This study analyzes 40 construction projects to compare the effectiveness of the traditional design-bid-build (D/B/B) project delivery method and the alternative design-build (D/B) method. The study finds that D/B provided timesaving benefits but the positive effects on cost changes were not conclusive. Statistical analysis showed that D/B/B projects experienced around 6.75% change in cost on average, while D/B projects saw around 11.66% change in cost on average. However, the impact of a contractor's project management expertise and experience may have a greater influence on project performance than the choice of delivery method alone.
Outsourcing is an imperative process for many companies to stay competitive. However inevitable it is, outsourcing often involves risk and fear to unknown. What are those risk and fear? How to manage them. While some are doing it for years, why can't we? What are the upside and downside of outsourcing?
A statement of work is a document routinely employed in the field of project management. It is referred to as the narrative description of a project's work requirement. It defines project-specific activities, deliverables and timelines for a vendor providing services to the client.
Payment posting in RCM seems like an afterthought, something that happens after the “real” work of medical billing ends. After all, you’ve done the hard part and got the payments in the door. Payment Posting is the crucial step in the Revenue Cycle Management process.
Outsourcing is an imperative process for many companies to stay competitive. However inevitable it is, outsourcing often involves risk and fear to unknown. What are those risk and fear? How to manage them. While some are doing it for years, why can't we? What are the upside and downside of outsourcing?
A statement of work is a document routinely employed in the field of project management. It is referred to as the narrative description of a project's work requirement. It defines project-specific activities, deliverables and timelines for a vendor providing services to the client.
Payment posting in RCM seems like an afterthought, something that happens after the “real” work of medical billing ends. After all, you’ve done the hard part and got the payments in the door. Payment Posting is the crucial step in the Revenue Cycle Management process.
I am uploading all these notes only for the sake of Allah SWT. A very comprehensive and detailed Lecture Slide for Management Students (Related to Engineering)
A case study of Delay Analysis of construction project: Al Kut Olympic Stadiu...Gaurav Verma
These slides present a case study of Delay Analysis in Construction of "AL KUT OLYMPIC STADIUM". After going through these slides you will gotta know the following things:
1. What are construction delays?
2. Types of Construction Delays.
3. Effects of Construction Delays.
4. Location of "Al Kut Olympic Stadium".
5. Scope of study.
6. Objectives of study.
7. Research Methodology.
8. Result Analysis.
A project budget is the total sum of money allocated for the particular purpose of the project for a specific period of time.
A succesful project must meet four success criteria:
the project’s scope is delivered on schedule,
it is delivered within budget
meets the quality expectations of the donor
meets the quality expectations of the beneficiaries.
Defining, executing, controlling and updating the budget are the major steps of budget management. There are different essentials of budgeting: Integration of Holistic Cost Analysis
Balancing cost and quality
Dynamic Resource Allocation and Contingency Planning
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
Ethical Considerations in Resource Allocation
Incorporating Technological Innovation
Driving Innovation and Sustainability
Longitudinal Impact Assessment
Continuous monitoring and evaluation
Effective project budgeting is essential for the successful execution of any project.
The budgeting process should be dynamic and adaptive, allowing for adjustments as the project progresses and unforeseen challenges arise.
Budgeting is not just a mere financial exercise; it also promotes accountability, transparency, and effective communication among project stakeholders.
In conclusion, a well-planned and managed project budget is the foundation for achieving project goals, maximizing resource utilization, and delivering value and outcomes.
Sabeer 8 yrs of experience it support engineer cvsabeer j
Review of my credentials will confirm that I have served as a successful Database Administrator, Support engineer and Data Analyst amassing experience over 8 years. I had the opportunity to associate with multinational Clients like MasterCard Worldwide USA, Applied Materials Inc USA, and MTN Group Africa.
It is an invitation from the owner to the contractor to execute some work at specified cost in specified time.
It is published in the form of tender notice in news papers, notice boards, gussets, etc. According to the cost of works.
I am uploading all these notes only for the sake of Allah SWT. A very comprehensive and detailed Lecture Slide for Management Students (Related to Engineering)
A case study of Delay Analysis of construction project: Al Kut Olympic Stadiu...Gaurav Verma
These slides present a case study of Delay Analysis in Construction of "AL KUT OLYMPIC STADIUM". After going through these slides you will gotta know the following things:
1. What are construction delays?
2. Types of Construction Delays.
3. Effects of Construction Delays.
4. Location of "Al Kut Olympic Stadium".
5. Scope of study.
6. Objectives of study.
7. Research Methodology.
8. Result Analysis.
A project budget is the total sum of money allocated for the particular purpose of the project for a specific period of time.
A succesful project must meet four success criteria:
the project’s scope is delivered on schedule,
it is delivered within budget
meets the quality expectations of the donor
meets the quality expectations of the beneficiaries.
