Abstract
Delay and cost overrun in construction projects are two widespread problems that arouse practitioners’ and scholars’ concern. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in each of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) phases separately and then calculate the weight impact that is associated with each of identified KPIs. Additionally, this study aimed to find the most appropriate Best Practices (BPs) for the identified phase-based indicators. Through a review of existing literature, a survey was developed to collect data from the completed construction projects. Various statistical methods, including two sample T-test and Kruskal-Wallis test, were utilized to analyze the data. Subsequently, Epsilon-Squared effect size method was applied to prioritize the identified KPIs. Since the lack of communication and slowness in decision making were found as the primary schedule Performance Indicators, schedule performance was identified to be highly affected by managerial approaches and actions. In addition, clients play a decisive role, because owner-driven change orders were found as the most crucial cost performance indicator affecting the performance of the engineering and construction phases. The outcome of this study helps practitioners and scholars to understand the phase-based cost and schedule KPIs, and appropriate mitigating strategies to improve the construction performance in EPC phases and save time and money.
Highlights
Poor construction performance has been a matter of debate among scholars and construction practitioners throughout previous decades
Developing a questionnaire to evaluate the primary causes of delay in the Malaysian construction industry, Sambasivan & Soon [27] reported that the unavailability of material, labor, equipment, along with equipment failure, are among the significant causes postponing project from the proposed schedule that is specified in the contract
This study concluded that “Change Order Driven by Owner” is the most important key performance indicator leading engineering phase performance to encounter delay and cost overrun
Summary
Poor construction performance has been a matter of debate among scholars and construction practitioners throughout previous decades. Apart from this, occupying the majority of activities of construction process makes the construction phase attract the most attention in the construction industry It does not necessarily mean neglecting the importance of other phases’ performance and their effects on the success of the project. Despite considerable researches that were carried out in construction performance and their key indicators, few studies investigated phase-based cost and schedule Performance Indicators. It seems that the significance of engineering and procurement phases in the literature were almost disregarded in comparison with construction phases. The finding of this study provides the context for academic scholars to conduct further researches and open new horizons for phase-based construction cost and schedule performance
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