Ishtiaque, T A and Klakegg, O J (2025) Effects of early contractor involvement in small construction projects: Lessons from Norway. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 15(4), pp. 879-893. ISSN 2044-124X
Abstract
Early contractor involvement (ECI) has been heavily investigated in the context of large infrastructure projects. While there is a growing tendency among Norwegian infrastructure projects to use ECI, there is little evidence regarding the effects of ECI on small projects. This study aims to investigate the potential benefits and challenges of ECI in a small construction project in Norway. The research design is based on an embedded case study approach with longitudinal evaluation. The empirical data for this research comes from semi-structured interviews, survey questionnaires, focus group discussions and document analysis. The results show that ECI can benefit small projects requiring out-of-the-box thinking. The strongest arguments favoring ECI are that it promotes innovation, gives better risk adaptability, and allows participation from all client organization levels. In the case project, the onboarding of the operators was found to be especially helpful, which resulted in a more operationally optimized solution. The main challenges with using ECI for the case project were the lack of a standardized contract format, additional stress at the operational level and unfamiliarity with the overall process. This study provides new insights into the effects of ECI and adds to the debate regarding whether ECI can be a viable option for small construction projects in the future. The findings can give practitioners hints on optimizing ECI usage in small projects and avoiding potential pitfalls.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case study; collaborative contracting; early contractor involvement; pre-construction activities; small projects |
| Index terms: | construction project, practitioner, adaptability, evidence, questionnaire, early contractor involvement, survey, Norway, client organization, interview, large infrastructure project, focus group, infrastructure project, option, small project, document analysis, pre-construction, research design, case study |
| Subjects: | production management, Geography, infrastructure engineering, contractual arrangements, practitioner, evaluation and assessment methods, client relations, user focus, infrastructure and transport systems, decision analysis, data science, project delivery, data collection methods, research design and methodology |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Research Practice, Risk Management, Procurement, Project Management, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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