Impact of project briefing clarity on construction project performance

PurposeManagement capability is one of the major criteria for evaluating construction contractors during prequalification and tender evaluation This paper aims to investigate the impact of contractors' management capability as a prequalification criterion on cost and time performance of selected building projects.Design/methodology/approachPrequalification assessments of management capability of wining contractors as well as cost data relating to 77 completed building projects executed between 2004 and 2007 are obtained. The data obtained from a questionnaire and archival data are analyzed using one‐way analysis of variance and multiple regression.FindingsThe results reveal that contractors' management capability has significant impact on cost and time performance of building projects as evidenced by p‐values of 0.042 and 0.039, respectively.Practical implicationsThe research could be of significant benefit at the research implementation stage of public procurement practice especially in relation to the construction industry in Nigeria. Construction practitioners involved in prequalification and tender evaluation should continue to seek relevant information relating to management capability from the candidate contractors during prequalification and tender evaluation.Originality/valueModels capable of predicting the final cost and duration of building projects are eventually derived based on prequalification assessment of contractors on management capability, proposed contract duration and the initial contract figure. The goodness of fit of the models as defined by the value of R2 is found to be 96.2 percent and 90.01 percent for cost and time, respectively; thus signifying high predictive efficacy of the models.

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between project manager’s leadership style and performance of water projects in Kenya. Operationalization of leadership style was based on transformation and transaction leadership style while project performance was based on project time and cost performance. The study analyzed secondary and primary data for 102 water projects that were completed between 2011 and 2014. Hierarchical regression analysis was undertaken on the variables. The results show that a significant relationship exist between project manager’s leadership style and project time performance. In addition, the findings show that adoption of transformational leadership style leads to higher level of project performance. However, no significant relationship was established between project manager’s leadership style and project cost performance. This may be due to the use of fixed price contracts that specify the conditions for escalation and the maximum allowable cost escalations which could have made cost changes insignificant. The study has provided empirical evidence on the relationship between project manager’s leadership style and project performance within a developing country context. To enhance project time performance, project manager’s leadership style is critical and managers should strive to intellectually stimulate project team members.

The construction industry in Saudi Arabia has been experiencing poor cost and time performance, leading to financial losses for all project parties involved. This study analyzes the cost and schedule performance of horizontal and vertical projects constructed at a public university between 2012 and 2022. Data on construction costs and schedules were collected and compared to assess project performance, such as cost growth and schedule growth. The findings from analyzing the project data were then used to formulate the interview questions designed to understand key factors contributing to cost and schedule growth and to explore potential solutions. Additionally, factors influencing project cost and time, as identified from a thorough review of previous studies, were used to guide the analysis and the interview process. The results indicate that vertical projects experienced more cost and schedule growth than horizontal projects. Altogether, 80% of both vertical and horizontal projects exceeded their planned budgets by an average of 5%, and ~95% of those projects were completed behind their planned schedules, with an average delay of 160%. The interviews revealed several factors affecting project performance, including owner‐related issues such as change orders, payment delays, design errors, and inaccurate quantity estimates; contractor‐related issues such as delays in material approvals and inadequate planning; labor‐related challenges such as shortages of workers and unavailability of skilled laborers; and government‐related challenges such as taxes, visa restrictions, and localization requirements. The findings of this study can help universities in taking proactive steps to reduce changes in construction project costs and durations, thereby improving the overall performance of construction projects.

