abstract: The delivery of construction projects, particularly with respect to design phase or preconstruction efforts, has changed significantly over the past twenty years. As alternative delivery methods such as Construction-Manager-at-Risk (CMAR) and Design-Build models have become more prominent, general contractors, owners, and designers have had the opportunity to take advantage of the collaborative planning opportunities that exist during the preconstruction portion of the project. While much has been written regarding the benefits of more collaborative approaches and the utilization of various tools and practices during preconstruction to mitigate risk and maximize positive outcomes, what is lesser known is how to teach a coursework that exposes students to various tools and practices that are being utilized today. The objective of this research was to create a testable methodology that can be used to analyze a developed approach that answers the question of how to teach preconstruction tools and practices. A coursework was developed and taught as a graduate level class and data was collected from the actual teaching of that class. In addition, feedback was solicited from the construction industry concerning recommended content applicable to such a class. Data was then analyzed to ascertain student retention of the material and topical content of the course. Through these findings and literature review process the methodology and baseline coursework was shown as an effective means to teach preconstruction tools and practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction Management 2019

Building Information Modeling (BIM) plays an important role in today's construction industry. Models are tools that help stakeholders communicate, visualize building geometry, perform trade coordination and clash detection among others. A less popular aspect of BIM that shows high potential is the quantity take-off (QTO) feature. Yet, its implementation among commercial general contractors (GC) has not received as much attention. The purpose of this study was to identify how the BIM QTO features were being implemented among commercial general contractors, what challenges they faced and how they worked to overcome those challenges. Through a three-step process including semi structured interviews with estimators, preconstruction, BIM and Virtual Design Construction (VDC) managers, valuable insights on the BIM QTO implementation state among general contractors were gathered and analyzed. Links between BIM QTO benefits, project design phases and delivery methods, software, training, leadership and jurisdictions were discussed. The data indicated that BIM QTO's benefits were best leveraged through early general contractor involvement, the adequate contract framework, trained BIM QTO estimators, and early and strategic communication between owners, designers and estimators. The conditions for increased efficiency were discussed along with the solutions to the common BIM-based QTO challenges.

abstract: Alternative Project Delivery Methods (APDMs), namely Design Build (DB) and Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), grew out of the need to find a more efficient project delivery approach than the traditional Design Bid Build (DBB) form of delivery. After decades of extensive APDM use, there have been many studies focused on the use of APDMs and project outcomes. Few of these studies have reached a level of statistical significance to make conclusive observations about APDMs. This research effort completes a comprehensive study for use in the horizontal transportation construction market, providing a better basis for decisions on project delivery method selection, improving understanding of best practices for APDM use, and reporting outcomes from the largest collection of APDM project data to date. The study is the result of an online survey of project owners and design teams from 17 states representing 83 projects nationally. Project data collected represents almost six billion US dollars. The study performs an analysis of the transportation APDM market and answers questions dealing with national APDM usage, motivators for APDM selection, the relation of APDM to pre-construction services, and the use of industry best practices. Top motivators for delivery method selection: the project schedule or the urgency of the project, the ability to predict and control cost, and finding the best method to allocate risk, as well as other factors were identified and analyzed. Analysis of project data was used to compare to commonly held assumptions about the project delivery methods, confirming some assumptions and refuting others. Project data showed that APDM projects had the lowest overall cost growth. DB projects had higher schedule growth. CMAR projects had low design schedule growth but high construction schedule growth. DBB showed very little schedule growth and the highest cost growth of the delivery methods studied. Best practices in project delivery were studied: team alignment, front end planning, and risk assessment were identified as practices most critical to project success. The study contributes and improves on existing research on APDM project selection and outcomes and fills many of the gaps in research identified by previous research efforts and industry leaders. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil Engineering 2014

According to production process theory, customization is directly related to cost and inversely related to volume, efficiency, and productivity. However, customers generally desire products that are individually tailored to their wants and needs. For this reason, as residential contractors grow, they struggle to meet customers' demands for flexibility. This struggle to increase customization is not unique to the construction industry and many other industries have studied this problem in depth. While the inverse relationship between customization and cost is generally true, mass customization can enable increased customization with limited or no increased cost. The residential construction process employs many mass customization enabling principles, including modularity and product family design. However, the preconstruction process fails to employ these same principles. The purpose of this study was to explore how mass customization principles can simplify customization in the residential preconstruction process. Two rounds of interviews were conducted with residential construction industry preconstruction experts. Using their input, a process for implementing mass customization was developed. The results demonstrate that implementing mass customization principles can greatly simplify the purchasing, estimating, and option pricing processes for residential contractors. However, mass customization also significantly affects company structure, cost control strategies, trade relationships, and leanness. This research is enlightening to residential contractors struggling to manage customization. It also provides direction for software developers targeting the residential construction processes.