Defining, executing, controlling and updating the budget are the major steps of budget management. There are different essentials of budgeting: Integration of Holistic Cost Analysis
Balancing cost and quality
Dynamic Resource Allocation and Contingency Planning
Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement
Ethical Considerations in Resource Allocation
Incorporating Technological Innovation
Driving Innovation and Sustainability
Longitudinal Impact Assessment
Continuous monitoring and evaluation
Effective project budgeting is essential for the successful execution of any project.
The budgeting process should be dynamic and adaptive, allowing for adjustments as the project progresses and unforeseen challenges arise.
Budgeting is not just a mere financial exercise; it also promotes accountability, transparency, and effective communication among project stakeholders.
In conclusion, a well-planned and managed project budget is the foundation for achieving project goals, maximizing resource utilization, and delivering value and outcomes.
Sabeer 8 yrs of experience it support engineer cvsabeer j
Review of my credentials will confirm that I have served as a successful Database Administrator, Support engineer and Data Analyst amassing experience over 8 years. I had the opportunity to associate with multinational Clients like MasterCard Worldwide USA, Applied Materials Inc USA, and MTN Group Africa.
It is an invitation from the owner to the contractor to execute some work at specified cost in specified time.
It is published in the form of tender notice in news papers, notice boards, gussets, etc. According to the cost of works.
Construction Projects Delivery Methods - Nilaksh Kothari, Manitowoc Public Ut...marcus evans Network
Nilaksh Kothari, Manitowoc Public Utilities (MPU) - Speaker at the marcus evans Water & Wastewater Management Summit held in Summerlin, NV, May 3-4, 2012 delivered his presentation entitled Construction Projects Delivery Methods
Presentation topic is DECISION MAKING UNDER UNCERTAINTY and two criteria are shown - MAXI MAXI and MAXI MIN. This PPT is useful for 2nd year students of BBA or BBM course
Onshore modules construction – a fabricator’s viewMerrylyn Yeo
Understand the important lessons learned and common pitfalls to avoid in contract formation and contract execution through this presentation told from a fabricator’s point of view. This presentation covers a discussion on contracting model, contracting strategy and project organization setup.
The reality is that a paradigm shift is needed to enable the Agile PMO to deliver the correct support and provide an acceptable level of guidance for project managers in a collaborative and co-operative approach.
This will result in the ability to work with the project and business teams to fast track projects through to delivery while ensuring that the components of the triple constraints evolves into a managed agile enterprise project and programme environment.
Guide to Construction Procurement StrategiesSarah Fox
A guide to the three most common procurement strategies used on UK construction projects:
1. Traditional or general contracting
2. Design and build
3. Management based (covering management contracting, construction management and prime contracting).
Many construction professionals stick with what they know when choosing or recommending procurement, risk and contract strategies. However, making an informed choice can reduce the risk of conflict later. The comparison of the different strategies is partly based on Which Contract? By Cox, Clamp and Lupton.
This guide was developed by Sarah Fox, author of the 500-Word Contract. Using her 20 years' experience with construction projects, she gives you the confidence to use the right contracts for project success. The right contracts depend on the right procurement and risk strategies.
To find out more about her contract workshops, visit www.500words.co.uk or email sarah@500words.co.uk
MANAGING AND CONTROLLING PROJECT CHANGES IN POST-CONFLICT COUNTRIES: THE CA...ijmvsc
Ineffective change management and control practices in donor and government-funded projects
served as the major impediment to meeting project completion timelines and possible project failures.
Project management professionals globally have attributed multiple requests for cost, scope, or
schedule changes to classical project management issues, including cost overruns, schedule overruns,
and scope creeps when managing traditional-driven projects. In post-conflict countries, including
Liberia, multiple change requests or variation orders are prevalent in various types of projects often
driven by political interests, corruption, and other fraudulent practices. In this paper, the author
examined some critical change management and control issues, especially regarding little or
non-existent institutional framework for change control as well as the lack of a structural and
systematic approach for managing and controlling changes during project implementation. To
mitigate these situations, the author proffered recommendations aimed at helping project
organizations minimize budget and schedule overruns due to scope creep as well as project delays
resulting from unregulated change management and control practices in Liberia.
MANAGING AND CONTROLLING PROJECT CHANGES IN POST-CONFLICT COUNTRIES: THE CASE...ijmvsc
Ineffective change management and control practices in donor and government-funded projects
served as the major impediment to meeting project completion timelines and possible project failures.
Project management professionals globally have attributed multiple requests for cost, scope, or
schedule changes to classical project management issues, including cost overruns, schedule overruns,
and scope creeps when managing traditional-driven projects. In post-conflict countries, including
Liberia, multiple change requests or variation orders are prevalent in various types of projects often
driven by political interests, corruption, and other fraudulent practices. In this paper, the author
examined some critical change management and control issues, especially regarding little or
non-existent institutional framework for change control as well as the lack of a structural and
systematic approach for managing and controlling changes during project implementation. To
mitigate these situations, the author proffered recommendations aimed at helping project
organizations minimize budget and schedule overruns due to scope creep as well as project delays
resulting from unregulated change management and control practices in Liberia.
