scholarly journals Exploring the Components of Cost on Construction Projects

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-50
Author(s):  
Abimbola Windapo ◽  
Alireza Moghayedi ◽  
David Oliphant ◽  
AbdulRauf Adediran
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Construction Cost ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Electrical Installation

This study examines the components of construction projects and whether there are construction resources that are the key project constituents. The rationale for the study stems from the unexplained assumptions regarding the primary components responsible for increases in construction costs in South Africa, as South Africa lacks a national building cost database. The study adopts a qualitative research approach that employs a case studies of six new and six refurbished projects in obtaining the necessary data for use in answering the study objectives. The study found that the primary cost constituents of construction projects are materials and sub-contracted work, accounting for 63.69% and 74.6% of the value of renovation and new construction work respectively and on the average, the major materials by value are reinforcement, cement and filling, while Electrical Installation is the primary sub-contracting item by value. Based on these findings, the study concludes that the future levels of construction work can be predicted knowing levels of specialist sub-contractor costs and building material costs. The study recommends that the sub-contractor and material inputs into construction projects are carefully managed, both on the projects and the construction industry, to limit construction cost increases and cost overruns on projects. The study contributes to the literature on resource planning and control in construction. Keywords: Cement, Construction Cost, Electrical Installation, Reinforcement, Specialist Sub-contractor.

scholarly journals Resolution of management issues with mega projects

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Scelo Mhlongo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Turnaround Time ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Logistic Management ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Effective Delivery ◽  
Management Issues

South Africa is a developing country with many construction projects that are being undetaken. The study aims to contribute to the resolution of issues around the management of projects. Previous studies have revealed that there are many failures in the erection of mega projects. This study was based in three provinces in South Africa - KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Western Cape. A mixed method research approach incorporating both qualitative and quantitive methods was used to collect empirical data from stakeholders working on mega projects. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire and focused individual interviews. The study established that management issues such as the lack of stakeholder engagement and poor logistics planning play a role in the failure of mega projects. The level of use of this research targeted companies which are at 8GB and 9GB and within those companies, professionals such as project managers, architects, quantity surveyors, foremen and site agents. The study recommends that in order for mega projects to be successful, stake holders must mitigate turnaround time on taking decisions. Also, sound decisions must be taken for effective delivery of mega projects. Findings suggests that plant down time contributes to the failure of a project. Regular plant schedule checking is done daily prior to plant operation. Findings on logistic management revealed that the leading factor is public safety. It is recommended that safety of public around projects needs to be managed closely by responsible site agents and safety officers. The change of designs during construction must be avoided since this brings unexpected material expenditure which impacts on the project costing. All cost occurring during design changes must be charged to the architect fees, unless the changes were unforeseen.

Construction and resource short-term planning using a BIM-based ontological decision support system

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Mehdi Tavakolan ◽  
Sina Mohammadi ◽  
Banafsheh Zahraie
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
Intelligent Information

The dynamic nature and increasing complexity of the construction projects impose many challenges for project planning and control. As a project progresses, more information becomes available and the level of uncertainty decreases. It can be used to proactively check the validity of the previous decisions and develop revised and more detailed plans for the upcoming activities in construction planning meetings. For this purpose, this study implements ontological knowledge representation and semantic reasoning techniques to propose an intelligent information collection and decision support system framework for short-term collaborative construction and resource planning. Moreover, a new approach is suggested that allows for incorporating resource specifications and limitations, and complex multi-factor constraints in the ontological planning process. The framework was tested based on a real-world construction project and different application cases were discussed. The framework showed a promising performance for analyzing different scenarios and help the planners making informative decisions.

scholarly journals An Analytical Study of Critical Factors Affecting Contractor Efficiency in Construction Projects in Indian Scenario

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1794-1802
Author(s):  
Shumank Deep ◽  
Laura Simon ◽  
Mohd Asim ◽  
Ali Rahimzadeh ◽  
Sulala Al-Hamdani
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost

Abstract Purpose: Recent studies show that lowest bidder tech­nique is mainly used in developing countries such as India to award a contract. It has been demonstrated that the lowest bid is not always the accurate one and can lead to cost overruns and time extensions amongst other prob­lems. The aim of this study was to investigate the critical factors impacting contractor’s efficiency in Indian con­struction projects. Research approach: A survey was sent to participants of construction projects awarded by the government with the lowest bidder technique in Uttar Pradesh, India. For further research, snowball sampling was used, and struc­tured interviews were conducted amongst experienced managers and engineers of these projects on both client’s and contractor’s side.Findings: It was observed that, to a greater extent, the delays were caused due to contractor’s opportunistic behaviour. The main findings are that new bidding meth­odologies are to be tested as they can lead to the choice of a more accurate and realistic bidder. In addition, subjec­tive evaluation components, such as schedule and work­force, should be reflected in contract award methods in addition to the cost criteria. Further studies should be per­formed on the choice of contract awarding methodology based on the project size and type. Originality value: The researcher’s focus was to analyze the influence of contracting methodologies and factors affecting contractor’s performance in lowest bid award project, where this is an area of least focus amongst researchers in the Indian subcontinent.

