Identifying The Global Performance of The Construction Industry
Identifying The Global Performance of The Construction Industry
Identifying The Global Performance of The Construction Industry
Industry
Alfredo Rivera (M.S.), Nguyen Le (M.S.), Jacob Kashiwagi (PhD) and Dean Kashiwagi
(PhD, P.E.)
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona, United States
This paper presents a literature research assessing the performance and issues of delivering
construction services worldwide, by exploring reasons for delays and increased construction
costs. The study shows a comparison of the performance of the construction industry between
different continents and countries. Multiple research databases were looked through and
performance information was taken from over 95 publications. The results reveal that although
the construction industry is growing throughout the world, there are many of the same problems
being experienced in delivering construction projects in developing countries and developed
countries. The literature reveals that all countries and continents are experiencing the same issues.
On average, 72% of projects are delayed with 38% increase in original contracted duration, also,
63% of projects experienced cost overruns with 24% increase in original contracted cost.
Additionally, rework is also a factor that affects performance and accounts for 6% increase in
total project costs. Customer satisfaction on projects is low, and 90% of all major issues causing
non-performance are due to people. A best value approach was identified as a potential solution
to overcome the poor performance on construction projects with the following results: tested over
1900 times, totaling over $6B of procured services, a 94% on time and 97% on budget, and 98%
customer satisfaction.
Introduction
According to the Pew Research Center, the global population is expected to reach 9.6B in the
year 2050, a 26% increase in population (from 7.1B in 2015). Of the 9.6B, 6B will be within the
working age of 15-64 years old. Africa is expected to nearly double in population, surpassing the
global share of people, while the U.S. is expected to add 89 million people to its population.
India is expected to grow by 400 million, surpassing China’s population, which is only expected
to increase another 25 million. With such a large increase in populations around the world,
infrastructure development is also expected to increase. Interestingly, Construction Industry
Institute’s expert, William Badger, estimates that the world will build more things in the next 30
years than in the last 2000 (CII, 2015).
Problem
A preliminary literature search was performed to identify the state of the construction industry
regarding the performance of delivering professional services. The literature identified
significant documentation of poor performance in both the U.K. and U.S. The literature
identified that the industry has struggled with overcoming poor delivery of services, and has not
Research conducted in the U.K. has documented construction performance in showing minor
improvements from 2000 to 2011 in certain areas, but continues to suffer in others (Kashiwagi,
2013):
Studies have also been conducted in the U.S. showing similar results of construction non-
performance (Kashiwagi, 2013):
Because the industry misunderstands the source of its own problems, few academic researchers
and practitioners have been able to create a successful hypothesis, run cycles of tests, which have
resulted in the changing of industry practices and poor performance. The most impactful research
identified, has led to conclusions that pre-planning is critical, hiring expert contractors will result
in better performance, risk is mitigated when the supply chain partners work together, and
expertise is utilized at the beginning of projects (van de Rijt, and Witteveen, 2011). The fact
remains that the delivery of professional services needs a solution that is proven in industry to
overcome the seemingly inevitable poor performance.
Hypothesis
With continued industrial growth around the world and poor performance identified in the
United States and United Kingdom, the authors propose that every country worldwide with
documented performance information has similar issues and performance.
Methodology
The authors propose to conduct literature research on the construction performance around the
world. The following was be performed:
1. First, the authors identified the four major indicators identifying performance on
construction projects:
a. Rework – work that was not properly done, and required additional hired labor to
correct.
b. Cost overrun – the amount of money exceeding the original cost.
c. Schedule delay – the amount of time exceeding the end completion date (critical
path).
d. Customer satisfaction – how satisfied the owner/client was with the delivered
service.
2. Second, the authors selected 38 major countries from six major regions to further
investigate. The major countries were selected, based upon the availability of
documentation of performance information on construction projects.
3. Third, the authors created an excel spreadsheet database that would track each country’s
publications, in terms of the four performance indicators and major issues available.
