Identifying Early Indicators of Manageable Rework Causes and Selecting Mitigating Best Practices for Construction

Abstract

Many large-scale construction projects suffer from the issuance of rework that ultimately leads to substantial cost overruns and major scheduling delays. Scholars and practitioners worldwide have assessed the impact of these changes and the critical causes behind them, finding mitigation difficult after the rework has been done. Therefore, identification of the early indicators of manageable rework causes and implementation of the appropriate mitigating strategies prior to the need for rework are important. The aim of this study was to identify the indicators of manageable rework causes (IMRCs) and select the appropriate construction best practices (BPs) to reduce the cost of manageable and controllable rework in terms of the total cost of a project. To fulfill the objectives of this study, 51 manageable causes of rework were identified through a comprehensive literature review. According to the nature of BP strategies, the identified IMRCs were classified into three main categories: organization, project, and people. Then, data from 44 case study projects were collected and analyzed. Because information regarding other aspects of these projects, not available through the case study data, was required for this study, a questionnaire was developed and administered to collect additional data about these construction projects. For this purpose, a representative from each project was selected and asked to complete the survey. Finally, 32 significant IMRCs, characterized by 13 attributes, were determined. The project management team (PMT) is typically responsible for preparing the plan, building an effective team, and monitoring the process; therefore, the experience of the PMT in the design and/or construction phase and the number of PMTs who work in a construction project are the most important indicators and contribute the most weight in deriving rework. Next, BPs identified by a construction industry institute were investigated, and among them, 10 BPs were found significantly beneficial for decreasing the cost of rework associated with IMRCs. The implementation of front-end planning determines the feasibility of a project and evaluation of the conceptual scope during the preplanning phase; thus, the design errors due to challenges regarding finance and scope attributes can be decreased with front-end planning. The outcomes of this study may help stakeholders and project managers identify the indicators of rework early in construction projects so they can select the appropriate BP to reduce the costs of rework and improve the project time to completion and cost performance.