Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Integrated project delivery (IPD) is an emerging construction project delivery system that collaboratively involves key participants very early in the project timeline, often before the design is started. It is distinguished by a multiparty contractual agreement that typically allows risks and rewards to be shared among project stakeholders. Because IPD is becoming increasingly popular, various organizations are expressing interest in its benefits to the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry. However, no research studies have shown statistically significant performance differences between IPD and more established delivery systems. This study fills that missing gap by evaluating the performance of IPD projects compared to projects delivered using the more traditional design-bid-build, design-build, and construction management at-risk systems, and showing statistically significant improvements for IPD. Relevant literature was analyzed, and a data collection instrument was developed and utilized in detailed interviews to gather quantitative performance data from 35 recently completed projects. Univariate data analyses, such as t-tests and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests, were performed to evaluate IPD performance. The results indicate that IPD achieves statistically significant improvements in 14 metrics across six performance areas: quality, schedule, project changes, communication among stakeholders, environmental, and financial performance. The major contribution of this paper is demonstrating that IPD provides higher quality facilities faster and at no significant cost premium. These results would be extremely valuable in the hands of decision makers to enable them to choose the appropriate delivery system for their projects.

The construction industry is labor intensive by nature; consequently, the measurement of trade-level productivity is a critical component that can be used to assess the overall productivity of the industry. Despite its importance, little research has been conducted to investigate the challenges that contractors and subcontractors face in measuring productivity accurately at the trade level. As a result, this study aims to identify critical challenges in the measurement of trade-level productivity and to explore plausible solutions for these challenges in order to improve productivity assessment in the industry. On the basis of an extensive literature review and a survey and interviews with industry experts, a total of 17 critical challenges and 24 plausible solutions were identified and analyzed statistically. The findings from this study will help to shed light on the difficulties that contractors and subcontractors encounter during trade-level productivity measurement, and will identify solutions that can be used effectively to deal with these challenges.

Suggestions abound for successful adoption of building information modeling (BIM); however, a company with limited resources cannot adopt them all. The factors that have top management priority for successful accomplishment of a task are termed critical success factors (CSFs). This paper aims to derive the CSFs for four questions commonly asked by companies in the first wave of BIM adoption: (1) What are the CSFs for adopting BIM in a company? (2) What are the CSFs for selecting projects to deploy BIM? (3) What are the CSFs for selecting BIM services? (4) What are the CSFs for selecting company-appropriate BIM software applications? A list of consideration factors was collected for each question, based on a literature review, and then refined through face-to-face interviews based on experiences of BIM experts. An international survey was conducted with leading BIM experts. From the 206 distributed surveys, 52 responses from four continents were collected. This study used quantitative data analysis to derive a manageable number (4–10) of CSFs for each category from dozens of anecdotal consideration factors. The derived CSFs are expected to be used as efficient metrics for evaluating and managing the level of BIM adoption and as a basis for developing BIM evaluation models in the future.

This multinational study of the contribution of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) to the success of construction engineering projects was performed to reveal cross-country similarities and differences. A survey questionnaire of professional engineers in the construction industry (project managers, stakeholders, and team members) was performed in Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Structural equation modeling was used to determine the effects of PMBOK techniques/tools/skills (TTSs) on project success (PS). The contributions to the PMBOK include (1) a novel PS index (PSI) framework adapted from the American Customer Satisfaction Index and an importance-performance analysis (IPA) for prioritizing PMBOK TTS predictors of PS, (2) an IPA technique for identifying PMBOK TTS items that help construction practitioners improve PS by implementing effective managerial strategies, enhancing project performance, and improving the efficient use of management resources, and (3) guidance in the current use of PMBOK TTSs by practitioners and educators in the construction engineering field. Empirical data obtained in a cross-country comparison confirm that effective use of PMBOK TTSs substantially increases the probability of PS. Moreover, construction practitioners can develop management knowledge needed to increase the likelihood of PS based on TTS that this study identified as essential for project performance.

As building information modeling (BIM) becomes increasingly standard practice in the construction industry, universities providing construction engineering and management education seek to incorporate BIM concepts and skills in their degree programs. The goal of this research was to compile a framework for BIM education that lays out the necessary topics and the levels of achievement required at each stage of degree programs. Industry’s requirements for graduate engineers were elicited through surveys, workshops, analyses of job advertisements, and in-depth interviews. An outline of 39 topics in three broad classifications was established. Targets for competency in each topic were developed using the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy, which expresses the learning objectives on six levels (from understand to evaluate). Gap analysis, which compared the state of the art in leading universities to industry requirements, led to the compilation of a framework for the development of BIM content for undergraduate and graduate construction engineering and management degree programs. The requirements and framework are intended to provide educators with essential knowledge as they develop and implement BIM content in their programs.

