Perceptions of Construction Risks Due to Fast-Track Activity Overlapping

Abstract

Concurrent engineering through overlapping of activities (i.e., fast-tracking) has been used as a schedule acceleration technique. Fast-track construction projects are generally recognized as riskier and subject to risks arising due to the concurrency of work. This work reports the risk perception of construction professionals to three different degrees of overlapping. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data, and the analysis applied data transformation and descriptive statistics. The risks were mainly perceived in the middle degree of overlapping and in activities occurring earlier in the schedule. The low and high degrees of overlapping were mainly perceived as having no risk or not being feasible, respectively. The four risk types accounted for most of the perceived threats: construction error, design change, crew interference, and poor construction productivity. The findings of this study suggest that construction professionals perceive risks differently based on the amount of activity overlapping. It is consistent with previous studies that found that risks decrease as the project advances and that fast-track projects face additional risks.