Constructability: Owners, Designers, and Contractors Practices in Industrial Projects

Abstract

The constructability theory is built on the premise that designated experts review and analyse a plan collectively to iron out obstacles that may cause failure to the plan and make the execution efficient and cost-effective. This paper aims to reveal constructability practices among stakeholders (owners, designers, and contractors) who are executing industrial projects in Saudi Arabia. The research commenced with an intensive review of related literature. The literature review enabled the researchers to develop a questionnaire (data collection tool) which was distributed among the stakeholders via E-mail. The received data were analysed using simple statistical tools such as means, frequency, etc. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to measure the level of benefits from the constructability implementation. The stakeholders were found to implement constructability at the project and, to some extent, at corporate levels. Besides, they use many Construction Industry Institute (CII) concepts emerging from well-constructability CII principles in industrial projects. They form teams consisting of personnel from their organizations and facilitators either from their organization or from constructability consulting organizations. They use effective constructability review techniques such as the log/file, brainstorming, and the design review checklist. The constructability implementation yields considerable benefits, including "Reduce engineering cost,""Reduce construction cost,""Reduce the amount of rework,""Improve project safety,""Reduce schedule duration,"and several others. The study contributes to the book of knowledge and provides practitioners with guidance in implementing constructability. Designers and contractors are advised to implement constructability at the corporate level.