Concurrent construction, in which multiple construction activities are carried out
concurrently or overlapping, is a method developed to reduce time-to-market and
increase the value of the project to the owner or user. When overlapping activities, the
additional cost for overlap is affected by the interaction between overlapped activities
which is affected by the construction work methods used. Thus concurrent planning of
construction projects can lead to a benefit for the owner through investigating the
interactions between work methods under overlap and finding the best degrees of
overlap. However, the determination of the best solution from all the possible
combinations of multiple methods and degrees of overlap is affected by the decisionmaking
approach: by a centralized decision-maker (e.g., the project manager) with less
accurate information about cost estimates or by a decentralized decision-maker(s) (e.g.,
subcontractors) with a myopic viewpoint.
The objective of this dissertation is to compare the solutions from the two
decision-making approaches and to identify the conditions in which one approach is
preferred to the other. Thus project owners can benefit from choosing a better approach for concurrent planning under their own conditions. A Monte Carlo simulation model for
each decision-making approach was developed: an algorithm for finding the best
solution was developed by heuristic methods. Several parameters were incorporated into
the models to reflect different conditions for the decision-making approaches: number of
activities, number of methods, the project manager’s solution capacity, the uncertainty in
the project manager’s knowledge and attitudes towards risk.
The comparison of the two approaches was implemented with random cost under
different conditions. Furthermore, the model was applied to a hypothetical construction
project. From the simulations the major conclusions include: (1) The decentralized
approach becomes preferred with more activities; (2) Considering more methods
provides more potential for higher benefit to the owner in the decentralized approach; (3)
The decentralized approach is recommended under risk-averse attitude and high
uncertainty in the project manager’s knowledge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-3140 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Shim, Euysup |
| Contributors | Reinschmidt, Kenneth F. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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