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) is an open access online peer reviewed international journal that publishes research and review articles in the fields of Computer Science, Neural Networks, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Plastic Engineering, Food Technology, Textile Engineering, Nano Technology & science, Power Electronics, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Computational mathematics, Image processing, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, VLSI Testing & Low Power VLSI Design etc.
A STUDY OF VARIOUS FACTORS AFFECTING CONTRACTOR’S PERFORMANCE IN LOWEST BID...IAEME Publication
Real estate sector in present scenario is going through a lean patch, many organisations are either running in loss or with a marginal profits. As in state government and central government departments contractors are facing huge problems that are in turn tending to decrease in contractor profits. The present study focuses on study of various factors that affect contractor’s performance who have been awarded projects on the basis of lowest bid awards. The study analyses various factors and their impacts on the basis of responses collected form a survey. On the basis of overall index and relative importance index factor causing a major impact on contractor’s efficiency have been identified.
Running head FINAL ASSIGNMENT1FINAL ASSIGNMENT.docxcowinhelen
Running head: FINAL ASSIGNMENT 1
FINAL ASSIGNMENT 7
FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Name:
Course Title:
Professor:
Date:
Scope changes occur when the request is made to change the project objectives and its scope to accompany needs and objectives that were not originally in the original plan (Arain & Low, 2009). Allowing scope changes when the project have already started usually adds cost, more risks, and longer duration or even project failure if the scope is not managed properly. Scope changes in a project occurs through the following ways; some scope changes may be necessary and minor and thus may not follow the approval procedure, a scope change should be made through a change request form, the form should address specific scope changes to be made, reviewed and authorized, once the change request form has been filled the project manager should pay attention to the nature to make sure if the changes are in scope, where the changes are in the projects lifecycle and which objective or deliverable will be affected. A benefit case should be made to analyses why the changes will be made and what impact they will have on the project timeline, risk, and cost. The Project Manager should send a mail to the project sponsor or through meeting him in person and explaining the importance of the change. Once the change has been approved, it should be documented and the changes controlled through the project phases.
Project timeline changes are the most common problem to a project manager which usually occurs when a project task or activity which is in the critical path takes more time than what was estimated or planned or changes in project scope (Arain & Low, 2009). Timeline changes can be managed through an addition of more resources a good example is when the sponsor demands the project to be finished one month earlier which will need the manager to request for two additional software developers for the remaining part of the project. The second way to manage changes in project timeline is through the critical path, where you add more resources to the tasks in the critical path which will shorten their duration, this is known as crashing the plan. Whenever a project timeline project changes it should be reported to all the project stakeholders and the sponsor through the following ways; providing an updated project plan with all the tasks affected by the project timeline changes, report about your project timeline in the current project status report.
Project budget changes is directed influenced by other changes such as timeline and scope which will make the project to require additional funding from the sponsor, project managers should continuously manage their budget to avoid an over-budget (Arain & Low, 2009), project manager should constantly revisit the project budget especially when other changes such as scope occurs since they direct contribute to the project cost, they should revisit the resources that the project is using, The ...
Strategic Cost Management for Construction Project Success : A Systematic Studycivej
Large construction projects are inherently complex and dynamic. Many projects start with good ideas,
huge investments and great efforts. However, most of them do not achieve much success. A major
contribution to unsuccessful projects is the lack of understanding on scope, time, cost and quality. Projects
as powerful strategic weapons when initiated create economic value and competitive advantage. The
objective of the research is to explicitly declare the scope of the research to by considering only the scope,
time, cost and quality as process success parameters and how specifically the cost element would influence
the project success when all other elements or factors other than cost are represented in terms of cost
factor along with the contract conditions as basic rules or constraints that drive the strategic cost based on
applying the CRASP methodology concept. The concept of benchmarking would provide right meaning of
project success when allowing to properly distributing the meaning of customer profitability to the project
providers (project owner and contractors).
STRATEGIC COST MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SUCCESS: A SYSTEMATIC STUDYcivejjour
Large construction projects are inherently complex and dynamic. Many projects start with good ideas, huge investments and great efforts. However, most of them do not achieve much success. A major contribution to unsuccessful projects is the lack of understanding on scope, time, cost and quality. Projects as powerful strategic weapons when initiated create economic value and competitive advantage. The objective of the research is to explicitly declare the scope of the research to by considering only the scope, time, cost and quality as process success parameters and how specifically the cost element would influence the project success when all other elements or factors other than cost are represented in terms of cost factor along with the contract conditions as basic rules or constraints that drive the strategic cost based on applying the CRASP methodology concept. The concept of benchmarking would provide right meaning of project success when allowing to properly distributing the meaning of customer profitability to the project providers (project owner and contractors).
