Assessing design process performance of construction projects

Abstract

Construction projects are complex at every stage; however, the design phase requires primary attention since it is at this phase that the full project can be influenced to a greater extent and at lower cost. In the design phase of construction projects, several specialists from different disciplines participate, particularly in complex projects such as hospitals, airports, etc., where all the stakeholders form a temporary organization that must accomplish the multiple objectives set by the client. Although in construction projects there is a worldwide practice of measuring performance, through different indicators of schedule, cost, quality, productivity, etc., in the design phase, there is little practice of measuring performance except for the fulfilment of delivery milestones. This is not good given how fundamental this phase is in the rest of the project life cycle. The objective of this study is to propose a way to assess performance of the project during the design phase considering processes and results indicators, i.e.; indicators that can be obtained during design and others that can be obtained after design, particularly in the construction phase. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to do an exhaustive literature review to develop a first proposal of indicators and then carry out measurements in pilot projects. The pilot projects were nine airport projects in Chile at different stages of design, where process indicators were assessed for five weeks along with some result indexes. From this research experience, it can be concluded that there are great difficulties in evaluating performance during design since there is no culture for it. On the other hand, these indicators would be useful for preventing problems at the construction phase.