Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Capital project development is a complex process that takes many years to implement. The development of a capital project usually undergoes several rounds of design evolution, and as a result the basic and original customer’s requirements may be easily sidetracked or may deviate from the client’s objectives. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a tool that can be used to keep track of customers’ requirements. The objective of this paper is to explore the applicability of QFD in the civil engineering capital project planning process by developing a QFD model with an application template for the process. To verify and demonstrate how the QFD model works, data are obtained from two real-life projects and fed into the template for back-analysis. The findings suggest that QFD can be successfully used in the capital project planning process as a road map to keep track of the original requirements, facilitate good communication across the hierarchy, and serve as a tool for evaluating project alternatives.

Forecasting cash requirements is essential for all contractors during the tendering stage since cash flow at the beginning of the project is a major cause of construction companies’ failure. Unfortunately, estimating minimum working capital (MWC) is not the mainstream practice of the majority of contractors in Malaysia, who find that the present models for estimating MWC are cumbersome and seldom give an accurate estimate. Therefore estimates of MWC made during the tendering stage need to be simplified so they can be prepared quickly with minimum input. It is important for the developer or owner to select a qualified contractor with competent financial backing. This paper establishes the relationship among the factors that contribute to MWC requirements and presents a simple model that could be used as a guide to estimate MWC for housing construction projects in Malaysia. The estimation is based on percentages of variables of contract value based on the historical data that influence MWC; the MWC obtained is then expressed in terms of percentage of contract value.

International construction projects involve multinational participants from different political, legal, economic, and cultural backgrounds. As one of the major issues affecting the management of international construction projects, culture deserves wide research. This paper aims to establish a valid groundwork for further research on the impact of cultural issues on contractual arrangements; conflict causation, and the selection of dispute resolution mechanisms for international construction projects. The paper reviews the characteristics of international construction activities and discusses the cultural context. It sets the research background for disseminating the findings of two surveys, carried out in Hong Kong and in London and Sydney. The study identifies the important features expected for the contract of international construction projects and ascertains their significance to further in-depth research.

Design/build has become one of the favored project delivery methods in the engineering construction industry. Numerous studies have advocated the use of design/build over the traditional design/bid/build delivery approach. A comprehensive analysis of 67 global projects from the Construction Industry Institute's database shows that design/build projects may not provide all the benefits to project performance. The study found timesaving was a definitive advantage of design/build project delivery, but, the positive effects of cost and productivity changes were not convincing. Based on the results of the study, the project management expertise and experience of the contractor may have a greater impact on project performance outcomes than focusing on project delivery strategy only.

This paper tests the assertion that experienced contractors are more competitive than inexperienced contractors by measuring the effect of experience on bidding competitiveness for building contracts procured by a regular client. Contractors are grouped into experienced and inexperienced contractors, and two levels of contractors’ experience are identified: (1) bidding experience only and (2) bidding plus construction experience. Results of two-sample t tests show that experienced contractors are more competitive than inexperienced contractors. Contractors’ competitiveness in respect of school contracts and other contracts are further compared in evaluating the relationship between the project type and experience effect. Experienced contractors are, on average, more competitive in competing for school contracts. It emerges that the factor of project type familiarity amplifies the experience effect. A comparison of experienced contractors’ competitiveness in bidding for (1) new building works and (2) alteration and extension works shows that the effect of experience would be more significant when contract works packages are highly standardized.

This paper presents a comprehensive model for cost optimization and dynamic project control. The model incorporates an integrated formulation for estimating, scheduling, resource management, and cash-flow analysis. The basic premise of the model is to allocate optional construction methods for each activity, varying from cheap and lengthy to expensive and short. Using a genetic algorithms procedure for total cost optimization, the model considers the actual progress of activities and optimizes the schedule of remaining ones (by determining the best combination of construction methods) so that project constraints are respected. The model, as such, is usable not only at the planning stage but also during construction. A description of the model and its application on an example project are provided in this paper. In addition, the paper introduces the recently emerged critical chain method for project control and describes an effort to incorporate some of its features into the earned-value analysis used in the proposed model.

This paper investigates the challenging environment of reconstruction projects and describes the development of a predictive model of cost deviation in such high-risk projects. Based on a survey of construction professionals, information was obtained on the reasons behind cost overruns and poor quality from 50 reconstruction projects. For each project, the specific techniques used for project control were reported along with the actual cost deviation from planned values. Two indicators of cost deviation are used in this study: cost overrun to the owner, and the cost of rework to the contractor. Based on the information obtained, 36 factors were identified as having direct impact on the cost performance of reconstruction projects. Two techniques were then used to develop models for predicting cost deviation: statistical analysis, and artificial neural networks (ANNs). While both models had similar accuracy, the ANN model is more sensitive to a larger number of variables. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the reasons for cost deviation in reconstruction projects and provides a decision support tool to quantify that deviation.

