Taylor, T R B; Uddin, M; Goodrum, P M; McCoy, A and Shan, Y (2012) Change orders and lessons learned: Knowledge from statistical analyses of engineering change orders on Kentucky highway projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 138(12), pp. 1360-1369. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Although change orders occur on many construction projects, data examined in this paper suggest that many change orders can be avoided on roadway construction projects through improved project planning and scoping. Statistical analyses of change orders on 610 Kentucky roadway construction projects from 2005-2008 examined how the causes of change orders varied between construction versus maintenance projects, different road types (e.g., state highways, interstate, and county roads), and construction type (e.g., earth work, structures, and road surfacing). The research examined the risk posed by engineering change orders by measuring the frequency and average percentage change in project costs for different types of change orders. Although the relative impacts did vary by analyses, the leading causes of change orders within the state consistently included contract omissions, owner-induced enhancements, and contract item overrun. The paper's primary contribution to the overall body of knowledge is the establishment of evidence that many high risk change orders on roadway construction projects can be avoided through improved front end planning, whereas avoidance of other change orders, such as fuel and asphalt price adjustments, are more challenging because they can be caused by rapidly changing market conditions. The results show not only distinctive trends that are useful for constructability reviews on future projects, but also identify the need for new directions in front end planning and project scoping to minimize change orders on highway projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | change orders; constructability; data analysis; risk; statistics |
| Index terms: | road surfacing, body of knowledge, lessons learned, project planning, construction project, evidence, market condition, overrun, project cost, data analysis, constructability, statistics, highway construction, owner, change order, statistical analysis |
| Subjects: | construction integration, civil engineering, economics, professional development, infrastructure engineering, production management, contractual condition, sociology, project controls, mathematical modelling, evaluation and assessment methods, control systems, economic and policy analysis, data science, data analysis and analytics, knowledge management |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Contract Administration, Time Control, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Cost Management, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
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