Contractual focus is thought to lie on a spectrum ranging from formal contract behaviors to relational behaviors. This study aims to investigate whether the use of relational behaviors leads to higher-quality relationships among contracting parties in public construction projects, identify the hindrances to adopting relational behaviors in these contracts, and recommend measures to overcome the hindrances. Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from respondents who had public project experiences in Singapore and thereafter analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling. The result shows that a lack of relational background leads contracting parties to adopt formal contract behaviors in public projects, and this further leads to deterioration in the quality of relationships among contracting parties. The results also indicate that (1) a lack of long-term commitment and a lack of public client initiative lead to misalignment among contracting parties and (2) a lack of long-term commitment is positively influenced by a lack of relational background and public client unwillingness to commit to relational behaviors. This study contributes to knowledge by identifying the hindrances to adopting relational behaviors and proving empirically that greater adoption of relational behaviors gives rise to better relationship quality among contracting parties in public projects. Recommendations are offered to enable contracting parties in public projects to adopt more relational practices.

The importance of green buildings has been frequently highlighted. However, barriers such as greater complexity, lack of understanding of sustainability, and the perception of a greater possibility of cost overrun have hindered the dissemination of green buildings. More planning efforts for green buildings can presumably help mitigate these barriers. This paper investigates preproject planning efforts for green and conventional building projects. Project-level data were collected (124 in total, 71 from conventional building projects and 53 from green building projects), with project data consisting of general information about the project, a Project Definition Rate Index (PDRI) survey, and cost performance. The project data were categorized into four groups based on their project type (green and conventional) and cost performance (actual cost on/under budget and over budget). For the four groups, a two-way analysis of variance test was used to compare the degree of preproject planning efforts measured by PDRI. The analysis indicated that green projects tend to have more investment in preproject planning efforts than conventional projects, and the difference was marginally statistically significant at the level of $\alpha =0.05$. In addition, a comparison of the mean PDRI values of the four groups revealed that green projects with a superior cost performance invest more in preproject planning efforts than other groups, and the difference was statistically meaningful. From the interaction effect, we also found that the impact of preproject planning on cost performance is more critical for green projects than for conventional projects. Regarding the preproject planning category, we found that green projects with superior cost performance tend to involve more planning with regard to business strategy, project requirements, site information, building programming, and building/project design parameters. These findings make two contributions. First, the findings help practitioners justify additional preproject planning efforts for green projects. Second, some of the results of this study will be useful to practitioners initiating sustainable projects by helping with the determination of which aspects of green buildings should involve more extensive planning. These findings will help reduce the possibility of cost overruns and allow more green projects to be deployed in order to address the need for sustainability.

Public engagement (PE) involves multidisciplinary stakeholders contributing their perspectives to a project in order to achieve a common goal. However, it is not easy to take the needs and wishes of stakeholders into account while balancing their diverse power and interests in the engagement process. The unbalanced distribution of power and interests inevitably causes conflict during engagement with multiple stakeholders. Research on how to improve PE performance from a stakeholder’s perspective is still in its infancy. This study used a survey to investigate the complicated relationships between stakeholder’s power, interests, conflict, and project satisfaction. The results showed that different forms of power and interest influenced final satisfaction with PE projects either directly or indirectly, through conflict. The PE organizers are encouraged to include more representatives from different groups of stakeholders in the team decision-making process to enable active engagement with their interests and to establish a systematic and logical team-decision-making process to decrease task conflict. The findings of this study will contribute to balancing stakeholder’s power and interests, managing conflict effectively, improving PE performance for construction development projects, and, finally, to maximizing public value.

The performance of road and airport wearing courses does not depend only on their bearing capacity. Many of the properties and characteristics of a pavement, such as its friction, drainability, and acoustic absorption, influence its real and perceived economic value. Thus, research is needed to develop reliable contracts and acceptance criteria for wearing courses, taking into account a variety of characteristics. The goal of the study described in this paper was to formalize and validate a model for determining pay adjustments on the basis of traditional and “premium” qualities. A new quality measure and a new and comprehensive algorithm, based on performance-related specifications and life-cycle cost analysis, were formulated and applied to a case study. The algorithm can also be applied to porous asphalt concretes or similar open-graded friction courses. Analyses and validation demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can efficiently solve typical problems that arise in contract administration for which decisions based on objective criteria are needed.