In this paper, a practical method is developed in an attempt to address the fundamental matters and limitations of existing methods for critical-path method (CPM) based resource scheduling, which are identified by reviewing the prior research in resource-constrained CPM scheduling and repetitive scheduling. The proposed method is called the resource-activity critical-path method (RACPM), in which (1) the dimension of resource in addition to activity and time is highlighted in project scheduling to seamlessly synchronize activity planning and resource planning; (2) the start/finish times and the floats are defined as resource-activity attributes based on the resource-technology combined precedence relationships; and (3) the “resource critical” issue that has long baffled the construction industry is clarified. The RACPM is applied to an example problem taken from the literature for illustrating the algorithm and comparing it with the existing method. A sample application of the proposed RACPM for planning a footbridge construction project is also given to demonstrate that practitioners can readily interpret and utilize a RACPM schedule by relating the RACPM to the classic CPM. The RACPM provides schedulers with a convenient vehicle for seamlessly integrating the technology/process perspective with the resource use perspective in construction planning. The effect on the project duration and activity floats of varied resource availability can be studied through running RACPM on different scenarios of resources. This potentially leads to an integrated scheduling and cost estimating process that will produce realistic schedules, estimates, and control budgets for construction.

The paper evaluates the cost-benefit parameters of tall residential buildings 10 to 40 stories high, as compared with 5 to 7 story high conventional buildings. Two viewpoints are examined: those of the developer and of the dweller. The paper explains the methodology employed in the evaluation and examines the following parameters: the costs of construction, land, financing, and risk; the costs during use; and also the intangible impacts of tall buildings on scenery, open spaces, safety, accessibility, and other factors. Conclusions are presented, and their applicability under different conditions is discussed.

This paper presents a predictive tool that uses safety factors to estimate accident risk for processes commonly employed on construction sites. The tool is demonstrated in the context of the utility-trenching process. Based on expert surveys, preplanning, supervision, and training are identified as critical safety factors needed to predict accident risk when evaluating safety performance related to trenching operations. Preplanning has a greater impact on excavation tasks than supervision and training, while conversely, supervision and training are more important during the pipe installation phase of trenching operations.

Real-time control of on-site construction is a growing field still in its infancy. Labor inputs is an important project performance indicator to be controlled because it is a leading input in construction projects. A model for automated control was developed and verified in the field, to demonstrate that labor inputs can be automatically measured and controlled. The concept behind this development is that indirect data—workers’ locations measured automatically at regular time intervals—can be collected automatically and converted into labor inputs using computerized algorithms. The model was implemented in a concept-proving prototype, which was applied in three construction projects to verify the concept and test the feasibility of developing a full-scale prototype. The encouraging results of the field experiments showed that it is possible to convert worker’s locations automatically measured at regular time intervals into labor inputs, and thus automatically control them. The expected accuracy of such a system is ±10–20%. Additional work is currently underway to develop a location measurement system and other components of the full-scale prototype.

As the complexity and size of the projects undertaken by horizontal directional drilling (HDD) contractors rapidly increase, there is a growing need for the development of dedicated software designed to meet the industry’s special needs and requirements. This paper presents the results of a survey of the HDD industry’s software needs as well as a summary of commercially available software specifically designed for this industry. In addition, the development of two computerized applications tailored for the HDD industry are described. The first of these applications is an integrated data management system that combines asset management, cost control, estimating, and project tracking capabilities, enabling decision makers to closely monitor field performance in terms of expenditure and productivity. The second application is a simulation model developed for optimizing the utilization of drilling rigs and hydro-vacuum trucks on large-scale urban projects. Both applications are designed to improve the planning, estimating, and productivity of directional drilling projects, ultimately reducing the cost of expanding underground infrastructure networks.

A good information classification and coding system is of great advantage to management. However, until now there has been no such a system for engineering management. MasterFormat is widely accepted as a construction information system but is not applicable to engineering work. This paper presents an engineering information classification system for engineering management that has a faceted and hierarchical structure that can flexibly classify information from facility to resource levels, such as construction information classification systems. The six digit coding system for products and functional tasks assists in project cost data collection and schedule planning. A design project was used as an example; the application can be broadened to incorporate the profit center practice and align a consulting firm’s business strategy.

Problems in construction management are complex, full of uncertainty, and vary with environment. Fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms (GAs) have been successfully applied in construction management to solve various kinds of problems. Considering the characteristics and merits of each method, this paper combines the above three techniques to develop an Evolutionary Fuzzy Neural Inference Model (EFNIM). Integrating these three methods, the EFNIM uses GAs to simultaneously search for the fittest membership functions with the minimum fuzzy neural network (FNN) structure and optimum parameters of FNN. Thus, the best adaptation mode is automatically identified. Furthermore, this research work integrates the EFNIM with an object-oriented (OO) computer technique to develop an OO Evolutionary Fuzzy Neural Inference System for solving construction management problems. Simulations are conducted to demonstrate the application potential of the EFNIS. This system could be used as a multifarious intelligent decision support system for decision-making to solve manifold construction management problems.