In the construction industry, the major project participants include the owner, the architect, the contractor and the subcontractors. Traditionally, each participant's activity in the construction process has been isolated to its particular organization's goals. In recent years, one of the leading trends of project deliveries has been a movement toward a more collaborative, teaming environment. Successful collaboration requires effective interaction among project participants. A fundamental understanding of barriers and challenges to effective interaction among a diverse project team is necessary towards creating truly collaborative project teams in construction. Emotional intelligence reflects an individual's emotional awareness and emotional regulation, both important factors of social interaction. An initial understanding of the project participant's emotional intelligence would provide meaningful direction for the construction industry in regards where improvements should be focused. As such, the present research study investigates the 21 components of the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) within the construction industry. This investigation creates an emotional intelligence yardstick by which to measure and compare future research. This study also explores several trends and relationships within this benchmarking in regards to demographics and General Contractor characteristics. In addition, this current research explores the General Contracting sector's perception of other A/E/C industry sectors. This research study adds to the already growing research that is focusing on the impact of social factors on the success of the A/E/C industry. The results of this study provide a meaningful initial understanding of the emotional intelligence levels of the General Contracting sector. This initial understanding provides academia and industry with several key findings and directions for future research. / Master of Science

The main topic in the licensing debate is whether licensing affects construction quality. Available literature and previous studies indicate that it does not. The real question is not whether licensing improves quality, but whether the improving quality is the actual purpose of licensing. There is little information available on the purpose of licensing as defined by state licensing departments as well as a general lack of information on how states evaluate whether licensing is fulfilling the intended purpose. In order to effectively resolve some of the issues surrounding the construction licensing debate, the true purpose of licensing and the methods used to evaluate licensing must be defined by state licensing departments, not the industry. The sharing of such information could lead to better construction regulations, improved evaluation techniques, further research, and ultimately, a resolution of the licensing debate. State licensing departments indicated the purpose of licensing as well as methods of evaluating licensing currently used by state licensing departments. Contrary to popular thought, the true purpose of residential general contractor licensing (as defined by state licensing departments) is not to improve construction quality but to protect the consumer's health and life. The license debate will continue as long as there exists a discrepancy between what the industry thinks is the purpose of licensing (improve quality) and what the purpose truly is (protect the consumer). If the main purpose of licensing is, as the states expressed, to protect the consumer, then policy must reflect that idea. Protecting the consumer can be accomplished through mandatory building code inspections without a barrier to entry such as licensing. The information gained from the study provides a foundation for further research on licensing issues that will benefit the construction industry, the economy, and society alike.

The purpose of this research is to determine which aspects, other than price, of trade contractor performance are the most important to the general contractor, Big-D Construction. The impression a trade contractor leaves on the project manager and superintendent provides an indication of their performance. To determine what tasks trade contractors perform that most greatly impact overall perception of the general contractor's project manager and superintendent, hundreds of trade contractors were evaluated in ten separate categories and were then given an overall rating. The correlation between each category and the overall rating was found. The categories were then sorted from highest correlation to lowest. Of the ten categories, professionalism had the highest correlation. Next to professionalism, schedule adherence was found to be most important. All of the next six categories: Coordination with other subs, quality of work, technical knowledge of drawings & specs, project close out (O&M's, punchlist, as-builts), monthly invoices - timely and accurate, and accuracy/timeliness of change orders, all had similar impact on overall performance. Daily clean-up and safety attitude, had the least impact on performance, with safety falling significantly lower than every other category. Overall, being professional, keeping to the schedule and doing good work are most important to project management teams, while keeping the job clean is noticeably less and safety is much less important.

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.

The Design/Bid/Build (DBB) delivery method has historically been the most popular and the most effective means of determining the least cost for building a project based upon a set of construction documents. In recent years, however, other project delivery methods, including but limited to Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) and Design/Build (DB), have slowly taken a share of the construction market away from the DBB delivery method. The choice of delivery method that will produce the best value for an owner in the measurements of efficiency in quality, cost, and timeliness depends upon the type of project and the business culture of the project owner. A unique opportunity for a comparative study was presented by the Meetinghouse Facilities Department (MFD) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The MFD completed over 200 repetitive meetinghouse projects in the U.S. over a five-year period (1999-2003), contracting approximately two-thirds of the projects using a CM/GC delivery method with an attached partnering agreement. The remaining meetinghouses were contracted using a DBB delivery method. A comprehensive comparison was conducted measuring all of the efficiencies created by the selection of delivery method, including short- and long-term costs, direct and indirect costs, construction cycle time, and quality assessment scores. After identifying and then adjusting for several confounding variables in the historical data, the statistical analysis provided evidence that the CM/GC delivery method proved to be the best value for the MFD by producing a total cost savings of over 5.5 percent on the meetinghouse projects when compared to the DBB meetinghouse projects. Construction cycle time was 20% shorter on the CM/GC meetinghouse projects and quality assessment (QA) scores were consistently higher. In regards to a 10-year life cycle repair costs, the CM/GC delivery method produced a higher quality meetinghouse, reducing repair costs by 34% when compared to the DBB meetinghouse projects.

