This paper reports on a recent study aimed at identifying the key factors influencing the development of the construction industry. From a list of 62 variables identified in earlier studies, a questionnaire survey was conducted. This quantitative study elicited views from 76 respondents and...

Since Friedman, fundamental research in construction contract bidding and estimating has been concerned with the full problem definition, formulation and calibration. The general problem definition is now virtually complete in that bidding involves sequential and simultaneous decisions to be...

It is widely contended that since any one particular project contributes a relatively significant part of a construction firms turnover, the bidding decision on any one project will ultimately have a significant effect on the firms long term performance. It is also generally accepted that the...

The morality of marketing practices in the construction industry is an issue of economic and social significance which attracts public and legislative concern. Criticisms, as well as negative publicity, are mostly concentrated around collusive tendering: illegal agreements between tenderers that...

This paper examines the relative performance of three different systems of forecasting movements in macro building prices. The three systems analysed are (1) the Building Cost Information Service system, (2) the Davis, Langdon & Everest system, and (3) Akintoye and Skitmore's reduced-form...

The insolvency rate of construction companies is much higher than that of other types of companies. In order to survive, many contractors may try to submit suicidally low bids and/or obtain work that is beyond their financial capability. The employment of financially incapable contractors not...

Under the normal conditions of construction contracts, the client is obliged to pay the contractor in monthly instalments. The amount of each instalment is based on the value of construction work actually produced in the previous month and forecasts are needed in advance of the likely value of...

The paper describes three analyses to examine differences in construction company POT profitability between (1) different financial years, and (2) different sizes of companies. In the first analysis, the aggregated profitability of a sample of 80 UK general contractors was found not to differ...

One of the most important aspects of the construction procurement process is the management of client (owner) expenditure. For client expenditure management, risk analysis demands good estimates of the range of possible expenditures likely to occur and their probability of occurrence, while risk...

One of the factors affecting the success or otherwise of the procurement process is the quality of its financial management. In many cases, particularly in the early stages of a project, this is dependent on the accuracy of forecasts of future costs. For risk management purposes, what is most...