STRATEGIC COST MANAGEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT SUCCESS: A SYSTEMATIC STUDYcivejjour
Large construction projects are inherently complex and dynamic. Many projects start with good ideas, huge investments and great efforts. However, most of them do not achieve much success. A major contribution to unsuccessful projects is the lack of understanding on scope, time, cost and quality. Projects
as powerful strategic weapons when initiated create economic value and competitive advantage.
Towards Innovate Methods of Construction Cost Management and Controlcivejjour
Project cost is one of the three main challenges for the construction manager, where the success of a
project is judged by meeting the criteria of cost with budget, schedule on time, and quality as specified by
the owner. Many projects experience extensive delays and thereby exceed initial time and cost estimate.
Available information, good estimating practice and experienced personnel are some of the factors found
to have considerable impact on estimation accuracy. The successful execution of construction projects and
keeping them within estimated cost and prescribed schedules depend on a methodology that requires sound
engineering judgment. So the research aim is to conduct research study and process of exploring the
existing model related to above three types of estimate and their contribution to civil engineering cost
management and control especially getting motivated with the verification and validation component of
CRASP methodology. The objective of this paper or scope of this research in this paper is to conduct
literature study and review towards exploring innovative techniques such as Artificial Intelligence
Techniques or Expert System Techniques available and applicable to make decision making or decision
support regarding construction cost management and control at three levels: (i) before the actual civil
engineering project design begins (ii) after detailed design but before execution and (iii) during project
execution
Towards Innovate Methods of Construction Cost Management and Controlcivej
Project cost is one of the three main challenges for the construction manager, where the success of a
project is judged by meeting the criteria of cost with budget, schedule on time, and quality as specified by
the owner. Many projects experience extensive delays and thereby exceed initial time and cost estimate.
Available information, good estimating practice and experienced personnel are some of the factors found
to have considerable impact on estimation accuracy. The successful execution of construction projects and
keeping them within estimated cost and prescribed schedules depend on a methodology that requires sound
engineering judgment. So the research aim is to conduct research study and process of exploring the
existing model related to above three types of estimate and their contribution to civil engineering cost
management and control especially getting motivated with the verification and validation component of
CRASP methodology. The objective of this paper or scope of this research in this paper is to conduct
literature study and review towards exploring innovative techniques such as Artificial Intelligence
Techniques or Expert System Techniques available and applicable to make decision making or decision
support regarding construction cost management and control at three levels: (i) before the actual civil
engineering project design begins (ii) after detailed design but before execution and (iii) during project
execution
Project Performance Analysis And Delivery Methods - Quantitative Analysis
1. PROJECT PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AND
DELIVERY METHODS - QUANTITATIVE
ANALYSIS
Jin-Lee Kim1 M. ASCE and Seta Ohanesian2
ABSTRACT
Various project delivery methods have been utilized by owners over the years to
maximize project performance. The design-build delivery method is being increasingly
used due to the advantages it can offer to an engineering construction industry.
Numerous studies have advocated the use of design/build over the traditional
design/bid/build delivery approach. This study represents comprehensive analysis of 40
projects from the construction industry shows that design/build method may not provide
all the benefits to project performance. This study found timesaving was a definitive
advantage of design/build project delivery, but the positive effects of cost changes was
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.
KEY WORDS
Construction projects, performance measures, cost performance, schedule performance,
contract type, project delivery methods, Design/Bid/Build, Design-Build, change orders,
project cost and schedule.
INTRODUCTION
The construction industry is one of the largest industries in North America and worldwide
(Robert McKim 2000). Measuring the performance of any project in terms of success or
failure is a complex process. Notably, due to the increase of project complexity, modern
construction projects are often failed to achieve a total success in terms of project
performance (Hemanta Doloi and Ming Lim 2007). Delays in completion and over
spending are common problems besetting the project delivery process.
The construction industry has been searching for effective project delivery methods to
maximize project performance over the past decades. There is the traditional project
delivery strategy, design/ bid/build (D/B/B), and alternative delivery methods such as
design/build (D/B). Currently, no single project delivery system is most appropriate for
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management,
California State University, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840, Phone: (562) 985-1679, Fax:
(562) 985-2380, Email: jinlee.kim@csulb.edu
2
Graduate Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management,
California State University, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840, Phone: (562) 985-1679, Fax:
(562) 985-2380, Email: seta.ohanesian@gmail.com
2. any kind of project. Instead, combinations of different strategies are used for different
circumstances (Gordon 1994).