Detta examensarbete skrevs under höstterminen 2014 i samarbete med Peab region Bygg Öst 1 i Stockholm och syftar till att utreda hur dem arbetar med BIM i praktiken. Examensarbetaren fördjupar sig i ämnesområdet BIM och hur användningen av den 3D tekniken kan se ut i praktiken i arbetslivet. För att avgränsa arbetet skrevs det om byggnadsinformationsmodellering  BIM, vid tre skeden i byggprocessen, anbud- och kalkylskede, projektering, produktion samt visualisering som sker vid olika tillfällen under hela byggprocessen. Arbetet innehåller även en redogörelse för investering av 3D skrivare hos Peab Bygg Öst 1, syftet med investeringen är bland annat för att utveckla ett arbetssätt med 3D teknik och visualiseringar framöver. Anledningen till att arbetet behandlar olika skeden är för att erhålla bred inblick och förståelse om ämnesområdet. Rapporten behandlar frågeställningar som syftar till att identifiera BIM som teknik och arbetssätt, hur Bygg Öst 1 arbetar med BIM i praktiken samt hur man vill arbeta med det framöver. Arbetet innehåller även redovisning av ett internt projekt som examensarbetaren utförde hos företaget. Interna projektet syftar till att utveckla anbud och kalkylskedet med BIM. Arbetet är baserat på studier i ämnet samt platsbesök på projekt inom Bygg Öst 1. Resultaten som erhölls från intervjustudierna visar hur man arbetar med BIM vid de olika pågående projekten för bland annat kollisionshantering, arbetsberedningar samt olika typer av visualiseringar med mera. Sammanfattningsvis syftar BIM till att effektivisera, såsom att reducera eventuellt uppkommande fel och säkerställa moment i byggprocessen. En jämförelse av litteratur- och intervjustudierna medförde förståelse för ämnesområdets användningsområden och omfattning. BIM är ett brett ämnesområde och det praktiska tillvägagångssättet med 3D tekniken kan tillämpas på olika sätt hos ett företag, vilket kan vara beroende av ambition och arbetssätt hos företaget. När man implementerar BIM i arbetssättet medför det inte direkta lösningar eller strategier att tillämpa i ett företag, utan implementeringen av BIM i arbetssättet kommer med utmaningar. På grund av ämnesområdets omfattning kan det vara viktigt att man har specifika mål och en tydlig bild om vad som vill uppnås med resultatet av implementeringen i arbetssättet. Det är även viktigt att veta hur mycket inverkan resultatet kommer ha på tids- eller ekonomiska besparingar. På så sätt är det möjligt att erhålla förståelse om hur implementeringen av tekniken kan ske och vilka vinningar som kan erhållas. / This thesis was written during the autumn term 2014 in cooperation with Peab region Bygg Öst 1 in Stockholm. The writing aims to investigate how they work with Building Information Modeling, BIM, in practice and increase understanding in how you can use the 3D technology in the professional working life. In order to define the thesis it has been written about three stages in the construction process: offer- and costing stage (construction bidding), projecting (preconstruction phase) and production (construction execution). Besides that the thesis also includes how BIM is used for visualization of the project and a report containing an investment of 3D printer has also been fulfilled. Additionally, the thesis also contains a description of an internal project that the writer has performed in the company. The internal project aims to develop the offer- and costing stage with BIM. The writing is based on studies on the subject and visits to some of Bygg Öst 1 ongoing projects. Results from the interview studies indicate that Peab Bygg Öst 1 in Stockholm is working with BIM for example collision handlings, preparation for big parts in the production, different types of visualizations and more. In short, the technology is used for ensuring the occasions in the construction process to improve the efficiency. The comparing of the literature and the interview study led to an understanding of the field of the subject and how wide it is. BIM is a broad topic and this 3D technology can be applied in work methods in different ways. The technique does not provide ready-made solutions or strategies to implement in a company, it has been learned that the implementation comes with some challenges. Because the technique is broad it may be beneficial that there are specific goals about what should be achieved in the result of the implementation of BIM in the construction process in order to ensure what achievements obtained with the help of the technology.