Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-147)

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The main concern of a construction client is to procure a facility that is able to meet its functional requirements, of the required quality, and delivered within an acceptable budget and timeframe. The cost aspect of these key performance indicators usually ranks highest. In spite of the importance of cost estimation, it is undeniably neither simple nor straightforward because of the lack of information in the early stages of the project. Construction projects therefore have routinely overrun their estimates. Cost overrun has been attributed to a number of sources including technical error in design, managerial incompetence, risk and uncertainty, suspicions of foul play and even corruption. Furthermore, even though it is accepted that factors such as tendering method, location of project, procurement method or size of project have an effect on likely final cost of a project, it is difficult to establish their measured financial impact. Estimators thus have to rely largely on experience and intuition when preparing initial estimates, often neglecting most of these factors in the final cost build-up. The decision-to-build for most projects is therefore largely based on unrealistic estimates that would inevitably be exceeded. The main aim of this research is to re-examine the sources of cost overrun on construction projects and to develop final cost estimation models that could help in reaching more reliable final cost estimates at the tendering stage of the project. The research identified two predominant schools of thought on the sources of overruns – referred to here as the PsychoStrategists and Evolution Theorists. Another finding was that there is no unanimity on the reference point from which cost performance could be assessed, leading to a large disparity in the size of overruns reported. Another misunderstanding relates to the term “cost overrun” itself. The experimental part of the research, conducted in collaboration with two industry partners, used a combination of non-parametric bootstrapping and ensemble modelling with artificial neural networks to develop final project cost models based on about 1,600 water infrastructure projects. 92% of the validation predictions were within ±10% of the actual final cost of the project. The models will be particularly useful at the pre-contract stage as they will provide a benchmark for evaluating submitted tenders and also allow the quick generation of various alternative solutions for a construction project using what-if scenarios. The original contribution of the study is a fresh thinking of construction “cost overruns”, now proposed to be more appropriately known as “cost growth” based on a synthesises of the two schools of thought into a conceptual model. The second contribution is the development of novel models of construction cost estimation utilising artificial neural networks coupled with bootstrapping and ensemble modelling.

Research collaboration between academia and industry is a form of knowledge creation in construction industry project management. This research collaboration is motivated by the intent to provide solutions to issues and problems that industry faces through research expertise and a scientific approach. Notwithstanding the potential benefits acknowledged by researchers, collaborative academia-industry research has not been sufficiently explored and there only exist a few studies addressing research success and success factors. Several main reasons for this include; 1) the success of collaborative academia-industry research has not been well defined, 2) there exist limited empirical studies, and 3) the research process of collaborative academia-industry research has not been systematically investigated. The primary purpose of this study is to improve the process of the collaborative academia-industry research for construction industry project management by identifying key process attributes and success factors. First, this study suggests a definition of the success and success criteria of collaborative academia-industry research based on literature review. Then this study evaluated more than 150 research efforts of the Construction Industry Institute (CII), a non-profit research organization sponsoring academia-industry collaborative research for more than 30 years, against the established success criteria to identify successful and less than successful research efforts. Multiple methods were adopted for the evaluation including web-based surveys, research product dissemination data, journal citation counts, and expert group assessment. By analysis and triangulation of the data collected from those multiple sources, this study identified 11 research efforts for further analyses. In-depth cases studies on the 11 research efforts were conducted focusing on the research process through interviews with a total of 39 academics and industry practitioners who participated in those research efforts. Information from interviews and other relevant data were analyzed for each case as well as across the 11 cases to identify key process attributes and factors contributing to research success. Consolidated findings from the cross-case analyses generated 9 key process attributes and associated success factors with significant potential to improve the research process of collaborative academia-industry research. / text

