Abstract
Construction is prone to disputes similar to other business dealings. Construction delays are the most common causes of disputes in construction projects. Most of the time, construction projects are delayed not only because of a lack of funding, but also because of disputes between the contractor and the client. Blockchain Technologies (BCT) have the potential to make the construction industry more efficient, inexpensive, or completely automated. In this paper, an extensive literature review is conducted to locate authoritative sources about the most common applications of blockchain technology in the construction industry. The study aims to identify the potential, benefits, challenges, and uses of blockchain in the construction industry. Furthermore, this paper explores the roles of BCTs in improving and enhancing the workflow efficiency of construction projects. In addition, this paper identifies the major causes of disputes and delays in the construction industry. These causes were used as the baseline for identifying the most relevant solutions provided by blockchain technologies to develop a matching model to find applicable solutions from the literature cases to resolve the identified causes of disputes and delays. The research findings indicated that the common cases of BCT including administrative purposes, smart contracts for transactions, permanent transaction records, and permanent ownership records contribute to solving the causes of disputes and delays in construction projects. The findings of this paper recommend that both public and private stakeholders in the construction sector adopt blockchain technologies and blockchain-based Building Information Models (BIMs) to improve construction workflows and processes.
Highlights
Construction is a critical component of human development and occupies a significant portion of global spending
The first question in this paper aimed to identify the areas of the construction industry where blockchain has been demonstrated to be useful, as well as the most common cases related to the implementation of blockchain technologies in the construction industry
This study conducted a systematic literature review of previous papers with the aim to identify the potential, challenges, and use cases of blockchain in the construction industry and to explore the benefits of implementing Blockchain Technologies (BCT) to enhance the workflow efficiency in construction projects
Summary
Construction is a critical component of human development and occupies a significant portion of global spending. Construction industries are facing several challenges such as poor project documentation and construction delays [2]. Contractors fail to deliver if they are not qualified or if the contract is too vague. These bad practices may lead to inefficient work processes, including rework and replanning, contractor disappointment and owner dissatisfaction, unproductive workers that are engaged in activities that do not lead projects forward, and unproductive project managers that are engaged in appeasing stakeholders. Construction delays are the most common causes of disputes globally [3]. Most construction projects are delayed because of a lack of funding, and because of disputes between the contractor and the client. Some contractors argue that if the dispute is not resolved, no construction will be completed [3]
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