Selection of construction methods: a preliminary knowledge model

Abstract

One of construction project managers’ most critical and highly influential task for construction projects is to select the appropriate construction methods to carry out the construction operations. In many occasions this task is not well made then affecting projects productivity and quality. Research objectives are to identify and understand the knowledge necessary to select construction methods and to define all relevant variables for this analysis. This article presents the main concepts from literature review and a preliminary proposal of a knowledge-based model for construction method selection at company level. This model was developed based on the results of interviews made to project managers and experts on construction methods selection. The paper concludes that through the analysis of the knowledge used to select construction methods it is possible to improve the performance of this activity and generate a knowledge management tool to help project managers improve in carrying out this task.