Analyzing the characteristics of design defect leading indicators on building construction projects

The construction industry is experiencing increased complexity and rapid technology development, with a large number of multi-organizations involved; such features impede effective design management and satisfactory design quality on building construction projects. The consequences of poor design are severe, including project cost overrun, schedule delay, and field rework, and these directly impact overall construction project performance. Therefore, it is imperative to pay attention to design quality management in construction projects. To provide actionable knowledge for better design quality management, this study aims to identify and analyze key design tasks during the design phase to prevent severe defects. This study utilizes the defect-leading indicator questions incorporated in the design quality management tool developed in a previous study. By qualitatively analyzing these leading indicator questions, four main design task categories to achieve design quality were identified along with their distinctive characteristics. Moreover, by conducting a statistical analysis, these four categories were compared in various ways. From the results, this study revealed that the design tasks in four categories should be addressed during similar timing (i.e. end of design development to midway through construction documents). However, the severity of their impacts from design defects associated with each category is different. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the design management domain by demonstrating fundamental design tasks for defect prevention. In addition, the results of this study allow industry practitioners to make appropriate design decisions and to ensure necessary design activities by considering their associated defects impacts and timing of applications.