On-time completion and conformity with assigned cost of every project are the most important factors in the success of project plans. Cost overruns and time overrun (delays) have been critical problems of many projects around the world in general and in South Africa in particular. The main objectives of this research are to assess the dominant causes of cost and time overruns, identifying possible and practical measures that can minimize overruns in office building construction projects around eThekwini Municipal area of Kwazulu-Natal. These objectives are achieved through the implementation of the research methodologies that are mainly literature review and questionnaire survey conducted to identify and evaluate the significant factors contributing to delay and cost overruns within the projects of interest. A review of literature identified eighty-five variables for delay, grouped in nine major categories and nine variables for cost overruns ranked in their order of importance in three sets based on the responses from the professionals working for the client, consultants and contractors. The agreement among the sets of rankings for delay and cost overruns has also been tested using statistical methods. The result indicates that there is strong agreement on ranking the importance of the individual variables of delay and cost overruns between parties. From each of the three sets of rankings, the twenty most important variables of delay and the three most important variables of cost overrun are identified as critical. Based on overall results, the top five most important causes are contractor’s cash flow problems, delay in progress payments by the client, poor site supervision and management by contractor, inefficient quality control by the contractor during construction leading to rework due to errors, and contractor’s difficulties in financing the project. Out of the 20 most important delay causing variables, three are found to be common between all parties. These are delay in progress payments by the client, delay in delivery and late ordering of material, and insufficient skill of labour. Furthermore, the study reveals that all stakeholders of construction parties are deeply involved in contributing to the causes of the problems. Thus, in order to eliminate or minimize cost and time extension of office construction projects in the eThekwini Municipal area, a joint effort based on teamwork is essential through effective project planning, controlling and monitoring which boils down to putting in place best practice construction project management.

Purpose Construction process is complex and traditionally fragmented; thus, it is almost impossible to have a project completed without changes to the original plan or the construction process. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the causes of variation orders, ascertain their effects and establish the cost and time performance implication as a result of variation orders. Design/methodology/approach This study obtained information from 90 construction stakeholders on 30 completed educational building projects to ascertain the causes and effects of variation orders on project delivery using questionnaire survey. In addition to this, a pro forma document was designed to obtain the project characteristics, cost and time data from these 30 completed educational building projects. Factor analysis was used to categorise the causes of variation orders, while severity index was used to examine their effects on project delivery. The hypothesised statement was tested using paired t-statistics to examine whether a statistically significant difference existed between variation orders, cost and time performance of the projects. Findings The study identified 13 main factors as causes of variation orders and the results revealed that the most frequent effects of variations were increase in construction costs, time, client dissatisfaction, increase construction project rework and demolition and project abandonment. The results also showed that variation orders had significant effects on both cost and scheduled performance of the educational building projects with average cost and time escalation of 33.95 and 29.45 per cent of the original project cost and time, respectively, for the entire projects studied, while average cost implication of variation orders is 23.79 per cent. Practical implications The findings in this study will be of assistance to government agencies and management of public works in higher institutions of learning in managing variations in construction projects. The study will also add to the current literature on the impact of variation orders on educational building projects in developing countries. Finally, it will create the much-needed awareness on the severity and implication of change or variation orders on project delivery. Originality/value The study identified and examined the causes of variation orders, ascertained their effects and established the cost and time effects of the causes of variation order on project performance. This will assist project initiators, contractors, consultants and other stakeholders to fully appreciate and understand the significant effects of variation orders on project performance.

In construction, risks are usually requests for additional time, cost, or quality of work. Disputes will occur If risks are not resolved properly. In the industrial revolution 4.0, we can use the Building Information Modeling (BIM) method to increase efficiency. BIM is a digital display that contains all information about building elements integrated with the building's life cycle period. BIM will optimize the performance of construction projects. In Indonesia, several consultants/contractors have implemented BIM in construction projects. This study aims to determine and analyze what factors in the process of implementing BIM 5D that affect the performance of construction project time. The research method used is descriptive research method with the Q-method approach using closed survey research instruments to 53 contractor/consultant respondents using BIM. The results obtained from the 5D BIM indicators have 3 effects on the time performance of construction projects.

This study investigates the cost and time performance of highway projects from the viewpoint of the public owner. It differs from previous studies which focused on the contractor’s perspective on project performance. A total of 13 success factors were identified from literature and the opinions of experienced engineers. Data was collected from 99 projects handled by the Department of Highways (DOH) in Thailand Discriminant analysis was used in this study to build the cost and time predictive models, which were generated from samples of cases, which had already been grouped and known as successful and unsuccessful projects. The models were then applied to new cases with measurements for the predictor variables, to predict that the projects were either successful or unsuccessful. The results show that success in cost performance depends on the management of construction resources, budget management, construction method, and communication. By contrast, schedule management and human resource management inhibit cost performance. Success in time performance depends on choice of construction method, management of construction resources, schedule management, supervision and control, and communication. Quality management, budget management, human resource management, owner involvement, and team relationships impede time performance