scholarly journals Significant Factors Influencing Quality Assurance Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Construction Projects in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2(J)) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Kgashane Stephen Nyakala ◽  
Thinandavha Thomas Munyai ◽  
Jan-Harm Pretorius ◽  
Andre Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
South African ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Road Building ◽  
Factors Influencing

Although implementing quality assurance (QA) processes in construction play an important role in the South African economy has been acknowledged. However, constructions SMEs are faced with difficulties in improving rural road infrastructure and high-quality roads. Additionally, past research has failed to reach consensus on the construction process and socioeconomic settings in previously disadvantaged areas in South Africa, including the factors influencing negatively the performance of such factors. This research examines what factors facilitate or inhibit the success of construction SMEs and what actions can be taken to being distressed construction SMEs under control. The study adopted a quantitative research approach in which a three-section questionnaire was administered to 160 purposively chosen road- building experts in a South African construction SMEs. The questionnaire was structured into three parts, which sought the participants’ profile, identified the quality assurance practices (QAPs) incorporated in the construction SMEs’ road building programmes, and identified the factors that negatively influence the implementation of QA processes. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Furthermore, to determine the reliability of the various constructs, mean scores, descriptive statistics and standard deviations were obtained. The empirical findings established eight QAPs that were reliable and valid for implementation processes that can control or minimise their causes of poor quality in projects undertaken by construction SMEs, level of skill acquisition; project planning and control techniques; project construction design; process implementation and process improvement; financial management; organisational structures; involvement of people; and quality standards and measurements. The eight factors attained high Cronbach Alpha values above the recommended 0.70 which indicates high internal consistencies among the sub-scales. Findings from this study should be useful to managers in similar environments may use the results of this study as either diagnostic tools or as a reference benchmark for strategic interventions in solving construction projects related problems. Furthermore, the researchers also recommend that these practices are for quality assurance in construction projects undertaken by SMEs in South Africa.

A preliminary study of the factors affecting the cost escalation of construction projects

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Knight ◽  
Aminah Robinson Fayek
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Membership Functions ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cost

An interview survey of Alberta-based construction contractors was conducted in July and August 1998. The purpose of this survey was to elicit information on the factors that cause unanticipated project cost escalation during construction, from the contractor's perspective. This paper presents the findings of this survey and a proposed method of modeling the factors identified. The majority of factors identified impact labour productivity, which is a major source of cost overruns. A combination of subjective, objective, and secondary indicators are used to measure these factors and to assess their impact on project performance. The main conclusion of this survey is that many of the factors affecting the cost of construction are evaluated in subjective and imprecise terms and are difficult to quantify. This paper presents a method of modeling these factors using fuzzy membership functions, which capture the imprecision and subjectivity associated with the measurement of these factors. It discusses a basis for the definition of these membership functions and a method of calibrating these functions to make them more widely applicable to suit different contexts. These membership functions are being incorporated in a set of expert rules, which reason about the factors affecting costs, their impact on the project, and the appropriate corrective actions. These expert rules are being developed as part of a fuzzy expert system for construction project monitoring and control. A method of calibrating membership functions to suit individual contexts is currently being developed, which would be a significant advancement in the area of fuzzy logic. Key words: construction, costs, expert systems, fuzzy logic, project control, survey.

Forecasting construction cost escalation

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew N. Blair ◽  
Leonard M. Lye ◽  
W. J. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Construction Cost ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Government Action ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Statistics Canada ◽  
Statistical Time

Escalation can account for a substantial part of construction costs. Therefore forecasts of the amount of escalation are required for budgetary and bidding purposes. This paper examines methods for forecasting construction escalation using statistical time series methods. Time series of construction cost indices are used as a proxy of construction cost escalation. The application of time series methods, their limitations, and their effect on the risk of cost escalation are demonstrated and evaluated. The analytical methods available are only useful in forecasting for short construction projects in stable conditions. This is because none of the methods can forecast escalation caused by unpredictable occurrences such as outbreak of war or certain government action. Construction cost escalation remains a risk to be borne by either the contractor or the owner, or both, depending on the terms of the contract; any logical approach to minimize the risk is worthwhile. Key words: construction cost escalation, cost indices, time series forecasting, exponential smoothing. Box–Jenkins methods, dynamic regression, Statistics Canada.

scholarly journals Predicting buildings construction cost overruns on the basis of cost overruns structure

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 366-376
Author(s):  
Diana Car-Pušić ◽  
Ivan Marović ◽  
Marko Mlađen ◽  
Ksenija Tijanić
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Computing Methods ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Change Orders ◽  
Additional Work ◽  
New Construction ◽  
Soft Computing Methods ◽  
The Republic

