Grey relation analysis of causes for change orders in highway construction

Abstract

Change orders issued during the construction of the second national highway in Taiwan have been categorized depending on whether they originate from owner, design consultant, on-site contractor unit, or external parties. A total of 34 change order causes are found for this construction project. Grey relation analysis (GRA) was used in this study, and change orders in the second national highway construction project in Taiwan are characterized by the following conclusions: (1) poorly executed design drawings, policy changes and new management requirements are not important causes of change orders; and (2) more roadways should be designed as viaducts to avoid levying more land and negotiating with landowner.Change orders, entropy method, Grey relation analysis, highway construction, Taiwan,

Taxonomy for change causes and effects in construction projects

“…For example, Chang [26] used case study and documentation analysis; Wu et al [27] used documentation and interview; and Hsieh et al [4] used documentation, interview and case study. That is the reason why the sum of all categories exceeds the total number of papers of 101.…”

“…Such disagreements can lead to claims, payment delays and disruption to project schedule. Finally, change causes also come from specific conditions of the site, such as safety and security considerations and other restrictions [4,27].…”

“…These are usually caused by variations in client's expectations, for instance, requirement updates, budget reduction, demand for accelerated completion, etc. Inexperienced one-off clients are particular prone to causing late changes due to delays in review and approvals; as well as inappropriate interference in design and project execution [27,29,37].…”

“…Based on analysis of 46 completed building projects in the UK, Akinsola et al [34] identified and quantitatively examined factors influencing the magnitude and frequency of variations in building projects. The third method of investigation is case study, where researchers concentrate on a [27] focused on one large national highway project in Taiwan and identified 34 change order causes. They further proposed a coding system for these change causes.…”

An Integrated Multi-Agent Framework for Optimizing Time, Cost and Environmental Impact of Construction Processes

“…Unavailability of resources (Chan & Kumaraswamy, 1996); ; (Mukherjee, Winn, & Rojas, 2005); (Assaf & Al-Hejji, 2006); (Sun & Meng, 2009) Delay in resource delivery (Chan & Kumaraswamy, 1996); (AlMomani, 2000); ; (Mukherjee, Rojas, & Winn, 2004); (Wu, Hsieh, Lu, & Cheng, 2004); (Rojas & Mukherjee, 2006); (Assaf & Al-Hejji, 2006); (Arun & Rao, 2007) Increase in unit cost of resources (Frimpong, Oluwoye, & Crawford, 2003); (Mukherjee, Rojas, & Winn, 2004); (Arain & Pheng, 2005); (Rojas & Mukherjee, 2006); (Arun & Rao, 2007) Unexpected conditions (e.g., bad weather, labor strike, unforeseen ground conditions) (Chan & Kumaraswamy, 1996) Table 3, adverse financial issues and adverse market conditions have an influence on the owner's decision, while the remaining ones determine contractor's decision on construction method selection. Owner has the authority to initiate change in design as a condition to contractor.…”