abstract: The demand for new highway infrastructure, the need to repair aging infrastructure, and the drive to optimize public expenditures on infrastructure have led transportation agencies toward alternative contracting methods (ACMs) such as design-build (DB) and construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC). U.S. transportation agencies have substantial experience with traditional design-bid-build delivery. To promote ACMs, the Federal Highway Administration and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCRHP) have published ACM guidance documents. However, the published material and research tend to focus on pre-award activities. The need for guidance on ACM post-award activities is confirmed in NCHRP’s request for a guidebook focusing on ACM contract administration (NCHRP 2016). This dissertation fills the crucial knowledge gap in contract administration functions and tools for DB and CM/GC highway project delivery. First, this research identifies and models contract administration functions in DBB, CM/GC, and DB using integrated definition modeling (IDEF0). Second, this research identifies and analyzes DB and CM/GC tools for contract administration by conducting 30 ACM project case studies involving over 90 ACM practitioners. Recommendations on appropriate use regarding project phase, complexity, and size were gathered from 16 ACM practitioners. Third, the alternative technical concepts tool was studied. Data from 30 DB projects was analyzed to explore the timing of DB procurement and DB initial award performance in relation to the project influence curve. Types of innovations derived from ATCs are discussed. Considerable industry input at multiple stages grounds this research in professional practice. Results indicate that the involvement of the contractor during the design phase for both DB and CM/GC delivery creates unique contract administration functions that need unique tools. Thirty-six DB and CM/GC tools for contract administration are identified with recommendations for effective implementation. While strong initial award performance is achievable in DB projects, initial award performance in this sample of projects is only loosely tied to the level of percent base design at procurement. Cost savings typically come from multiple ATCs, and innovations tend to be incremental rather than systemic, disruptive, or radical. Opportunity for innovation on DB highway projects is influenced by project characteristics and engaging the DB entity after pre-project planning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

Stora industriprojekt med många involverade parter är komplexa redan som de är. Därav är ett inarbetat och noga planerat systematiskt arbetsmiljöarbete avgörande för en god arbetsmiljö där många personer vistas och arbetar på samma yta. “Ju fler kockar, desto sämre soppa” är ett svenskt ordspråk som till viss del lämpar sig för projektet Scania Nya Gjuteri. Även om mycket av det systematiska arbetsmiljöarbetet har varit exemplariskt och slutprodukten har blivit bra så har vägen dit inte varit felfri. Denna rapport behandlar projektet Scania Nya Gjuteri och de projektspecifika utmaningarna som har förekommit vad gäller den systematiska arbetsmiljön. Skanska har stått för utförandet men har även varit samordningsansvarig på byggarbetsplatsen och efter ett antal produktionsstopp, några entreprenörer som missköter sig och flera oförutsägbara risker som inträffat börjar man fundera på om det kanske finns ett samband mellan allt. För att ge svar på frågeställningarna har en juridisk metod med rättskällor används som sedan kompletterats med en samhällsvetenskaplig metod med empiriskt material bestående av intervjuer med företagsverksamma personer och interna dokument från Skanska och Scania. Tidigare forskning visar att avtalsförhållandena är betydande för styrningen av entreprenader och genom djupare studier och bättre förståelse om utmaningarna som har inträffat kan man förebygga detta organisatoriskt och byggtekniskt för framtida samarbeten. Med facit i hand hade många utmaningar hindrats eller åtminstone blivit hämmade om man hade diskuterat ansvarsgränserna och kraven noggrannare innan produktionsstart. Förhoppningsvis kan den här rapporten användas som en utvärdering av arbetsmiljön på Scania Nya Gjuteri för att man tillsammans ska lära sig från projektet och undgå liknande situationer i framtiden. / Large industrial projects with many parties involved are already complex as they are. Therefore, an established and carefully planned systematic work environment is crucial for a safe work environment where many people stay and work in the same area. "The more chefs,the worse the soup" is a Swedish saying that is suitable for the Scania New Foundry project in certain areas. The journey has not been easy although much of the systematic work environment management has been exemplary and the end product has turned out good. This report addresses the Scania New Foundry project and the specific challenges that have arisen in terms of the systematic working environment during production. Skanska has been responsible for the production and has also been responsible for coordination at the construction site.After some production stoppages, several contractors who misbehaved and many unpredictable risks that occurred Skanska realized that there may be a connection between everything. To provide answers to the questions, a legal research methodology has been used, which has been supplemented with a scientific method with empirical research consisting of interviews with enterprising people and internal documents from Skanska and Scania. Previous research shows that contractual conditions are significant for the management of the contractors and through deeper studies of the challenges that have occurred at the project we can get a better understanding for better collaborations in the future. All things considered, many challenges would have been prevented or at least inhibited if the responsibilities and requirements had been discussed more carefully ahead. Hopefully this report can be used as an evaluation of the work environment at Scania Nya Gjuteri in order tolearn from the project and avoid similar situations in the future.

The thesis describes the project management of a construction contract in a construction company from the supplier's point of view. The work includes a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes important definitions and knowledge, which are then used to create a practical part. It deals with the preparation and management of a specific construction contract called "Reconstruction of the sports hall Otrokovice" with the help of methods and procedures that the issue offers.