Doyle, A and Hughes, W P (2000) The influence of project complexity on estimating accuracy. In: Akintoye, A (ed.) Proceedings of 16th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2000, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
With the rapid development in technology over recent years, construction, in common with many areas of industry, has become increasingly complex. It would, therefore, seem to be important to develop and extend the understanding of complexity so that industry in general and in this case the construction industry can work with greater accuracy and efficiency to provide clients with a better service. This paper aims to generate a definition of complexity and a method for its measurement in order to assess its influence upon the accuracy of the quantity surveying profession in UK new build office construction. Quantitative data came from an analysis of twenty projects of varying size and value and qualitative data came from interviews with professional quantity surveyors. The findings highlight the difficulty in defining and measuring project complexity. The correlation between accuracy and complexity was not straightforward, being subjected to many extraneous variables, particularly the impact of project size. Further research is required to develop a better measure of complexity. This is in order to improve the response of quantity surveyors, so that an appropriate level of effort can be applied to individual projects, permitting greater accuracy and enabling better resource planning within the profession.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | accuracy; complexity; estimating; quantity surveying |
| Index terms: | new build, accuracy, surveying, quantity surveying, interview, efficiency, office construction, estimating, project complexity, complexity, resource planning, construction industry, profession |
| Subjects: | resource management, health monitoring assessment and metrics, financial and cost management, profession, data collection methods, institututions, building construction, systems engineering, industry analysis, performance management, construction integration, professional development, organizational theory |
| Topics: | Information Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Health and Safety, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Quality Management, Design Practice, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here