In construction practice, contractually agreed costs are often exceeded, which interferes with the sustainable realization of construction projects. The research described in this paper covers 24 new construction, renovation and reconstruction projects in the Republic of Croatia realized in the years 2006 to 2017, in order to analyse the occurrence of cost overruns more precisely with regard to the source of the overruns. It was found that additional work is the main source of cost overruns: firstly, additional work as a result of the client’s change orders and then unforeseen construction work as a result of unforeseen circumstances. As for the additional works, they are carried out at the client’s request and are not necessary for the safety and stability of the building. Using linear regression and “soft computing” methods, the possibility of modelling the relationship between contractually agreed and realized construction costs with satisfactory accuracy was tested. The model with the values of the natural logarithms of the variables, modelled according to the time–cost model of Bromilow, proved to be of the highest accuracy.

scholarly journals Determinants of Building Construction Costs in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Abimbola Windapo ◽  
Sunday Odediran ◽  
Alireza Moghayedi ◽  
Abdul Adediran ◽  
David Oliphant
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Predictive Modelling ◽  
Construction Cost ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Construction Equipment ◽  
Construction Costs ◽  
Cost Index ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Cost

Completing project within cost is the target of most clients on any construction project. However, the achievement of this desire is just an imagination in the construction industry, because procurement and execution environments for projects are hostile and unpredictable. This study examines the determinants of building construction costs in South Africa and whether changes in the cost of certain resource factors such as construction equipment, labour and materials can be related to changes in building construction costs. The study employs a longitudinal cross-sectional quantitative research design approach and makes use of literature review and historical data obtained from institutional and governmental databases to identify the determinants. The data collected were analysed using time series analysis to confirm the trends in the cost of the resource factors and its alignment to the changes in building construction cost. After that, it makes use of an appropriate predictive modelling tool or causal analysis in establishing the determinants of construction cost. The results show that the price indices of construction equipment (EI), labour (LI) and materials (MI) have a gentler slope when compared with the Building Cost Index (BCI). It also emerged that later levels of the BCI are significantly and positively related to EI. The findings infer that the key determinant of increase in building construction costs in South Africa is equipment costs. Contractors and public or private sector clients in South Africa must utilize construction equipment optimally on projects, and these pieces of equipment should not be left idle on project sites or plant yards. Appropriate provisions should be made of equipment utilization policies which allow the joint ownership of equipment by contractors to mitigate the problems of cost increases. There are widely unexamined assumptions as to what resource factors are responsible for the growth in building construction costs in South Africa. Also is the similar high risk and uncertainty affecting the South African construction industry as a result of these fluctuations. The results of the study extend the knowledge of the resource factors responsible for building construction costs increases.     

scholarly journals Subcontractor Oversight on Construction Cost Overruns in Real Estate Projects in Nairobi and Kisumu Counties, Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Joanne A. Kepher ◽  
Charles M. Rambo ◽  
Raphael O. Nyonje
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Construction Cost ◽  
Sample Size Determination ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
Real Estate Projects ◽  
Main Instrument ◽  
Level Of Significance

Cost overruns have provided a significant challenge in the construction industries of both developed and developing countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence Subcontractor Oversight on Construction Cost Overruns of real estate projects in Nairobi and Kisumu Counties. The study was guided by objective, to establish the extent to which subcontractor oversight influence real estate construction projects cost overruns. The research adopted descriptive survey and correlational research designs. The study targeted a population of 4000 project professionals that constituted 7 professionals from active real estates in Nairobi and Kisumu Counties and 10 key informants from the real estate industry. Using the Krejcie and Morgan table of sample size determination, the sample size for this study was 351. The study then adopted stratified, simple random and purposive sampling methods to select appropriate sample sizes from the study population strata. Structured questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection, supported by interview guide. Hypothesis was tested at α=0.05 level of significance and the results were: H0: There is no significant relationship between subcontractor oversight and real estate construction projects cost overruns was rejected since P=0.000<0.05. Considering the study findings and conclusions, the following recommendations were made: Project professionals and other relevant real estate project stakeholders should encourage comprehensive subcontractor oversight as critical concerns in assembling pertinent information and creating avenues that could be utilized to reduce real estate construction projects cost overruns.

scholarly journals Usefulness and fields of the application of the Earned Value Management in the implementation of construction projects

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Dziadosz ◽  
Oleg Kapliński ◽  
Mariusz Rejment
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Construction Project ◽  
Value Management ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Earned Value ◽  
Earned Value Management ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Total Cost ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Project Realization

The Earned Value Method allows the prediction of future values of the total cost and duration of the construction project realization, and also it allows the early detection of the collisions between the schedule and the construction project budget. It is more often indicated its usefulness for monitoring and controlling the construction work progress in the time and cost formulation. It is used, in the indirect way, to control the risk in terms of the cost overruns of the construction project realization and in case of the failure to meet the deadline for completion of the construction project. The authors’ goal was not only to indicate the advantages of the method (widely discussed in the literature) but also to indicate some inaccuracies in the application of the Earned Value Method, which may affect the costs forecasting and the date of completion of the construction project. The conclusions are based on the analysis of several construction project realizations.

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