The study first looked into currently available construction performance data from CII and
KPMG, to quantify the issues within the industry. Next, the study looked for additional
performance information in 3,200 publications. Relevant publications were found by viewing
abstracts from one of the four research databases (ASCE Library, Science Direct, Taylor and
Francis Online, Emerald Insights). In total, out of the 3,200 publications, 260 were found to be
Table 1
The study found that worldwide, construction organizations have been struggling with delivering
services on time, on budget, with high customer satisfaction (PBSRG, 2016). Interestingly, the
authors identified that contrary to popular belief that modern countries have an advantage over
third world countries, due to their larger budgets and higher levels of technology, poor
performance was the same in every examined country (Liu, 2016).
In support of these conclusions, the authors identified a recent worldwide construction study,
conducted in 2015 by the Construction Industry Institute, confirming similar findings (CII,
2015):
In the next sections, the authors will identify the data that was found from each of the four
performance indicators and major issues.
Rework
Ashford (1992) defines rework as ‘‘the process by which an item is made to conform to the
original requirement by completion or correction”. In the study, the authors found rework data
from three regions (America, Europe, and Oceania), consisting of four countries (USA, Sweden,
UK, and Australia), totaling 8 publications. The data identified that rework in general, is
responsible for 6% of the total project cost for the last decade. This is consistent with similar
literature the authors identified. According to Jim Zack, Executive Director of Navigant
Consulting (construction consulting), “rework happens on every project…” (Moore, 2012). It is
estimated that on average, rework by contractors adds 2-20% of expenses to a contractor’s
bottom line. In total, according to CII, that is an estimated $15B a year. Additionally, CII
reported that rework for a standard industrial construction project is 5.6%, whereas a civil and
heavy industrial project would increase to around 10%. Additionally, another study was
conducted in trying to figure out who was the main cause for rework, identified that it was
majorly due to designer error and owner changes (Love, 2000).
Cost Overrun
Cost overrun can be considered as the difference between actual cost of a project and its cost
limit. It occurs when the resultant cost target of a project exceed its cost limits where cost limit
of a project refers to the maximum expenditure that the client is prepared to incur on a completed
building project (Memon, 2012). In the study, the authors found cost overrun data from five
regions (Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Middle East), consisting of 16 countries (Ethiopia,
Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, India, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Turkey, United
Kingdom, Kuwait, Pakistan, Palestine, United States), totaling 26 publications. Table 2 shows
the percentages of projects by region that are over budget and the average over budget amount
compared to the original cost.
Table 2
According to Table 2, 68% of projects from those 5 regions were had cost overruns. Of the 68%,
project budgets are overrun on average by 23%.
This data is supported by similar research in this area. Bent Flyvbjerg (2003), a professor in
Oxford’s Said Business School, identified that it is not uncommon for major infrastructure
projects to overrun by 50%. In fact, after looking at many of the large infrastructure projects
around the world, he identified fifteen of the world’s largest cost overruns that ranged from
255% to as high 36,000% (CIMA, 2013). These statistics similarly match a study CII conducted
on cost overruns on construction projects, which identified only 30% of projects completed
within 10% of planned cost.
Despite many misconceptions about whether one region has less cost overruns than another,
there has been no clear evidence in terms of documented cost performance that would suggest
that to be true.
Schedule delay can be defined as late completion of works as compared to the planned schedule
or contract schedule. It occurs when the progress of a contract falls behind its scheduled program
(Memon, 2012). In the study, the authors found schedule delay data from five regions (Africa,
America, Asia, Europe, and Middle East) consisting of 17 countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Uganda, Hong Kong, India, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Portugal, Turkey, United Kingdom,
Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, United States), totaling 31 publications. Table 3 shows
the percentages of projects by region that are over schedule and the average delay amount
compared to the original schedule.