The construction sector is vulnerable to safety risk incidents due to its dynamic nature. Although numerous research efforts and technological advancements have focused on addressing workplace injuries, most of the studies perform empirical and deterministic postimpact evaluations on construction project performance. The effective modeling of the safety risk impacts on project performance provides decisionmakers with a valuable tool toward incidents prevention and proper safety risk management. Therefore, this study collected Australian incident records from the construction industry from 2016 onwards and conducted discrete event simulation to quantitatively measure the impact of safety risk incidents on project cost performance. Moreover, this study investigated the correlation between safety risk incidents and the age of injured workers. The findings show a strong correlation between the middle-aged workforce and the severity of incidents on project cost overruns. The ex-ante, nondeterministic analysis of safety risk impacts on project performance provides insightful results that will advance safety management theory in the direction of achieving zero harm workplace environments.

The research was to explore the relationships between Construction Project manager skills and the performance of projects in Egypt. Specifically, this study investigated the relationship between the project manager skills (Technical Skills, Human skills, Conceptual Skills, Political and Social Skills) and the dimensions of project performance (Project Cost and Project Time). Hard skills include technological abilities, background, industry knowledge, and project experience. That define the tangible portion of a project manager’s resume as the 21st century recognition of project management. Data has been collected from 104 expert engineers who have a good realistic background in the field of construction industry; questionnaire survey is the used method. The results of analysis propose that risk management abilities have a significant association with project cost and time performance. The Egyptian construction sector may use the findings as a guideline to choosing project managers with the ‘suitable’ skills profile or focusing training and development programs on skills crucial for successful projects.

This study uncovered inhibiting factors to cost performance in large construction projects of Malaysia. Questionnaire survey was conducted among clients and consultants involved in large construction projects. In the questionnaire, a total of 35 inhibiting factors grouped in 7 categories were presented to the respondents for rating significant level of each factor. A total of 300 questionnaire forms were distributed. Only 144 completed sets were received and analysed using advanced multivariate statistical software of Structural Equation Modelling (SmartPLS v2). The analysis involved three iteration processes where several of the factors were deleted in order to make the model acceptable. The result of the analysis found that R2 value of the model is 0.422 which indicates that the developed model has a substantial impact on cost performance. Based on the final form of the model, contractor's site management category is the most prominent in exhibiting effect on cost performance of large construction projects. This finding is validated using advanced techniques of power analysis. This vigorous multivariate analysis has explicitly found the significant category which consists of several causative factors to poor cost performance in large construction projects. This will benefit all parties involved in construction projects for controlling cost overrun.

Analysis of Factors Affecting Design Changes in Construction Project with Partial Least Square (PLS)

This study examines the economic impact of Project Risk Management on time performance and cost efficiency in medium-scale construction projects in Indonesia. Using a quantitative explanatory approach, data were collected from 123 construction professionals involved in projects with contract values ranging from IDR 10 to 100 billion. Project Risk Management was measured through indicators of risk identification, analysis, response planning, and monitoring, while project performance was assessed using time deviation and cost overrun measures. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results demonstrate that Project Risk Management has a statistically significant and negative effect on both project delay and cost overrun, indicating that stronger risk governance contributes to greater schedule stability and improved budget performance. The findings further show that although the level of risk management implementation is moderate, time delays and cost overruns remain prevalent across projects, reflecting the need for deeper institutionalization of risk practices. This study contributes to the construction management literature by extending empirical evidence on risk governance to medium-scale projects in an emerging economy context. The findings imply that strengthening organizational risk management capacity is essential for enhancing project reliability, reducing economic inefficiencies, and supporting sustainable infrastructure development.

