This study was conducted to determine the most important causes of delay in public utility projects, based on the frequency and severity of the causes. A survey of randomly selected samples of contractors, consultants, and owners was carried out to assess the frequency of occurrence and the...

Bargaining is the initial and informal means by which parties attempt to resolve their differences during a construction dispute. However, knowledge of the bargaining process in construction projects is scant, with most attention being given to developing more formal, costly and reactive means...

An appropriate body of management skills and knowledge for construction refurbishment is established: a skills and knowledge inventory. Of the 75 types of management skill and knowledge, the six most important are leadership, communication (oral/written), motivation of others, health and safety,...

The UK housing industry has been slow to adopt new working practices which have brought improvements in product quality and customer focused operations to many sectors of manufacturing industry. Instead, the dominant business driver has been land and house price inflation, with the market...

A simple neoclassical production function model is used to determine the incremental cost of each floor as building height increases. This analytic method provides an alternative to earlier studies using computer simulation and more cumbersome attempts at measuring the cost variation directly....

A recent research project explored the sources of relatively higher value and/or more frequent construction claims in civil engineering projects in Hong Kong. Fourteen common sources of claims were cited to seek views from the industry as to the perceived frequencies, magnitudes and...

The investigation reported forms part of a wider study into the applicability of design for manufacture (DFM) thinking to the total construction process, and the ways in which this could be implemented. Historical data from change order request procedures were examined for several case studies...

Research among European countries had confirmed variance in productivity rates ascribed by construction planning engineers for identical operations. Similar differences in planned construction resource/method factors also had been identified. It is hypothesized that such variance may be due to...

Functional analysis concept design (FACD) is a method by which owners and designers can 'partner' during the design phase of projects. Much has been written and reported about partnering on construction projects, but little is available on the applications and results of FACD. While FACD has...

Material transportation for high-rise building construction relies heavily on tower cranes. Hence the proper use of tower cranes is of paramount importance for high-rise residential building construction. In planning and monitoring crane usage in Hong Kong, a schedule is usually prepared to...