Developing an assessment model for the adoption of building information modelling to reduce the cost of change orders in the Jordanian construction industry

• Main Author: Alshdiefat, A. S.
• Published: University of Salford 2018
• Subjects: 710
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.741153

The cost of change orders is a major challenge facing the Jordanian construction industry. Change orders can be defined as modifications to the contract documents through adding, modifying or deducting something in the original agreement. Change orders might be a change in the work, a change in the quality of the work or in the construction schedule, or other forms of change that affect the nature of the project. Many studies have examined the causes of change orders, and a variety of solutions have been proposed as a way of minimising their effects, yet the cost of change orders continues to increase. However, the potential of the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a tool which to minimise the cost of change orders has not been explored. In addition, there is an existing knowledge gap, in terms of current understanding of BIM across Jordanian construction industry, and key factors derive it. The literature review indicates that there has been a significant failure to use BIM in construction projects and that there is thus a considerable difference between the uptake of BIM in developed countries and what is going in Jordan. The aim of the current research is therefore to develop a model for assessing the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) by Jordanian construction organizations as a means of minimising the costs of change orders. To achieve this aim, a critical review of the literature on change orders and BIM was undertaken. This explored the causes of change orders and their impact, levels of awareness of BIM, the benefits of BIM, barriers to the adoption of BIM, and the effects of implementing BIM in terms of reducing the costs of change orders. The research took a positivist, realist, and value-free approach, and the researcher thus used mixed methods, combining semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to collect the data required. In the first stage, 17 experts participated in semi-structured interviews as a means of investigating the major causes of change orders, as well as levels of awareness of BIM and its benefits, and of factors which both restricted and drove its use in Jordan. The outcomes of the interviews provided the basis for the design of the questionnaire, and this was distributed across the Jordanian construction industry, resulting in 155 responses received. The questionnaire answers were analysed descriptively and statistically by the Severity Index, factor analysis and correlation tests. The causes of change orders in the Jordanian construction industry were further categorised into three main groups, namely client-related causes,engineering causes and causes arising from the circumstances of the project. Changes initiated by clients and design errors were found to be the major causes of change orders which are responsible for cost overruns. It was also found that there are significant shortcomings in levels of awareness and knowledge of BIM both among individuals and across the construction sector. Moreover, it was found that there are several barriers to the adoption of BIM in the Jordanian construction industry. These barriers are clustered in four main groups: financial, human, communication and project procurement. The main barriers to the use of BIM are the costs of BIM software and the cost of training. The research concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between the use of BIM and reductions in the cost of change orders in the Jordanian construction industry. This means that the costs of change orders will decrease significantly if BIM is used, and supports a case for using BIM as a means of reducing the costs of change orders in the Jordanian construction industry. Finally, House of Quality and ISM (Interpretive Structural Modelling) were used to validate this approach. In the first step of validation, House of Quality was used to investigate the relationship between the causes of change orders and the functions and features of BIM, which validated the positive effects of using BIM in terms of reducing the costs of change orders by minimizing the main causes of change orders. In the second step, the ISM model was used to build the final model of the factors which obstruct the adoption of BIM in the Jordanian construction industry. This model categorized seven levels of barriers to the adoption of BIM, with those at level seven being the main barriers. This showed that the costs of BIM software and training are the main barriers to the adoption of BIM in the Jordanian construction industry.