Comprehensive Analysis of Factors Associated with Out-of-Sequence Construction

Abstract

Out-of-sequence work (OOS) is an activity or series of activities that were not performed according to baseline planned logical productive sequencing. Since OOS significantly weakens project performance, this paper pinpoints the factors that should be addressed to help mitigate it. Using an extensive project-based survey, 42 projects were statistically investigated. Projects with inadequate coordination among different parties were shown to suffer from significant OOS. Lack of owner participation and engineering support during construction were main causes of OOS, whereas implementing constructability and alignment processes helped mitigate it. Additionally, more collaborative project delivery systems better mitigated OOS compared to less collaborative ones. Change orders were highly associated with OOS. However, project complexity was not correlated with OOS, highlighting that all projects are prone to OOS regardless of complexity. Front-end planning, planning for start-up, three-dimensional modeling, and frequently updating project schedules helped mitigate OOS. In contrast, the excessive use of request-for-information forms and their prolonged processing time, unplanned overtime, trade stacking, and absenteeism were all directly associated with OOS. Professionals are advised to use the findings presented in this paper to help mitigate OOS, thus significantly improving project performance.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Comments

This research was collaboratively carried out by the authors through funding provided by the Construction Industry Institute to University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville under CII RT 334. To this end, the authors are deeply thankful for the financial and logistic support provided by CII.

Keywords and Phrases

Surveys (non-geomatic); Construction engineering; Construction management; Project management; Statistics; Mitigation and remediation; Three-dimensional models; Owners

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0742-597X; 1943-5479

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jul 2020

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