Improving processes design and selection for construction operations

Abstract

Construction processes are the key activities to carry out a construction project. If well designed and selected, these processes allow achieving the required project quality and duration. However, information about how construction companies actually perform the design and selection of the construction processes to be used in a specific construction project is scarce. A survey was applied to a group of housing construction companies to learn about the methods used by them to design and select construction processes and the effectiveness of these methods. The main results of the study are presented and a construction processes design and selection methodology is proposed. To validate this methodology, a comparison was made between what is actually happening in a construction project and what would have happened if the processes design and selection methodology had been applied. The study shows that methods currently used by housing construction companies to design or select their construction processes lack the required systematic approach to ensure an efficient and effective construction project development.