Chen, Q; Jin, Z; Xia, B; Wu, P and Skitmore, M (2016) Time and cost performance of design-build projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142(2): 04015074, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The design-build (DB) delivery method has been widely used in the United States due to its reputed superior cost and time performance. However, rigorous studies have produced inconclusive support and only in terms of overall results, with few attempts being made to relate project characteristics with performance levels. This paper provides a larger and more finely grained analysis of a set of 418 DB projects from the online project database of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), in terms of the time-overrun rate (TOR), early start rate (ESR), early completion rate (ECR), and cost overrun rate (COR) associated with project type (e.g., commercial/institutional buildings and civil infrastructure projects), owners (e.g., Department of Defense and private corporations), procurement methods (e.g., best value with discussion and qualifications-based selection), contract methods (e.g., lump sum and GMP) and LEED levels (e.g., gold and silver). The results show best value with discussion to be the dominant procurement method and lump sum the most frequently used contract method. The DB method provides relatively good time performance, with more than 75% of DB projects completed on time or before schedule. However, with more than 50% of DB projects cost overrunning, the DB advantage of cost saving remains uncertain. ANOVA tests indicate that DB projects within different procurement methods have significantly different time performance and that different owner types and contract methods significantly affect cost performance. In addition to contributing to empirical knowledge concerning the cost and time performance of DB projects with new solid evidence from a large sample size, the findings and practical implications of this study are beneficial to owners in understanding the likely schedule and budget implications involved for their particular project characteristics.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contracting; cost performance; delivery; design-build; project characteristics; time performance |
| Index terms: | owner, overrun, procurement method, cost overrun, best value, cost saving, infrastructure project, time performance, United States, database, cost performance, institutional building, delivery method, evidence, sample size, qualification |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, evaluation and assessment methods, delivery method, Geography, bidding, sociology, infrastructure and transport systems, project controls, research design and methodology, financial and cost management, economics, educational resources, construction type, data management |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Research Practice, Procurement, Time Control, Education, Stakeholder Management, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Cost Management, Construction Technology |
| 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