Curtain Wall Construction: Issues and Different Perspectives among Project Stakeholders

Abstract

Curtain wall construction has become increasingly popular. Activities on the critical path, engineered materials with long lead times, and involvement of various stakeholders such as architects, façade consultants, structural engineers, general contractors, and subcontractors are the key features of curtain wall construction. Therefore, to successfully construct a curtain wall, integrated coordination based on a common understanding among them is critical because misunderstandings and conflicts caused by differences in perception among different participants can hinder effective collaboration and communication. The purpose of this study is to identify the major problems in curtain wall construction and investigate whether there exist perception differences regarding the problems among the stakeholders executing the curtain wall construction. Based on a thorough literature review and content analysis with the qualitative data collected from interviews with industry experts, 40 problems related to curtain wall construction were identified. A total of 116 responses were collected from the survey developed to address these problems. Based on the results of a descriptive statistical analysis, it is observed that actual measurement after frame construction and quality and design changes caused by the lowest bid are the two major issues of curtain wall construction. In addition, for the 20 major problems identified from the descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance tests were conducted to determine whether there existed differences in the perception of each stakeholder on these issues. A total of 14 out of the 20 problems showed statistically significant perception differences regarding the problems of curtain wall construction. These perception differences were particularly noticeable for the subcontractor and architecture supervisor. Two main contributions of this study, identification of major problems in curtain wall construction and verification of the perception differences between stakeholders with respect to the problems, should help practitioners establish plans to improve the construction process and justify creating more efficient circumstances for curtain wall construction.