Purpose
The pre-tender estimation process is still a hazy and inaccurate process, despite it has been practiced over decades, especially in Malaysia. The methods evolved over time largely depend on the amount of information available at the time of estimation. More often than not, the estimate produced during the pre-tender stage is far more than the tender cost of the project and sometimes, it is perilously underestimated and caused major problems to the client in the monetary planning. The purpose of this paper is to determine the most influential factors on the deviation of pre-tender cost estimation in Malaysia by conducting a survey.
Design/methodology/approach
Fuzzy logic, combined with artificial neural network method (fuzzy neural network) was then used to develop an estimating model to aid the pre-tender estimation process.
Findings
The results showed that the model is able to shift the cost estimation toward accuracy. This model can be used to improve the pre-tender estimation accuracy, enabling the client to take the necessary early measures in preparing the funding for a building project in Malaysia.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on tender price estimation standardization for a construction project in Malaysia. In addition, the authors have used factors from literature for the model, which shows the thoroughness of the developed model. Thus, the findings and the model developed in this study should be able to assist contractors in coming out with a more accurate tender price estimation.
The construction industry in Malaysia drives the economic growth and development of the country. However, the industry is plagued with delays and cost overrun which transforms what should have been successful projects to projects incurring additional costs, disagreements, litigation and in some cases abandonment of projects. This research studied the causes of delays and cost overrun in the industry and ranked them according to their perceived importance to the contractors, with a view to establishing those to be addressed by the contractors. Online questionnaires were used for data collection for this research. A total of 69 responses were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) (factor analysis) to identify the main causes. The result of the analysis showed that delay in preparation of design document, poor schedule and control of time, delay in delivery of material to site, lack of knowledge about the different defined execution methods, shortage of labour and material in market, and changes in scope of work were the main causes of delay and cost overrun. The identified causes if properly addressed would reduce the rate of delays and cost overrun in construction projects, thus enhancing the economic growth and development of the country.
Building information modelling (BIM) in the last two decades has been one of the most positive inventions in the fields of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The BIM software gives a digital representation of how the building will be after construction. The digital model can be used at preliminary stage for planning and design, at construction stage for construction and at pre-completion stage for the building operation and maintenance. This model, helps the engineers, constructors and architects identify the likely problems that may occur through the generated model of the intended facility in a virtual environment. A total of “108” conference papers, referred journal articles and other academic sources were analysed based on their relevance and research focus. This article gives a review on the implementation of Building information modelling (BIM) over building life cycles with a view of addressing the challenges and future research prospects. The paper concludes by stating that most of the BIM research focuses mainly at the preliminary and construction stages.
Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon is currently affecting many millions of people worldwide. The higher temperatures are experienced in urban areas as compared to the surrounding countryside. The UHI effect has been a great threat to human habitation, and the way to mitigate this problem has been a global concern over decades. Artificial and manmade pavements have been recognised as one of the major origins that deteriorate the thermal environments for living. On the one hand, commonly used pavement materials could lead to a reduced latent heat flux and an increased sensible heat flux to the environment. Following this, there is a series of experiments and numerical analysis that has been conducted by researchers. The selection of pavement type requires an understanding of a local context of an area and characteristics of the pavements. This current study emphasises on reviewing the features, factors and impacts of different type of pavements, as well as determining the suitability of different types of pavements. It is expected that the outcome from this study can assist in further understanding of pavements and its effects on UHI, as well as can ultimately assist in reducing the effect of UHI on human population.
Climate change has become one of the leading problems around the world. The transport sector is one of the major contributors to climate change. At the same time, climate change is also affecting transportation facilities and travel behaviour. This study proposed a bibliometric approach to explore the structure evolution development trends of this knowledge domain with a broader search scope and more objective results compared with a manual review. A total of 4073 peer-reviewed articles were collected from the WoS core collection database to conduct scientometric analysis. The collaboration analysis shows that the US, China, and European countries dominate this field, and international organisations’ and government agencies’ reports on climate change form the basis of this research field. A total of 14 co-citation clusters were identified, and the research on climate change and transportation primarily focused on the topics of policy options, travel behaviour, the COVID-19 lockdown, environmental cost, and air quality. Keyword co-occurrence evolution analysis was also conducted to track the latest research trends. Based on the results, we propose trends in four areas for future research. This study provides a holistic knowledge map for climate change and transportation research’s past, present, and future.
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