Characterizing Building Construction Decision Processes to Enhance DOE Program Design

Abstract

There is an established process for the design and construction of buildings. While the particulars will vary greatly from one project to the next, the players (e.g., architects, owners, supplies, builders) and activities (e.g., design, specify, construct) are basically the same, as are the decisions (e.g., which windows where, what type of heating system). The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOEs) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with the development of a formal framework that could be used to analyze the critical decision path for energy efficient technologies in the construction of buildings. The goal was to demonstrate whether these technologies could be related to decision points in the construction process, the decision makers, and a rudimentary understanding of what helped to form those decisions. The theory to be tested is whether this Critical Path Analysis can enhance project planning and design. A continuous goal of EERE is to increase the effectiveness of its efforts through better targeting of projects. This requires a good understanding of the markets in which EERE technologies and practices, as developed or implemented by those projects, must compete. One significant measure of project success is market adoption of EERE technologies and practices. The goal of this study is to characterize the typical design, construction, and building renovation decision points and decision makers to see if this information could prove useful to DOE Project Managers by helping them understand how market adoption decisions are made. The approach of this study is to develop a framework characterizing decision points, decision makers, and decision influences in the building industry. As many building design and construction decisions are time-sequenced and constrained by earlier decisions, the framework selected is based on a critical path characterization of the design and construction process, capturing the typical sequence of events that drive building technology adoption decisions. This framework is populated with representative data only, as an extensive survey of building industry decision makers was beyond the scope of the study. Sufficient data were collected to determine the usefulness of a building design and construction critical path analysis in supporting DOE project design.