Bakgrund Byggföretagen står för en väsentlig del av det svenska näringslivet och har de senaste åren upplevt en hög omsättningstillväxt. Dessa företag arbetar i en projektbaserad miljö vilket skapar ett behov av en styrning för att hantera alla projekt ur ett helhetsperspektiv. Med hjälp av Project Portfolio Management kan byggföretagen hantera den risk och låga marginaler som präglar branschen och i bästa fall öka sin lönsamhet. Syfte Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en helhetsbild av hur hanteringen av projektportföljen ser ut i svenska byggföretag och att analysera vilka faktorer som är betydelsefulla vid projekturvalet. Detta sker genom att utveckla en teoretiskt förankrad referensram som sedan används för att analysera byggföretagens process för hanteringen av företagets projektportfölj. Metod Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomförts med beslutsfattare och chefer inom respektive byggföretag. Intervjuerna har genomförts för att söka efter mönster och samband mellan de studerade byggföretagens hantering av projektportföljen. Slutsats De svenska byggföretagens hantering av projektportföljen sker i en decentraliserad organisation där graden av formell styrning varierar beroende på företagets storlek. En formalisering av byggföretagens PPM kan bidra till förbättrad riskhantering och en möjlighet för ökad lönsamhet. Resurser, tid och kompetens är grundläggande kriterier för att byggföretaget ska kunna ta sig an ett projekt. Vem kunden är och vad det är för typ av projekt har också en betydelse då byggföretagen är riskaverta och föredrar att ge sig in i projekt de är duktiga på. / Background The construction industry represents a vital part of the Swedish GDP and have been experiencing a high revenue growth during the last years. The construction companies work in a project based environment which calls for a holistic management system. Using Project Portfolio Management, the construction companies can manage their risks and low profit margins that characterizes the industry and in best case scenario increase their margins. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to create a holistic view of the management of the project portfolio in Swedish construction companies and to analyze which factors are important in the project selection process. This is done by developing a theoretically-based reference frame that is used to analyze the construction companies process for managing their project portfolios. Method The thesis is based on a qualitative research method where semistructured interviews were conducted with decision makers and managers within each construction company. Interviews have been conducted to search for patterns and relationships between the studied construction companies' management of the project portfolio. Conclusio The management of the Swedish construction companies’ project portfolios occurs in decentralized organizations where the degree of formal management varies depending on the size of the company. A formalization of construction companies' PPM can contribute to improved risk management and an opportunity for increased profitability. Resources, time and skills are fundamental criterias for the construction company to be able to undertake a project. Other significant criterias in this process are the customer and the type of project.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate how architects and project managers can improve their work process within an architecture firm, in order to become more competitive and cost efficient. To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, the research has been based on an interview study that draws upon the challenges the construction industry is currently facing, especially within architecture and project management, which means that firms working in the early phases of a project must do some changes in their work processes to meet those challenges. Hence, the research question has been based on the firm’s ability to improve their work processes in different and new types of projects. The investigation has been based on semi-structured interviews and a literature study of scientific articles and academic literature. The interviews have been made with group managers, a design manager, internal project managers and external project managers from the Swedish architecture firm White AB in Stockholm, which has collaborated with the researcher when writing the master thesis. The interviews has shown difficulties in managing projects for both architects and project managers, and in defining roles and dividing of tasks, which has resulted in the lack of collaboration and communication, design problems, time and budget constraints, client dissatisfaction and cultural barriers within the firm. To handle and prevent these difficulties from occurring the researcher has provided the firm’s steering committee with guidance on how to improve the difficulties with two overall objectives. The objectives were based on the current situation analysis, which in turn was based on interviews and literature study that entailed architects’ increased collaboration with project managers and the definition of the project manager’s role. Hence the following guidelines can be achieved: internal and external marketing, education, experience feedback, common objectives and shared leadership. / Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur arkitekter och projektledare kan förbättra sina arbetsprocesser, i en arkitektfirma, för att bli mer konkurrenskraftiga och kostnadseffektiva. För att uppfylla syftet av examensarbetet, har forskningen varit baserad på en intervjustudie som bygger på de utmaningar som byggbranschen för närvarande står inför, särskilt inom arkitektur och projektledning, vilket innebär att företag som arbetar i de tidiga faserna av ett projekt måste göra vissa förändringar i sina arbetsprocesser för att möta dessa utmaningar. Därför har forskningsfrågan varit baserad på företagets förmåga att förbättra sina arbetsprocesser i olika och nya typer av projekt. Undersökningen har baserats på semistrukturerade intervjuer och en litteraturstudie av vetenskapliga artiklar och akademisk litteratur. Intervjuerna har gjorts med gruppchefer, en projekteringsledare, interna och externa projektledare från den svenska arkitektfirman White AB i Stockholm, som har samarbetat med forskaren vid skrivning av examensarbetet. Intervjuerna har visat på svårigheter i att hantera projekt för både arkitekter och projektledare och I att definiera roller och uppdelning av arbetsuppgifter, vilket har resulterat i samarbets- och kommunikationsbrister, utformningsproblem, tid- och budgetbegränsningar, klientmissnöje och kulturella barriärer inom företaget. Att hantera och förebygga dessa svårigheter från att uppstå så har forskaren tillhandahållit företagets styrgrupp med vägledning om hur svårigheterna kan förbättras utifrån två övergripande mål. Målen baserades på nulägesanalysen, vilket i sin tur grundade sig på intervjuer och litteraturstudier som innebar ett ökat samarbete mellan arkitekter och projektledare och att definiera projektledarens roll. Därmed kan följande riktlinjer uppnås: intern och extern marknadsföring, utbildning, erfarenhetsåterföring, gemensamma mål och delat ledarskap.