In order to develop a realistic simulation model, it is critical to provide the model with factual input data based on the interactions and events that take place between real entities. However, the existing trend in simulation of construction fleet activities is based on estimating input parameters such as activity durations using expert judgments and assumptions. Not only may such estimations not be precise, but project dynamics can influence model parameters beyond expectation. Therefore, the simulation model may not be a proper and reliable representation of the real engineering system. In order to alleviate these issues and improve the current practice of construction simulation, a thorough approach is needed that enables the integration of field data into simulation modeling and systematic refinement of the resulting models. This paper describes the latest efforts by authors to design and test a novel methodology for multimodal-process data capturing, fusion, and mining that provides a solid basis for automated generation and refinement of simulation models that realistically represent construction fleet operations. Different modes of operational data are collected and fused to facilitate the discovery of operational knowledge required to create realistic simulation models. The developed algorithms are validated using laboratory scale experiments and analytical results are also provided. The main contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is that it lays the foundation to systematically investigate whether it is possible to robustly discover computer-interpretable knowledge patterns from heterogeneous field data in order to create or refine realistic simulation models from complex, unstructured, and evolving operations such as heavy construction and infrastructure projects.

Reliable prediction of construction prices is essential for the construction industry because price variation can affect the decisions of construction contractors, property investors, and related financial institutions. Various modeling and prediction techniques for construction prices have been studied, but few researchers have considered the impact of global economic events and the seasonality of construction prices. In this study, global economic events and construction price seasonality as intervention dummies, together with a group of macroeconomic variables, are considered in a vector error correction (VEC) model to accurately predict the movement of construction prices. The proposed prediction model is verified against a series of diagnostic statistical criteria and compared with conventional VEC, multiregression, and Box-Jenkins approaches. Results indicate that the VEC model with dummy variables is more effective and reliable for forecasting construction prices. The VEC model with dummy variables can also assist construction economists to analyze the effect of special events and factors on the construction industry.

Lateral buckling of unbraced wood composite I-joists is a form of instability that causes the joist to deflect laterally and rotate. This instability may be a cause of worker falls and should be explored to understand the range of loading and out-of-plane motion required to cause lateral buckling. While walking on unbraced joists is uncommon on construction sites, understanding the movement of unbraced joists is needed to model more commonly observed partially braced joists. This paper investigated the load and out-of-plane movement of several unbraced wood composite I-joists subjected to human walking loads. Vertical load at the ends of the joist, top and bottom horizontal loads at one end of the joist, as well as lateral deflection and rotation at the midspan and quarter-span were measured while participants traversed the joist. Lateral buckling of joists was observed due to walking loads. Total vertical load measured was similar to participant weight, while horizontal loads ranged from 9.6 to 13.7% of participant weight. Differences were observed in I-joist behavior between different lengths and manufacturers studied. Load, lateral deflection, and rotation of the joist increased as participant weight increased. Vertical load at each end, lateral deflection, and rotation were positively correlated with participant weight. A set of curves demonstrating the lateral deflection and rotation for different joists as a function of participant weight was developed.

This paper promotes the quality analysis of flexible pavements by exploring the role of analysis programs as laboratory support tools to assess the quality of constructed pavements. Specifically, the research explored the significance of laboratory dynamic modulus testing on assigning pay factor adjustments in these tools. In the United States, the current methods of pavement acceptance are based more on construction craftsmanship (i.e., density and smoothness, percent within limits) as opposed to how the pavement will actually perform once constructed. The use of performance-based specification models would enable a state transportation agency to quantify the impacts of varying as-built mixture quality in terms of (1) a projection of pavement service life, and (2) presenting life-cycle costs in a way that both agencies and contractors can understand. Two publicly available performance-related specification (PRS) quality assurance (QA) analysis tools have been developed based on mechanistic-empirical pavement design principles and were assessed for a small set of mixtures. The quality related specification software (QRSS) utilizes a predictive equation and traffic, binder, and mixture volumetric data to predict dynamic modulus ($|E^{*}|$) values. The asphalt mixture performance tester (AMPT) QA program varies from the QRSS in that it uses the laboratory-measured $|E^{*}|$ as an input. Pavement distresses (i.e., rutting and fatigue cracking) are calculated based on both the as-designed job-mix formula and as-produced construction mixture properties. Then, a predicted service life difference (PLD) and the resultant pay factor adjustments are calculated based on the variance between the as-designed and as-produced mixtures. The distress and service life predictions from the two QA programs were similar for the conventional mixes, which may indicate that requiring a laboratory-tested dynamic modulus does not add significant benefit in the analysis of conventional mixtures. Furthermore, an analysis was done in the QRSS program to compare the impacts of the preloaded default binder values to the laboratory-measured binder properties. The results indicated that laboratory testing of binders is recommended for providing inputs to the QRSS since the in situ characteristics were not fully reflected by the default binder values in the program. The differences in the distress levels predicted for the unconventional mixture types indicated that the use of laboratory-measured $|E^{*}|$ is necessary for setting pay factor adjustments, particularly since only conventional dense-graded mixtures were used to calibrate the models in the programs. The conditions under which the program-based analyses will have limitations are presented. Recommendations are provided on how agencies and contractors can improve the construction process by preliminary monitoring of pavement quality using the analysis tools.

