Olawale, Y A and Sun, M (2010) Cost and time control of construction projects: Inhibiting factors and mitigating measures in practice. Construction Management and Economics, 28(5), pp. 509-526. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
Despite the availability of various control techniques and project control software many construction projects still do not achieve their cost and time objectives. Research in this area so far has mainly been devoted to identifying causes of cost and time overruns. There is limited research geared towards studying factors inhibiting the ability of practitioners to effectively control their projects. To fill this gap, a survey was conducted on 250 construction project organizations in the UK, which was followed by face-to-face interviews with experienced practitioners from 15 of these organizations. The common factors that inhibit both time and cost control during construction projects were first identified. Subsequently 90 mitigating measures have been developed for the top five leading inhibiting factors-design changes, risks/uncertainties, inaccurate evaluation of project time/duration, complexities and non-performance of subcontractors were recommended. These mitigating measures were classified as: preventive, predictive, corrective and organizational measures. They can be used as a checklist of good practice and help project managers to improve the effectiveness of control of their projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | cost control; interview; practice; project control; project management |
| Index terms: | duration, project control, project management, mitigating measure, effectiveness, good practice, time overrun, project manager, time control, subcontractor, complexity, cost control, construction project, practitioner, face, design change, survey, interview |
| Subjects: | systems engineering, project controls, production management, financial risk, project management theory and practice, performance measurement, performance management, contractual arrangements, financial and cost management, psychology, control systems, practitioner, data collection methods, profession |
| Topics: | Cost Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Quality Management, Time Control, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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