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Byggindustrin har en stor påverkan på ett lands ekonomiska tillväxt. Av byggprojekts totala omsättning står underentreprenörerna för en stor del. I studien undersöks hur samverkan mellan entreprenör och underentreprenör kan främja problemlösning under produktionsfasen.För att besvara på frågeställningarna som skapats har åtta stycken platsansvariga underentreprenörer intervjuats. Intervjuerna har sedan jämförts och analyserats tillsammans med information från litteraturstudien av artiklar, rapporter och andra texter.Resultatet visar på att flertalet problemlösningsmetoder används för de vanliga problemen ute på byggprojekten, dock finns det möjlighet för standardisering och förbättring. Planering, informationsbrist och oförutsägbarhet är de ord som karakteriserar de vanligaste problemen. Entreprenören och underentreprenören bör fokusera på att skapa ett förtroende för varandra och skapa ett gemensamt tänk på att arbetet ska göras tillsammans. Entreprenörens platschef bör se till att det finns mötesstrukturer som hjälper både underentreprenörer och entreprenören med planering. Ersättningsformen löpande räkning får underentreprenörerna att fokusera mer på huvudprojektmålet och gemensamma lösningar. / The construction industry has a major impact on a country's economic growth. The subcontractors account for a large part of the total value for construction projects. The study examines how collaboration between contractor and subcontractor can promote problem solving during the production phase.To answer the questions created, eight subcontractors' site managers have been interviewed. The interviews have then been compared and analyzed together with information from the literature study of articles, reports and other texts.The result shows that problem-solving methods are used for the usual problems on the construction projects today, but there is the possibility of improvement. Planning, information sharing and unpredictability are the factors that characterize the most common problems. The contractor and subcontractor should focus on creating a good relationship with each other and have a mindset that the work should be done together. The contractor's site manager should ensure that there are structured meetings that help both subcontractors and the contractor with planning. The form of compensation on a current contract causes the subcontractors to focus more on the main project objective and create solutions together.

Sweden is perceived to be one of the Building Information Modeling (BIM) leaders in the world. However, studies have shown that 4D BIM, which is a combination of a 3D model and an associated time schedule, is not widely deployed in construction planning practices among contractors. In Sweden many studies focused on BIM adoption in general, but since contractors are the main users of 4D BIM, there is a lack of studies exploring this specific dimension of BIM. This study considers 4D BIM as an innovation; the aim is to find the incentives for and barriers to adopt 4D BIM within the Swedish construction industry. A literature review was conducted and the most common variables were derived; in addition to this, an online questionnaire and a series of interviews targeting Swedish construction companies were conducted. The findings were that 4D BIM is a new start within the Swedish construction industry, where a series of both technical (software, standards, complexity) and non-technical barrier (organizational, lack of client demand, unclear benefits, investment) has an impact on the adoption process. Large companies are the early adopters and use it to maintain their strategic position in the industry, whereas smaller contractors are prone to more barriers and mostly rely on clients´ demand.