Table 3
Similar to the cost overrun performance information, Table 3 shows similar schedule
performance information for most regions. On average, 74% of projects experience delay. Of the
74%, project duration is delayed 42% greater than the original scope. Interestingly, Europe and
Africa have the highest percentage of project delay amount, despite Europe being more
geographically and economically developed.
Customer Satisfaction
As support to the data identified in this study, a recent study in 2014 by KPMG International was
conducted, and revealed similar information. The study consisted of a survey that interviewed
109 senior leaders from the engineering and construction industry. The respondents were from
large organizations that ranged from less than $250M to more than $5B in annual income. The
survey was compiled into a report that identified the major setbacks in the global construction
industry, to include the level of dissatisfaction on projects. It was identified that project failure
on average was 53%, with its highest failure rates coming from public sector projects, and
second highest failure rates coming from the energy and natural resources sector projects. With
the continued difficulty of bringing projects in on time, on budget, with little rework, customer
satisfaction overall will continue to suffer (KPMG, 2015).
From this analysis, the authors found that financial problems are the most commonly observed
issue worldwide. The full list of causes, their ranking, and percentage appearance are listed in the
table below:
Table 4
The top 10 major issues make up of 78% of all causes of non-performance reported.
Interestingly, 9 out of 10 major causes are due to people and not external circumstances such as
weather or natural phenomena.
Overall Analysis
Overall, all major regions worldwide have similar documented construction performance.
Despite geographical and economic statuses, the data does not support any dominant advantages
one major region may have over another in this regard.
In a literature search for potential solutions, to resolve the low performance in the delivery of
services, the authors identified three landmark studies.
The first was commissioned by the CIB, Task Group (TG61), which performed a worldwide
study in 2008 which identified innovative construction methods with documented high
performance results. The study filtered through more than 15 million articles and reviewed more
than 4,500 articles. In the end, the study found only 16 articles with documented performance
results. The Best Value (BV) Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS) was one of
three construction methods found in those articles, and it was found in 75% (12 of 16) of the
articles (Egbu, et al., 2008).
The other two methods were the Performance Assessment Scoring System (PASS) and the City
of Fort Worth Equipment Services Department (ESD - FT). After further investigation, it was
found that although the PASS had measured performance information, the system could not
show any improvement in performance of their projects. The ESD - FT had measurements to
show improvement in their projects, however, this system did not have documented information
for how the process worked. It also was a process that was internal to the organization and did
not involve projects with suppliers or other organizations (Rivera, 2014).
The Performance Based Studies Research Group out of Arizona State University commissioned
the second study, to conduct a follow on worldwide study to the CIB worldwide study in 2008 by
Task Group (TG61). The study’s objective was to identify all research efforts and systems
around the world that are similar to the BV PIPS, as well as construction performance. The study
sifted through hundreds of papers, websites, and personal industry contacts, and found similar
results as the first study. In this case, BV PIPS was the only method with documented
performance results (Rivera, 2014; PBSRG, 2016).
The third study was performed in 2013, by a graduate researcher, who was interested in
identifying the difference between delivery systems. The study reviewed 780 publications in five
major databases (EI Compendex, Emerald Journals, ABI/Inform, Google Scholar, and ASCE
Library). From the 780 publications reviewed, 103 delivery systems were analyzed and
compared. Additionally, 10 company management models were assessed. Lastly, the top 22
major buyer/supplier theories were identified including: Lean Construction, Supply Chain
Management, Total Quality Management (TQM), Just in Time (JIT), Project Management Body
of Knowledge (PMBOK), and Conflict Management. After comparing the 133 different delivery
approaches, the study found that the Best Value (BV) Performance Information Procurement
System (PIPS), was the only model that did not use management, direction, and control to
improve performance of the delivery of services, and had documentation showing increased
project performance (Kashiwagi, 2013).
BV PIPS was the only process that had sufficient documentation showing that it could improve
customer satisfaction and value on projects in the construction industry.