Construction project briefing is a complex and dynamic process which involves identifying and conveying clients' actual needs and requirements accurately to the project team. The briefing process is critical to the successful delivery of a construction project and there are many limitations inhibiting its effectiveness. A study of factors which could contribute to a successful briefing (in this study referred to as critical success factors) will enable special attention to be paid to those areas which could improve its performance. The objectives of this study are to identify, categorize, and prioritize a general set of critical success factors for construction project briefing. This study is intended to complement the existing but limited research into the identification of such factors and to serve as a stepping stone to the identification and establishment of yardsticks which could be used by construction practitioners on all projects in the future. A questionnaire was used to collect opinions from experienced construction practitioners. Thirty seven factors were identified and coded, and the content analysis yielded five major categories. They include project-related factors, human-related factors, process-related factors, input-related factors, and output-related factors. Thirty six percent of respondents identified "open and effective communication" as the most frequently mentioned factor critical to briefing. Other important factors, in descending order of importance, include such as "clear and precise briefing documents," "clear intention and objectives of client," and "clear project goal and objectives." This set of critical success factors can serve as a checklist for practitioners when conducting a briefing in their construction projects. The results of the questionnaire survey are generally in line with the findings of a validation exercise by a focus group meeting.

Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is an accepted theoretical technique advocated for the control of projects. This paper attempts to refine and improve the performance of traditional EVA by the introduction of a hybrid methodology based on work packages and logical time analysis entitled Work Package Methodology (WPM). The proposed WPM provides the means to periodically update project cost and time performance by restricting EVA calculations to individual work packages. These are then subjected to a logical time analysis to determine the predicted project cost and time to completion. A comparative analysis between WPM and EVA is then undertaken using adapted test data derived from knowledge of previous projects to identify the reasons for variation in the results obtained from both methods. The evaluation of the test results indicates that when the Cost Performance Index (CPI) and the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) are well above or below unity then, especially in the early stages of the project, traditionally applied EVA predictions can be un‐realiable and require further investigation and evaluation. WPM provides a vehicle for judging the performance of EVA by applying an alternative logical time and cost utilizing work sequence and construction methods. The predictive performance of EVA is refined by these means.

The general objective of this research study was to analyse project completion failures in road construction industry. This is a case study of Kafue Mazabuka Road. Specific objectives of the study were to; assess factors that lead to project failure in road construction industry, analyze how time affect road construction projects among contractors, determine how project costing affect road construction projects and identify changes in government policy on road construction. Using the case study research design, this study focused on acquisition of quantitative and qualitative data from a cross-section of people involved in the road construction sector. In consonance with the mixed method design, interview schedule, interview guide and observation checklist were developed to collect the primary data from the field. These instruments were chosen because they are the most appropriate. The interview schedule was used because of its known advantages of building good rapport, creating a relaxed and healthy atmosphere in which respondents easily cooperate, answer questions, and clear misapprehension about any aspect of a study. The data that was collected from the field was cross-checked and edited to ensure that there are no mistakes in the responses and the information given is relevant. The data was then coded and fed into the computer. The Statistical Product for Service Solutions (SPSS version 16) was employed to process and analyze the interview schedules. The in-depth interviews will be analyzed manually. Three reasons were highly emphasized from the response. The first which accounted for 30% was lack of monitoring, secondly, poor scheduling accounted for 20%. The third as indicated by the majority was poor planning 50%. The researcher sought to analyze how time affects road construction projects among contractors. As such the findings below show that time needs to be considered because it its part of scheduling 47%. 20% said it is an importance factor in networking diagrams whilst 33% said it is an important element in planning. Time and cost are considered to be the most crucial factors that contribute to the success of a project, and in reality are the only factors on which everything hinges, and are the most critical factor in the decision on whether a project commences or is shelved. The following are the recommendations; It would not be accurate to identify the causes of cost overrun for a specific country from global literature only. Out of those causes, seven factors were recognized as factors that make the most significant effect on the cost of construction projects in general, namely (1) project management, (2) risk assessment, (3) cost-benefit analysis, (4) construction management, (5) time overrun (6) decision making, (7) design/ methodology/ approach. These must be studied separately. One of the potential solutions to reduce the effect of cost overrun in construction projects is the embedding of an effective resources (human, technical, and material) management system within construction projects as it seems that most of the causes of cost overrun are related to and external stakeholders is a very important task to deliver projects successfully and reduce cost overrun. Training is important to project teams. Finally, the risk is more important in construction megaprojects to identify these causes beforehand so that the team can take necessary actions to prevent them or reduce the effect of the risk. Therefore, a proper risk assessment at the beginning of the project is essential to identify these causes.