The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of an alternative project delivery
method (D/B) with the traditional method (D/B/B). This paper quantitatively examines
the relationship between impacts on project performance and change by applying
different project delivery approaches. Performance data (cost and schedule) are used to
compare the average amounts of change for two different project delivery strategies. Data
are collected using a questionnaire survey followed by structured interviews with project
participants to elicit success-related factors and to identify critical factors affecting
project performance. Statistical tests are calculated to analyze the data to determine
whether the delivery method decision significantly impacted the project performance as
represented by cost and time. All projects in this study are located in the United States,
with total installed cost varying from $160K to $16 M.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature reviews have shown that a successful project can be defined as a project that
has been completed on schedule and within budget. Effective management has proven to
be essential in controlling costs and adhering to schedules for most types of projects
(PMBoK 2004). Although there are a significant number of studies in the construction
industry in the past, construction project performance is yet to achieve its maturity in
terms of management of core knowledge areas defined in PMBoK (2004). Several
research studies are available that looked into the factors that influence performance of a
project. Different scholars have defined several factors proven to make major impact on
cost and schedule of the global project. Also, several studies show that project
characteristics such as delivery method, contract language and project complexity are
major factors that affect performance of a construction project.
William Ibbs and Young Hoon (2003) compared the traditional D/B/B and the D/B
project delivery methods. They examined the relationship between impacts on project
change by applying those two project delivery approaches while using cost, schedule and
productivity as performance data. It was found that D/B did not perform much better than
D/B/B in terms of cost and productivity.
Konchar and Sanvido (1998) analyzed the relationship between schedule-cost changes
and the type of implemented project delivery system. It was found that D/B/B was 11.4%
more likely to suffer changes in schedule than D/B during the design and construction
process. The changes in schedule and cost for each of the two project delivery methods
were separated into the design phase and construction phase to better understand where
the delays and changes occurred.
Thomas (2000) studied the changes in cost in relative terms (increase or decrease in time
and cost), due to the fact that positive (increase) or negative (decrease) changes can both
be good or bad for a project under different circumstances.
Molenaar et al. (1999) studied the impact of D/B project delivery method on the
performance of public projects. performance of several D/B projects was evaluated based
on owner’s experience with D/B projects, selection of D/B contractor, contract type,
award method, and form of D/B contract (one-step, two-steps, qualifications based).
2
3. Performance criteria were defined by budget performance, schedule performance,
administrative burden, and owner satisfaction.
Baccarini (1999) suggested a successful project can be defined in two distinct
components namely the “two concepts”: project management success and product
success. The first concept focuses upon the project success in particular the successful
accomplishment of the project time, cost and quality, which can be measured in terms of
meeting the project schedule, budget, and conformance to functional and technical
specifications respectively. The later concept deals with the effects of the project final
product that has three key components; to satisfy the project goal, project purpose and
project stakeholders. Project characteristics and their impact on project success, however,
were not analyzed.
Issac and Navon (2008) have proposed a change control tool which creates requirement
traceability through links between client requirements and the building design. They
believe that number of changes or the impact of changes can be controlled by capturing
client requirements accurately at the beginning of the project and through the requirement
traceability that is build up afterwards. This study didn’t consider many factors that
impact the project in terms of project characteristics. Also, they put a major emphasis on
the planning phase of a project by well studying the client requirements and ignoring all
other factors that could have a major impact on controlling a change.
Hao, Q.; Shen, W.; Neelamkavil, J.; Thomas, R. (2008) showed that a change is a
common denominator in all construction projects. This research identified changes as the
major cause of project delay, cost overruns, defects and project failure. Change
management can’t rely on software tools available on the market since they lack many
solutions (e.g. change estimation, impact analysis, post-change analysis, statistics, and
change traceability. This research proposed a generic change process model that has five
stages in a sequence: identify, evaluate & propose, approve, implement and review. An
integrated change management system requires technical supports from different
technologies, including collaborative workflow, system integration and collaboration
technologies, web-based collaborative project management tools, and online document
management tools. This research didn’t take a project delivery method into consideration.
The primary objective of this research is to enhance the current construction industry by
achieving a better understanding on modern construction project management and
minimize the risk of project failure by quantitatively investigating the correlation between
the selection of project delivery method and the performance of the project. This paper
examines the relationship between impacts on project performance and project changes by
applying different project delivery approaches. The study considers the impact of the
traditional delivery method, Design/Bid/Build (D/B/B), and alternative delivery method,
Design/Build (D/B) on the project performance and potential change orders generated on
these projects. Cost and schedule are used as the main project performance indicators.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
We collected performance data using a questionnaire survey from 40 construction
projects. The survey data collection method was selected because it possesses numerous
advantages. Several questions can be asked regarding the topic of the study
3
4. simultaneously, which adds flexibility to the analysis. The majority of the projects
targeted in the research are located in different states. This condition favors the use of the
survey collection method because it is relatively inexpensive and easier to administer. As
part of the questionnaire, participants were asked to fill out basic information about the
project. This includes project delivery methods and information about the amount of
changes that occurred and how the schedule changed during the projects. The survey is
followed by structured interviews with project participants to elicit success-related
factors. Using the collected data, performance comparison is conducted between these
construction projects along with their project delivery methods. Two performance
measures are analyzed; cost and schedule in relation with change orders occurred in in
each project. To analyze and compare between the performances of these construction
projects, quantifiable measures of the cost and schedule performances are established.
