Sorting subcontractors’ activities in construction projects with a novel additive-veto sorting approach

Abstract

Selection processes in civil engineering infrastructure projects might require more time and effort than the decision-makers involved in these projects are normally prepared to devote to running them. A novel approach is proposed to sort these activities into classes that represent their impact on the project, namely additive-veto sorting model, which should be considered before any bidding procedure. Therefore, problems regarding the client’s satisfaction caused by subcontractors can be avoided, and the decision-makers involved in the selection problem can devote to each class an effort compatible with the impact that activity might have on the project. The novelty of this method is that it was built to reflect the quasi-compensatory rationality of decision-makers in the construction industry; it provides them with insights on subcontractors’ activities, and it is grounded on and inspired by a real case study. The new parameters proposed within this model introduce the idea of vetoing an activity be-ing assigned to a class when this activity is incompatible with the decision-maker’s preferences. By using this novel method, the authors succeeded in finding results that avoided a complete compensation amongst the factors considered, taking into account ranges that would be of significant importance in the decision process.