High-strength steel reinforcement in buildings had previously been limited to specialized applications, but recently published design guidance allows expanded use. A case study, conducted to investigate productivity benefits of using 690 mpa (100 ksi) versus 414 mpa (60 ksi) reinforcement, found that there was little to no benefit in using 690 mpa (100 ksi) steel in slabs, post-tensioned girders, and columns, but the beam reinforcement weight was reduced by 36%. The 2010 material cost ratio of 690 mpa (100 ksi) to 414 mpa (60 ksi) reinforcement was two, outstripping the weight reduction. However, labor cost is a function of weight, bringing the overall cost of 690 mpa (100 ksi) reinforcement to within 35% of 414 mpa (60 ksi) reinforcement cost. The material cost ratio will presumably decrease over time; if it drops by 30% or more, 690 mpa (100 ksi) reinforcement will be more economical. Labor costs, which vary by location, strongly influence the productivity benefits of 690 mpa (100 ksi) reinforcement. The use of 690 mpa (100 ksi) reinforcement is more favorable in expensive labor markets and it appears to be currently competitive in some. The paper’s primary contribution to the overall body of knowledge is the quantitative understanding of the economic factors that influence the ability of 690 mpa (100 ksi) steel reinforcement to have a productivity advantage over the use of conventional 414 mpa (60 ksi) steel reinforcement. Practitioners, designers, and researchers can use this information to understand the cost and productivity impact of high-strength reinforcing steel.

The construction industry needs graduate engineers with knowledge and skills in building information modeling (BIM). A detailed set of 39 topics required for BIM competence in construction management, together with specific targets for competency in each topic, was recently compiled on the basis of research into the needs of industry. However, only a handful of universities have introduced BIM topics into their curricula for construction engineering and management (CEM) students. A set of guidelines for the integration of BIM topics into CEM curricula has been developed and tested at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The BIM education interventions in four out of seven courses were planned, implemented, and evaluated over three semesters. The experiments showed that BIM should be introduced not only as a topic in its own right, but more importantly, also as a tool for performing the engineering tasks taught within design, analysis, and management courses. Further, knowledge of the soft skills of information sharing and knowledge management, professional roles, commercial context, etc. are as important as the technology aspects. The work contributes a set of procedures that educators can use to identify their local requirements and build comprehensive BIM education into their CEM degree programs.

This paper presents a conceptual approach to scheduling multiple projects in a matrix organization with rapidly changing and sometimes competing objectives using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) within a decision support system (DSS). This approach increased the analytical capabilities and scheduling efficacy of traditional scheduling processes in a medium-sized electric utility company. The purpose of this paper is to establish a logical framework for scheduling multiple projects with competing priorities while taking into account all known corporate organizational constraints. Traditional scheduling techniques such as the program evaluation and review technique and critical-path method are heavily based on time constraints and resource availability, neglecting factors such as customer satisfaction, organizational financial objectives, political risks, and other intangible parameters that greatly influence scheduling processes. The primary contribution of this paper is a conceptual framework that offers a platform to incorporate tangible and intangible variables into a decision support system using AHP for scheduling multiple projects with competing objectives in matrix organizations. The results of the application showed that, when compared with traditional scheduling methods, this DSS model with integrated AHP showed improvements in prioritizing in accordance with political risks, cash-flow demands, and crew allocation. It appears to be a superior solution for solving prioritization issues in matrix organizations.