Several metrics were used to measure the project performance. T-test statistical analysis
were used to determine the effect of the selected delivery method on the previously
defined performance metrics.
PROJECT DELIVERY METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES
DATA CLASSIFICATION
The questionnaire survey identified two types of delivery methods: D/B/B and D/B. The
same applied to the contract form, which included the lump sum format and a cost plus
fixed fee.
DESIGN / BID / BUILD
The D/B/B approach is the most accepted traditional project delivery method today,
especially for public projects in the United States. In D/B/B, the project is separated into a
design phase and construction phase. With two well-defined phases, construction will
start once the design is completed, while the drawings become the basis for the bidding
documents. Because the owner is more certain about the finished product, usually a Fixed
Firm Price contract is implemented in a D/B/B project
DESIGN / BUILD
Design/build is the oldest approach that is regarded as a new and alternative delivery
method. During ancient times in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the master builder was
responsible for the design and construction of the entire project. The owner contracts with
a single venture that is responsible for both design and construction. One of the benefits
of this approach is that the contractor’s experience and knowledge is applied from
inception, thus enhancing efficiency.The contractor usually has the task of assembling a
group of designers and constructors to perform the job for this type of delivery.
CONTRACT FORMS
FIRM FIXED PRICE
Such a contract provides for a price that is not subject to any adjustment due to the cost
experience of the contractor during the performance of the contract. Use of such a
contract places maximum risk on the contractor and provides the maximum profit
4
5. incentive for effective cost control and contract performance. Since the contractor has
assumed all the risk, there is a minimum of administrative burden placed on the owner.
An FFP contract is suitable when reasonably definite specifications are available, and fair
and reasonable prices can be established from the outset by means of adequate
competition, prior purchasing history, or reasonably accurate identification of
uncertainties and their probable costs.
COST PLUS FEE CONTRACT
Is a contract where a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses to a set limit plus
additional payment to allow for a profit. This contract is desirable to shift some risk of
successful contract performance from the contractor to the buyer. It is most commonly
used when the item purchased cannot be explicitly defined or in cases where there is not
enough data to accurately estimate the final cost.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The data used for the analyses presented in this paper were collected from 40 projects (20
projects for each delivery method) located in the United States. All these projects were
100% construction complete. Data were collected using a questionnaire survey for
followed by structured interviews with project participants. The respondents were asked
to provide the following details:
Project name and description
Project client
Date started and completed
Project delivery and contract types
Project location
Original contract value
Contract value on actual completion (after project completion)
Original contract duration
Actual contract duration (after project completion)
Number of change orders
Total value of the change orders
Number of prime and sub contractors in the project
Other data available that might be important for this research
GROUPING PROJECTS WITH SIMILAR PROJECT DELIVERY METHOD
After collecting all necessary data for each project, projects were grouped together
according to their delivery methods. As a result, two groups were generated and each
5
6. project fell under one of the following groups/categories: Design/Bid/Build or Design-
Build delivery method.
METRICS DEFINITION
This section describes how each metric was defined and what type of information was
used to determine the value of the cost and schedule.
Change order
A change order is work that is added to or deleted from the original scope of work of a
contract, which alters the original contract amount or completion date. Many times,
change is necessary for the success of a project. “Change, defined as any event that
results in a modification of the original scope, execution time, or cost of work, happens
on most projects due to the uniqueness of each project and the limited resources of time
and money available for planning” (Hanna, Camlic, Peterson, and Nordheim, 2002).
While change orders are necessary to address unforeseen conditions and other
unavoidable or unanticipated occurrences, they tend negatively affect construction.
Cost overrun
Also known as a cost increase or budget overrun is an unexpected cost incurred in excess
of a budgeted amount stipulated in a contract due to an under-estimation of the actual cost
during budgeting.
Schedule Overrun
Occurs when a project’s time restriction is violated. In other words project doesn’t meet
its expected deadline as some of tasks from its critical path have been delayed by the
project team. Schedule overrun makes the project customer not satisfied by performance
of the team, as the project has run out of its predefined timeframes, but the desired
products haven’t been delivered to the customer yet. Schedule overrun may mean not
only non-meeting of the final due date of a project, but also missing to match predefined
project milestones while this project is still in process, which may underlie further delay
if not rectified as appropriate.
