequately trained craftsmen, difficulty in acquiring needed materials, and lack of adequate infrastructure such as roads, bridges, harbors, and power generation facilities. The international construction market is continuously growing, and there are many opportunities for U.S. contractors to obtain additional work and improve profits. This paper describes characteristics of developing countries that should be of interest to any contractor considering projects in these parts of the world. Additionally, results from a study identify the top information requirements in 15 key areas, which architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms identified. A discussion of characteristics of the construction environment in Kenya is provided as an example of bidding considerations in a typical developing country.

The factors that affect process quality in the three phases (design, construction, and operation) of the life cycle of a building project are identified and ranked by degree of importance. The perceptions of long-time practitioners are obtained by means of a questionnaire survey. The findings indicate that management commitment to continuous quality improvement, management leadership in promoting high process quality, quality training of all personnel, efficient teamwork to promote quality issues at the corporate level, and effective cooperation between parties taking part in the project are generic factors that affect process quality. Industry-specific factors that are perceived by practitioners to enhance the quality of the building process include drawings and specifications that are consistent, designers and contractors that are selected on merit, communication practices between the parties that are effective, inspection of quality on the construction site that is diligent, a building operation manual that is thorough, and an adequate operation and maintenance budget that is planned as early as in the design phase.

Time-lapse recording allows lengthy construction processes to be recorded and played back in a much shorter time for subsequent analysis. Over the past decade, time-lapse video cassette recorders (TL VCRs) have replaced time-lapse film movies for detailed productivity analysis and improvement in construction operations. This paper describes some of the technical features and options of time-lapse video recording equipment. The paper presents a valuable new application for time-lapse video in monitoring construction field operations. Rather than concentrating on individual workers or crews, time-lapse video can also be used to document and observe construction projects in their entirety. This innovative application has been extremely beneficial in historical documentation of project progress, operations analysis and improvement, public relations, fund raising, and dispute resolution. This paper presents lessons learned from several years of experimentation and experience with time-lapse video and two cases where time-lapse video recordings have been used to resolve claims and disputes on construction projects.

This paper uses a neural network (NN) approach to effectively manage construction cost data and develop a parametric cost-estimating model for highway projects. Eighteen actual cases of highway projects constructed in Newfoundland, Canada, have been used as the source of cost data. Rather than using black-box NN software, a simple NN simulation has been developed in a spreadsheet format that is customary to many construction practitioners. As an alternative to NN training, two techniques were used to determine network weights: (1) simplex optimization; and (2) genetic algorithms (GAs). Accordingly, the weights that produced the best cost prediction for the historical cases were used to find the optimum NN. To facilitate the use of this NN on new projects, a user-friendly interface was developed using spreadsheet macros to simplify user input and automate cost prediction. For practicality, sensitivity analysis and adaptation modules have also been incorporated to account for project uncertainty and to reoptimize the model on new historical data. Details regarding model development and capabilities have been discussed in an attempt to encourage practitioners to benefit from the NN technique.

Despite their significant role in construction projects, subcontractors have not been given fair attention by industry researchers. The literature contains very few studies focusing on subcontractors' bidding practices. Subcontractors were contacted via a questionnaire to collect information revealing these bidding practices. This study details knowledge of actual subcontractors' bidding practices including the invitation to bid, bid submission, pre- and postbid negotiation, and the relationship with contractors. The results show that contractors' bid invitations are poorly prepared and contain very abstract information. Upon acceptance, a subcontractor prepares and submits quotations to all inviting contractors just a few hours before the main bid opening time. Some subcontractors attempt to induce contractors to divulge other subcontractors' quotations, but the majority of contractors refuse to release such information. On the other hand, some contractors shop for bids after the award of the main contract. All contractors negotiate with subcontractors after the award of the main contract. Timely payments and price fluctuations are the major elements of the negotiations. Suggestions are presented to contractors and subcontractors for improving subcontractors' bidding practices.

Construction innovation offers the potential for significant company, industry, and societal benefits. The objective of this paper is to present five models of construction innovation, which can provide a basis upon which companies can select and implement the innovations. Based upon current management and economic theories of innovations, the models reflect the unique conditions of constructed facilities, including the scale, complexity, and longevity of the facilities, as well as their organizational and social contexts. The innovations are differentiated by their degree of change from current practice, and their links to other components and systems. The five models are incremental, modular, architectural, system, and radical innovations. Using this categorization of innovations, companies can plan their implementation activities with respect to timing of commitment, coordination among the project team, special resources, and level of supervisory activity. Examples of construction innovations in each category are discussed.

Since the early 1960s many techniques have been developed to plan and schedule linear construction projects. However, one, the critical path method (CPM), overshadowed the others. As a result, CPM developed into the powerful and effective tool that it is today. However, research has indicated that CPM is ineffective for linear construction. Linear construction projects are typified by activities that must be repeated in different locations such as highways, pipelines, and tunnels. Recently, there has been renewed interest in linear scheduling. Much of this interest has involved a technique called the linear scheduling method (LSM). Only recently has there been the ability to calculate the controlling activities of a linear schedule, independent of network analysis. Additional research needs to be done to develop some of the techniques available in CPM into comparable ones for linear scheduling. One of these techniques is resource leveling. This paper uses the vehicle of a highway construction project to present an integer linear programming formulation to level the resources of linear projects.