BV PIPS Introduction
BV PIPS is a revolutionary approach to improving the delivery of services. The system was first
conceived in 1991 as part of Dean Kashiwagi's dissertation, where he used the Information
Measurement Theory (IMT) as the theoretical foundation to identify the construction industry
structure and the cause of poor performance (1991). IMT proposes the use of natural laws and
logic to explain reality and identify expertise and value. The Industry Structure (IS) model
proposes that the buyer or end user (people factor) may be the major source of project cost and
time deviation. Initially used strictly as a procurement model to select roofing systems and
contractors for private organizations including Intel, IBM, and McDonald Douglas, BV PIPS has
since been heavily documented and has spread to be tested in the entire supply chain
(construction and non-construction services). Its methodology has been researched and
developed, in support of professional groups like the International Council for Research and
Innovations in Building and Construction CIB and the International Facility Management
Association for the last 23 years, and has been identified as a more efficient approach to the
delivery of professional services. Some of the impacts of the BV PIPS are as follows:
The former Associated Vice-President of Arizona State University Business Services, Ray
Jensen, who led ASU to deliver $1.7B of services at ASU, commented on PIPS, saying, “I have
been successful in the business of procurement and services delivery for the past 30 years. I saw
in PIPS, improved solutions of performance/contract administration issues that are so dominant,
that I am willing to change my approach to the business after 30 years” (Kashiwagi, 2013).
Outside groups have analyzed the BV PIPS system multiple times in the last 17 years. However,
two investigations performed a thorough study on the impact and effectiveness the BV PIPS
system has had on 100+ unique clients:
• The State of Hawaii Audit (State of Hawaii PIPS Advisory Committee, 2002).
• Two Dutch Studies on the Impact of PIPS (Duren JV & Doree A, 2008).
These studies all confirmed that the performance claims of the PIPS system were accurate.
Duren and Doree (2008)’s study found the following for BV PIPS projects performed in the
United States:
• 93.5% of clients who worked with BV PIPS identified that their projects were delivered
on time.
• 96.7% of clients who worked with BV PIPS identified that their projects were delivered
within budget.
• 91% of the clients stated that there were no charges for extra work.
• 93.9% of the clients awarded the supplier’s performance with greater than an 8 rating (on
a scale from 1-10, 10 being the highest performance rating).
• 94% of clients would hire the same supplier again.
The authors propose the BV PIPS as a potential solution to improve industry performance due to
the following reasons:
• BV PIPS is the only system with sufficient documentation showing that it can deliver
projects on time, on budget, and with high customer satisfaction (Kashiwagi, 2014).
• BV PIPS has been tested in multiple countries and regions around the world, all showing
similar results (Kashiwagi, 2006).
Limitations of Study
Though extensive, the authors recognize that this study’s findings can be strengthened through
documenting and analyzing more publications per major region. Additionally, there may be
undocumented and missing data for each region. The intention of this paper is not to confirm that
worldwide construction performance is poor, only show that the performance is similar.
Conclusion
The demand for construction around the world is rapidly increasing, as populations grow.
Construction development will be greater in the next 30 years, than in the last 2000. As projects
become increasingly more complex due to increased size, number, and supply chain participants,
project managers are having difficulty delivering services on time, on budget, with high
customer satisfaction. Despite the assumed ideas that wealthy countries have a significant
advantage of higher performance and quality, due to increased access to advanced technologies
and qualified laborers, research has shown neither advantage playing a huge role in increased
performance of delivering services. Construction performance suffers in every country around
the world that has documented performance information. All countries are experiencing similar
issues in construction. The BV PIPS model is proposed as a potential solution for overcoming
the current industry non-performance.
Recommendation
In an attempt to understand the root cause of the issues the construction industry is has been
facing, the authors propose to conduct a follow on study. The study will investigate the major
parties responsible for causing the issues, and examine why it occurs.
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