Cost performance
The change in cost was defined as the difference between the cost at the completion of the
project and the original budget. According to survey data, cost performance is measured
by analyzing the actual project’s cost overrun at construction completion. At the overall
project level, the total value of change orders is used as a reasonable indicator of the cost
overrun. A cost performance factor (CPF) is developed to be used as a measure of the
cost performance in the surveyed projects and as a benchmark for comparing the cost
performance of each project. The CPF is calculated for the surveyed projects as follows:
CPF(%) = [(final cost - original contract value) / original contract value] x 100%
Based on the CPF calculations, the mean and standard deviation of the CPF values are
calculated for each delivery method group.
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7. Schedule performance
The change in schedule was defined as the difference between the time used to complete
the whole project and the estimated time to complete the project. According to survey
data, the schedule overrun and delay are used as a good indicator of a project’s schedule
performance. A schedule performance factor (SPF) is created to measure the schedule
performance and to establish a benchmark for comparison purposes. The SPF is
calculated for the surveyed projects as follows:
SPF(%) =[(total time used _ original contract duration) /original contract duration] x100%
Based on the SPF calculations, the mean and standard deviation of the SPF values are
calculated for each delivery methods group.
DATA ANALYSIS
Project delivery method
The data used for the analyses presented in this study are collected from 40 projects; 50%
of the total number of projects falls under Design/Bid/Build category and the remaining
50% falls under the Design/Build category. Also, 82% of these projects has a firm fixed
price contract type and the remianing 18% has a cost plus fee contract type.
Projects Sizes (Total Cost)
Most projects were between $1 M and $10 M according to their total installed cost. Also,
there is a couple of projects ranges between 10M to $15 M and a few others between
$160 K to $1 M, as shown in Fig. 1.
Figure 1: Frequency versus project size
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8. Changes in cost versus project delivery
The projects are classified into D/B and D/B/B. As shown in Fig. 2, the projects using
D/B/B experienced about 6.75 % change in cost (cost reduction or increase), while only
11.66 % for projects using D/B experienced cost changes.
Figure 2: Change In Cost versus Project Delivery (%)
Figure 3: Change In Cost versus Project Delivery (US $)
Since changes may be negative (if they increase the cost of the project) or positive (if they
reduce the cost of the project), an analysis of how often this happened with each of the
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9.
10.
11. D/B/B projects experienced about 15.64 % changes, while D/B projects only had 8.62%
changes; this means that D/B projects performed better than D/B/B projects, as shown in
Fig. 9. On the issue of saving time by applying the D/B approach, the data confirmed
other studies and literatures (Molenaar et al. 1999).
Figure 8: Change in Schedule versus Project Delivery (days)
Figure 9: Change in Schedule versus Project Delivery (%)
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12. Statistical analysis
In order to further analyze the data, statistical analysis using t- test technique was
performed to determine the t-score and p-value. The objective of using t-statistic was to
further describe the nature of the relationship that may exist between delivery methods
and project performance. This technique was used to make an inference on the mean of
the population differences with the assumption that the distribution of differences is
approximately normal. The point estimate of the mean is the mean of the sample
difference. Fig. 10 shows the distribution of the data of equal samples as scattered
diagram; which compares the average change order values ($ amount) between D/B/B
and D/B approaches.
Figure 10: Comparison of Average cost value per Change Order (D/B/B and D/B)
Similarly, Fig. 11 shows the distribution of the average delay for change orders between
D/B/B and D/B. In this case, three outliers were found (two for D/B/B and one for D/B).
The definition of an “outlier” is an observation that "appears" to be inconsistent with
other observations in the data set and is numerically distant from the rest of the data
(Steven Walfish 2006). Grubbs (1969) defined an outlier as “An outlying observation, or
outlier, is one that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in
which it occurs”. Outliers indicate that some data points are further away from the
sample mean than what is deemed reasonable and that some observations are far from the
center of the data. Outlier points can therefore indicate faulty data. Since including an
erroneous value in the analyses will give invalid results, therefore outliers were removed.
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13. Figure 11: Comparison of Average schedule delay per Change Order (D/B/B and D/B)
After eliminating the outliers, descriptive statistics values for the project data; mainly for
average cost value and schedule delay per change order, were calculated. These include
the mean, median and standard deviation values.
The hypotheses to test whether the average cost value per change order for D/B delivery
method ( µDB) obtained from the data exceeds the average cost value per change order
for D/B/B (µDBB) are Ho: µDB _ µDBB = 0 and Ha: µDB _ µDBB > 0. In order to
identify which delivery method is performing better for each performance metric,
normality for each of the performance metrics at a confidence level of 95% was checked
(this means the significance level is 5% or 0.05). This value of confidence interval was
chosen because it represents the interval where 95% of the sample estimates lie and is
commonly used through statistical data testing (Ott 1992). Table 1 tabulates the statistical
results for the average values between the two delivery approaches.
