Identifying Challenges of Internet of Things on Construction Projects Using Fuzzy Approach

This study presents a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) analysis of the internet challenges of the internet of things (IoT) implementation of construction projects in Nigeria. The identification of the IoT challenges was carried out through a thorough literature search and discussions with 27 built environmental experts. In addition, DEMATEL, an expert judgement-based tool, was used to pick, design, and evaluate a structural model consisting of a causal relationship between defined IoT challenges. Subsequently, the fuzzy DEMATEL was deployed with a view to constructing a structural relationship between the various challenging factors by visualising the dynamic associations between them. Based on the findings of the literature survey and expert evaluation, 18 obstacles to the implementation of IoT in construction projects were classified into cause and effect classes based on their relative parameters of impact. The results suggest that 8 challenges were categorised into the cause group, while 10 were listed into the impact group. The results of this study will enable construction companies, construction industry experts, project managers in Nigeria to enhance their search to design and execute an effective and productive IoT application for their construction projects.

Impediments to Construction Safety Improvement

Construction safety is one of the parameters for evaluating the success of a construction project. Evidence from the literature suggests that a poor health and safety (H&S) record is a matter of concern to project stakeholders. The benefits of improved H&S performance include, inter alia, increased productivity, reduced construction cost, reduced workplace accidents, and an enhanced industry image. This research seeks to determine major obstacles to project site safety in Nigeria. An understanding of these impediments provides an opportunity to develop strategies for H&S at construction sites. A questionnaire survey was used to address the objectives of the study, while descriptive statistics were employed to interpret the quantitative data obtained. The findings revealed that stakeholders’ lack of commitment, ineffective H&S regulations, and inadequate H&S training among construction professionals are the major obstacles to H&S performance. This study provides in-depth knowledge by highlighting the significant obstacles to H&S practice. The research is limited to Nigeria and did not secure enough evidence to generalise its findings. Therefore, similar studies are required in other developing countries to compare the impediments to construction H&S in those countries to the findings of this study.

Factors for Time and Cost Overrun in Public Projects

The construction industry in Pakistan is experiencing a surge in public sector projects due to major investments in infrastructure projects. Project delays and cost overrun are common features in public sector construction projects in Pakistan. Therefore, an understanding of the causes of time and cost overrun in public projects is essential. This paper investigates delay and cost overrun factors within the context of public sector projects in Pakistan. This study identifies 48 potential factors from existing literature and semi-structured interviews were used to refine the identified factors into ten categories. A questionnaire survey was used to establish a hierarchy of factors using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the major causes of time overruns in public projects were (1) legal issues, such as court stay orders, land acquisition, relocation of public facilities; (2) technical errors leading to low-quality drawings, rework, and errors at bidding stage; and (3) Poor project management. The findings of this research contribute to understanding the causes of project delays in public sector projects in Pakistan.

Energy Performance Analysis of Building Envelopes

The building sector has a high level of energy consumption caused mainly by the buildings heating and cooling energy demands to satisfy indoor comfort requirements. Reducing both the amount of energy consumed and the life cycle cost is a main challenge for the construction of buildings. It is evident that sustainable materials have low environmental impacts and need low consumption of energetic resources in addition to their durability and recyclability. Therefore, this research aims to test different sustainable materials available in Egypt for the construction of building envelopes that include local stones “Marble and Limestone” and insulation materials “Polyurethane- expanded and Extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam” in order to achieve savings in energy and total life cycle cost. The simulation tests were conducted through Design Builder software. The results aim to provide solutions for building designers to achieve energy-efficiency and costeffective design. The proposed alternatives showed a significant reduction in energy consumption by up to 62% and the total life cycle costs significantly reduced by up to 45.8%.

Predicting Cost Performance of Construction Projects from Projects Procurement Procedure

The purpose of this paper is to show by multivariate regression model if a defective procurement procedure leading to a contract award affects the smooth execution of a project in terms of its cost performance on the strength of the significance of the model. This investigation was conducted with a quantitative method of research by administering questionnaires to key industry players (clients, consultants, and contractors) engaged in construction projects (both civil and building works) in assessing contract award procedures, conditions for contract award after tender evaluation and criteria for contractors’ prequalification. Data from their field survey was analysed with mean item score to show hierarchal importance of factors and critical evaluation using multivariate analysis of variance. Findings showed that a poor and inappropriate contract award procedure has divergence from efficient project cost management based on the corollary of mean score values of contract award procedures, conditions for the award and prequalification test. The practical implication of this, is that an unbiased contract award procedure will apparently lead to a lesser strenuous project management effort towards mitigating cost spills and overruns for a lesser project abandonment if the right contractor with the right capabilities is awarded the contract. These implications stem from the originality of the investigation arising from F-value statistics (7.406), t-value statistics (3.046), and p-value of 0.003.

