Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate relationships between five energy efficiency programs and electricity intensities in the US commercial buildings sector. Design/methodology/approach – Regression methods analyze state-level secondary data from 2006 through 2009 to...

Purpose – Excavator productivity calculations embrace myriad variables, which in turn, can be modelled in several ways. A key productivity variable is operator competence ( O c ) because this can impact on so many of the other variables. Earlier research has studied excavator productivity, but...

Purpose – Construction projects within Malaysia are plagued by time overruns that can transform what should have been successful projects, into those incurring additional costs, disagreements, litigation and in some cases abandonment. To help better understand this problem, the purpose of this...

Construction business performance measurement (BPM) is myopic, most often being project‐specific, profit‐orientated, and neglecting broader “stakeholder” issues. If construction organizations are to remain competitive in the longer term, they need to develop and better understand their...

Embodied energy (EE) analysis has become an important area of energy research, in attempting to trace the direct and indirect energy requirements of products and services throughout their supply chain. Typically, input-output (I-O) models have been used to calculate EE because they are...

The business environment of construction organisations has undergone significant change over the last 50 years. As a result, construction management has had to respond to issues such as increasing levels of client expectation, globalisation of the construction economy, cut‐throat competition,...

Organizations in the construction industry have eschewed implementing TQM practices because short‐term benefits are relatively minimal. As a result, re‐engineering has emerged as an alternative to change. Albeit re‐engineering seeks radical performance improvements, the path to its...

Purpose – Plant and equipment theft (PET) is inherent throughout the construction sector. Its effect places direct financial burden on those who have invested in such assets, but additionally, induces “indirect” costs for many other stakeholders including project owners, plant hirers and...

Purpose – As a tool to help compliance with relevant health and safety legislation, a cost‐effective method of risk assessing construction workers' exposure to hand‐arm vibration (HAV) is presented that allows larger numbers of workers to be evaluated, either as a stratified sample of a...