Perceptions in the construction industry of smart contracts

The revolution of Malaysian Construction 4.0 through emerging technologies has brought a paradigm shift that has digitalized the construction sector. There is a need to adopt a computerized protocol to assist in automating the performance of a contract to meet future digital challenges. Therefore, this paper aims to serve as a pioneer study to investigate the implementation of the Malaysian construction industry to adopt smart contracts. This study adopted a qualitative scientific methodology, whereby a systematic review was conducted to gather the benefits and challenges of implementing smart contracts in the construction industry. Further, interview sessions were arranged to collect data from the construction contract management experts. The research findings unveil that due to the self-executing attribute of smart contracts, the implementation of smart contracts could provide a better apportionment of risks in a contract. The study also finds that the challenges in implementing smart contracts are severe. For instance, the smart contract is irreversible and immutable and prone to human error. The study concludes that it is more suitable to apply and implement a smart contract to a short-term contract that is not subjected to variation. Furthermore, a smart contract can enhance the efficiency in managing the contracts, such as reducing time and managing the conflicts and disputes that arise during the contract duration. The developed implementation framework is significant for the construction personnel, especially those dealing with the contract administration. The implementation of smart contracts in construction could boost contract administration and management discipline via investment in this new technology.

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Understanding Stakeholders Needs for Using Blockchain Based Smart Contracts in Construction Industry of Thailand: Extended TAM Framework

2020 13th International Conference on Human System Interaction (HSI) ◽

10.1109/hsi49210.2020.9142675 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Singha Chaveesuk ◽

Bilal Khalid ◽

Wornchanok Chaiyasoonthorn

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Smart Contracts

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Blockchain and Smart Contracts: A Solution for Payment Issues in Construction Supply Chains

Informatics ◽

10.3390/informatics8020036 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 36

Author(s):

Samudaya Nanayakkara ◽

Srinath Perera ◽

Sepani Senaratne ◽

Geeganage Thilini Weerasuriya ◽

Herath Mudiyanselage Nelanga Dilum Bandara

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Primary Data ◽

Distributed Data ◽

Smart Contracts ◽

Blockchain Technology ◽

Smart Contract ◽

Industry Applications ◽

Financial Issues

The construction industry has dynamic supply chains with multiple suppliers usually engaged in short-term relationships. Government legislation, novel types of payment agreements, conventional information technology solutions, and supply chain management best practices have endeavoured to solve payment-related financial issues in the construction industry, which are mainly caused by the complexities of the construction supply chain. Nevertheless, payment-related issues persist as one of the key challenges in the industry. Applications of blockchain technology–a trusted, distributed data storing mechanism–along with smart contracts are gaining focus as solutions for complex interorganisational processes. A smart contract is a self-executing script that codifies a set of rules or agreements between multiple parties and runs across the blockchain network. This paper identifies the suitability of blockchain and smart contract technologies in solving payment issues in the construction industry. An expert forum of construction industry stakeholders served as the primary data collection method through a structured questionnaire. The key finding of the paper is that blockchain and smart contract powered solutions can significantly mitigate the payment and related financial issues in the construction industry, including partial payments, nonpayments, cost of finance, long payment cycle, retention, and security of payments.

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Automated Payment and Contract Management in the Construction Industry by Integrating Building Information Modeling and Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11167653 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (16) ◽

pp. 7653

Author(s):

Katharina Sigalov ◽

Xuling Ye ◽

Markus König ◽

Philipp Hagedorn ◽

Florian Blum ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Data Storage ◽

Construction Projects ◽

Data Exchange ◽

Building Information Modeling ◽

Information Modeling ◽

Contract Management ◽

Smart Contracts ◽

Smart Contract ◽

Building Information

Construction projects usually involve signing various contracts with specific billing procedures. In practice, dealing with complex contract structures causes significant problems, especially with regard to timely payment and guaranteed cash flow. Furthermore, a lack of transparency leads to a loss of trust. As a result, late or non-payment is a common problem in the construction industry. This paper presents the concept of implementing smart contracts for automated, transparent, and traceable payment processing for construction projects. Automated billing is achieved by combining Building Information Modeling (BIM) approaches with blockchain-based smart contracts. Thereby, parts of traditional construction contracts are transferred to a smart contract. The smart contract is set up using digital BIM-based tender documents and contains all of the relevant data for financial transactions. Once the contracted construction work has been accepted by the client, payments can be made automatically via authorized financial institutions. This paper describes the framework, referred to as BIMcontracts, the container-based data exchange, and the digital contract management workflow. It discusses the industry-specific requirements for blockchain and data storage and explains which technical and software architectural decisions were made. A case study is used to demonstrate the current implementation of the concept.

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Framework for Automated Billing in the Construction Industry Using BIM and Smart Contracts

Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-51295-8_57 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 824-838

Author(s):

Xuling Ye ◽

Markus König

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Smart Contracts

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Safety Management And Safety Culture In The U.S. Construction Industry

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e507212017-001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Xiuwen Sue Dong ◽

Xuanwen Wang ◽

Rebecca Katz

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Safety Culture ◽

Safety Management ◽

The U.S

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Addressing Health And Safety Concerns For Tradeswomen In The Construction Industry

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e508402017-001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Hannah M. Curtis ◽

Hendrika Meischke ◽

Nancy Simcox ◽

Sarah Laslett ◽

Noah Seixas

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Safety Concerns

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Ist Blockchain eine Disruptive Technologie?: Welche Rolle spielen in Zukunft Smart Contracts?

kma - Das Gesundheitswirtschaftsmagazin ◽

10.1055/s-0036-1595092 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (03) ◽

pp. 69-69

Author(s):

Gregor Hohenberg

Keyword(s):

Smart Contracts

Die Digitalisierung ist mehr als ein technologischer Trend – sie verändert auch die Organisation im Krankenhaus. Daher ist dieses Thema zur Chefsache geworden. Schließlich geht es um die grundsätzlichen Geschäftsmodelle und daher um die Zukunftsfähigkeit der Einrichtung. Speziell die Blockchaintechnologie wirft grundsätzliche Fragen auf.

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