Table 1: Statistical analysis for cost changes between D/B/B and D/B
Cost D/B/B D/B
Sample (n) 20 20
Mean $11,533.19 $35,872.11
Std Devtn $15,990.80 $50,516
t‐value 2.05
p‐value 0.02
The average cost values for change orders in D/B/B and D/B were found as $11,533.19
and $35,872.11. For the test analysis of the average cost value, we reject the null
hypothesis because the observed significance level of p-value of 0.02 is less than the
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14. significance level (0.05). Therefore, we have sufficient evidence to conclude that the
mean difference is greater than > 0 or the mean values for average cost per change order
for D/B exceeds the values for average cost per change order for D/B/B. In other words,
and according to the data analysis, D/B/B resulted in higher cost saving than D/B method.
Respectively, the hypotheses to test whether the average schedule delay per change order
for D/B delivery method ( µDB) exceeds the average schedule delay per change order
for D/B/B (µDBB) are Ho: µDB _ µDBB = 0 and Ha: µDB _ µDBB < 0. Normality for
each of the performance metrics at a confidence level of 95% (significance level of 5% or
0.05) was checked in order to identify which delivery method is performing better in
terms of schedule. Table 2, tabulates the statistical results for the average values of
schedule delay between the two delivery approaches.
Table 2: Statistical analysis for schedule changes between D/B/B and D/B
Schedule D/B/B D/B
Sample (n) 18 20
Mean 4.56 1.90
Std Devtn 5.76 3.17
t‐value ‐1.37
p‐value 0.048
The average schedule delay for change orders in D/B/B and D/B were found as 4.56
(days) and 1.90 (days). For the test analysis of the average schedule delay, we reject the
null hypothesis because the observed significance level of p-value of 0.048 is less than
the significance level (0.05). Therefore, we have sufficient evidence to conclude that the
mean difference is less than < 0 or the mean values for average schedule delay per change
order for D/B/B exceed the values for average schedule delay per change order for D/B.
In other words, D/B experienced less schedule delay and performed better than D/B/B in
terms of keeping the project within the original schedule limit.
Practical applications and commonm reasons for cost and schedule overrun
The D/B project delivery method has gained a lot of interest in recent years. Construction
magazines and various reports presented D/B as the most appropriate choice to bring a
project to completion on time and on schedule (Capps 1997). Another study showed that
D/B may not provide all the benefits to project performance, the study found timesaving
was a definitive advantage of D/B project delivery, but the positive effects of budget and
the benefit of cost saving and productivity changes were not convincing (C. William Ibbs
& Young Hoon Kwak 2003). Other papers have focused on developing guidelines for
contractors and owners to avoid misuse of the D/B method (Tarricone 1996). Also
another study showed that a combination of strategies could work more effectively than
D/B or D/B/B alone (Pocock and Liu 1996). Also, another study pointed out, the design-
build method may not provide the owner with a true advocate during either the design or
construction phases. Additionally, it has been noted that the design-build approach does
not necessarily reap the benefits of collaboration where the design-build entity utilizes a
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15. more traditional command and control approach with the key trades (A viable project
Delivery Method; Robert Tanner and Larry Leiby)
In this study, and during the interview, the participants were asked about reasons for cost
and schedule overrun; responses indicated that undefined scope was the major factor
contributed to cost overrun for D/B projects. On the other hand, the respondents’ answers
related to the reasons for cost and schedule overrun in D/B/B indicated that unforeseen
site condition, procurement problem and scope changes by owner were the most cited
factors contributing to cost and schedule overrun in D/B/B projects. Although, results in
this study showed that most construction projects that used D/B/B had a higher number of
change orders during construction, their real value ($$ amount) of change was lower than
for D/B projects.
CONCLUSION
This paper presents a case in which D/B did not perform much better than D/B/B. While
timesaving is a definitive benefit for using D/B as a project delivery strategy, the benefits
in cost savings are debatable. Cost changes were more toward the (increase) side for D/B,
while they tended to decrease for D/B/B projects.
The data analysis revealed that no procurement method outperforms the other methods
with regards to the performance metrics analyzed. Meanwhile, several trends that were
identified indicated that different procurement methods are recommended to meet
different performance requirements.
Both project delivery methods may work well because the outcomes depend on the
expertise and experience of those administrating the project in design and construction.
Also, the owner needs to be educated and informed about conveying ideas to the
contractor in preparing the design specifications to ensure success when adopting the D/B
approach. There are many issues that a client or contractor may want to address before
selecting one or various appropriate delivery methods according to the projects’ needs.
Owners can first identify their critical project requirements, consider the resulting trends
for the performance metrics, and select the delivery approach accordingly.
This paper and its analyses may be used as a source of information with which
stakeholders may observe the sensitivity of the budget and schedule of a project to
changes under a D/B or D/B/B project delivery method.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank in advance all participants who have responded to our request,
met with us and shared their experiences.
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