Agile Practices and Impacts on Project Success

The creation of Agile frameworks signified the development of practices specifically aimed at delivering projects - in an unpredictable world - on time, within budget and to the required quality. The purpose of this study is to present the potential effects of common Agile practices on conditions for project success. Two literature reviews are conducted. The first literature review identifies commonly reported Agile practices, while the second literature review focuses on these Agile practices’ reported effects. The two literature reviews identify twelve commonly reported Agile practices and their reported effects on six conditions for project success. Some Agile practices are shown to be more common than others. An abundance of identified terms used for Agile practices complicates the review of the existing empirical studies and the establishment of a common research agenda. Furthermore, the research shows that most of the examined Agile practices have both positive and negative effects on the conditions for project success. Only a few of the commonly reported Agile practices are shown to have a solely positive effect. The study identifies variations in the amount of available research on the effects of the various Agile practices. For research, this study identifies Agile practices and effects that need further attention. For practice, this study shows that Agile practices should be implemented with the desired effects, and the organizational and contextual conditions, in mind.

Constructability: Owners, Designers, and Contractors Practices in Industrial Projects

The constructability theory is built on the premise that designated experts review and analyse a plan collectively to iron out obstacles that may cause failure to the plan and make the execution efficient and cost-effective. This paper aims to reveal constructability practices among stakeholders (owners, designers, and contractors) who are executing industrial projects in Saudi Arabia. The research commenced with an intensive review of related literature. The literature review enabled the researchers to develop a questionnaire (data collection tool) which was distributed among the stakeholders via E-mail. The received data were analysed using simple statistical tools such as means, frequency, etc. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to measure the level of benefits from the constructability implementation. The stakeholders were found to implement constructability at the project and, to some extent, at corporate levels. Besides, they use many Construction Industry Institute (CII) concepts emerging from well-constructability CII principles in industrial projects. They form teams consisting of personnel from their organizations and facilitators either from their organization or from constructability consulting organizations. They use effective constructability review techniques such as the log/file, brainstorming, and the design review checklist. The constructability implementation yields considerable benefits, including “Reduce engineering cost,” “Reduce construction cost,” “Reduce the amount of rework,” “Improve project safety,” “Reduce schedule duration,” and several others. The study contributes to the book of knowledge and provides practitioners with guidance in implementing constructability. Designers and contractors are advised to implement constructability at the corporate level.

Predicting Cost Contingency Using Analytical Hierarchy Process and Multi Attribute Utility Theory

An endeavor to predict the optimum contingency value that balances between maintaining business competitiveness and achieving project objectives is definitely an essential contributor to the survival of contractors. The chief objective of this research, therefore, is to develop a mathematical prediction model of the optimum cost contingency value for building projects in Saudi Arabia. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique was used to define the most significant risk factors inherent in public work projects. The multi attribute utility theory (MAUT) technique was used to measure contractors’ risk attitudes and to establish the utility functions through MATLAB. The required data to build the model for the AHP and MAUT were collected from 17 contractors mostly through intensive face-to-face interviews and email-response to a developed structured questionnaire. The integrated contingency model reflects the basic dimensions of risk and considers the various risk attitudes of contractors. The model has been implemented in prototype software using object-oriented programming. Two completed local building construction projects were used to validate and demonstrate the use of the developed model in recommending the optimum cost contingency value for building projects in Saudi Arabia. The developed model was proven reliable in estimating the contingency with an accuracy skewed 9% to the high side.

Evaluation of Unit Rates Bids of Common Building Items

It is important to assess firms’ financial health in the harsh construction market of developing countries. This study seeks to achieve this by assessing locally owned construction firms’ (LOCOFs) financial performance through evaluating firms’ bill of quantities (BOQ) contract sums and bid unit rates of common building items. Accessible 60 BOQ of the 79 BOQ of building projects awarded to various LOCOFs from 2007 to 2015 by federal universities and federal universities teaching hospitals in Southwest Nigeria were obtained from the institutional archives. Regression analysis of the contract sums and bid unit rates of common building construction items of works such as concrete, sandcrete block, iron, mortar and floor tiles were carried out. LOCOFs’ bid unit rates were compared with published unit rates and Nigeria consumer price index (CPI) within the study period and inferences bothering on firms’ pricing pattern and financial viability of firms based on items of work unit rates were highlighted and discussed. The results showed that 119 out of a total 461 unit rates values representing 25.81% of the LOCOFs bided unit rates were higher than the published unit rates. LOCOFs unit rates trend decreased within 3 to 4 consecutive years while the Nigeria CPI trend increased all through the years considered in the study. This implies that LOCOFs common items of work bids unit rates were not always influenced by the prevailing prices of goods and services in Nigeria. A possible reason for this is the lowest tender selection criteria which influences LOCOFs’ bided unit rates thereby leading to the acclaimed compromise in the quality of construction output and stunted financial performance.

Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Project Management Decision-Making Tools

Including sustainability criteria for making decisions in project management poses challenges in the areas of bioenergy, biotherapeutics, and biomaterials. This is mainly due to chemical heterogeneity of bio-based materials, technoeconomic feasibility, and triple constraint of time, cost, and product quality. However, bio-based technologies create opportunities as sustainable processes because they involve upvaluation of locally available renewable and biodegradable materials. This work was conducted to identify challenges and opportunities in incorporating project management tools in bioproduct development with the goal of integrating measurable sustainability criteria scores in decision-making. The scores or metrics from these tools can be used by project managers for decision-making in engineering process scale-up, evaluation of social impact, and commercialization of processing technologies.