A Construction Subcontractor Selection Model

In today’s construction market, subcontractors execute significant portions of construction work. Subcontractors lessen resource requirements faced by general contractors and provide specialized expertise to construction projects. The reliance of general contractors on subcontractors to execute major portions of construction work makes the success of construction projects highly susceptible to the performance of these subcontracting organizations. As a result, subcontractors' selection decisions are of crucial importance to general contractors bearing in mind that such decisions are exercised by general contractors multiple times in every single project. Existing models of subcontractors' selection do not result in one holistic view for subcontractor evaluation. This paper contributes a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to guide general contractors in their subcontractor selection decisions. The proposed DEA approach addresses the limitation associated with existing models and results in one holistic view for subcontractor evaluation

Safety Management in the Jordanian Construction Industry

The Jordanian society and economy have suffered human and financial losses as a result of the poor safety record in the construction industry. The purpose of this study is to examine safety management in the Jordanian construction industry. The study collects data from 70 general contractors, who are involved in all types of construction. Collected data include information regarding organizational safety policy, safety training, safety meetings, safety equipment, safety inspections, safety incentives and penalties, workers’ attitude towards safety, labor turnover rates and compliance with safety legislation. The study reveals several factors of poor safety management. Among these are lack of safety training, occasional safety meetings, occasional safety inspections, unavailability of safety protection measures, hesitance of workers to use safety equipment, high labor turnover rates and non-compliance with safety legislation. The paper concludes by providing a set of recommendations to contractors and governmental bodies to improve safety performance

Framework for Managing the Traffic Impacts of Building Construction Projects

Major building construction projects are important to the economic development of urban areas. However, such projects have negative impacts on their surroundings, particularly on traffic. This paper presents a framework for mitigating the traffic impacts of building construction projects in urban areas. The proposed framework consists of two stages: identification of the logistical construction requirements and development of an impact mitigation plan to control the negative effects of construction traffic on the road network and the surrounding community. The adopted methodology includes (1) a review of the available construction traffic management plans for twenty large building projects worldwide, (2) site visits to seven large building construction projects in urban areas and (3) multidisciplinary focus group sessions to extract knowledge and synthesise the proposed framework for managing the traffic impacts of building construction projects. The suggested framework provides systematic guidance for construction planners and site managers in developing a traffic management and impact mitigation plan for building construction projects. This framework could also help construction planners and site managers to better plan and manage construction activities to minimise the impact on the surrounding roads and minimise unnecessary delays by organising timely movement of resources to and from the construction site

Understanding Key Bidding Factors Considered by Top Jordanian Contractors

One of the most crucial decisions that is regularly exercised by construction contractors is to determine whether to bid or not to bid on a certain project. The purpose of this paper is to understand key factors that are considered by top Jordanian contractors in their bid/no-bid decision making. Previous research in the Jordanian construction market reported the importance weights of 53 bid/no-bid factors (El-Mashaleh, 2013). Based on that work, this paper discusses the top bidding factors and compares them with international related work. Additionally, the paper examines the reliability of El-Mashaleh’s (2013) study based on Cronbach's alpha reliability test. Furthermore, the paper tests the degree of consensus among the respondents of El-Mashaleh’s (2013) work regarding the ranking of the 53 bid/no-bid decision factors based on Kendall's coefficient of concordance. Finally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is conducted to test statistical significant differences in the importance weights of the 53 bidding factors between public and private bidders. Cronbach's alpha reliability test proves that the adopted scale of measurement for the importance of the bid/no-bid factors has excellent internal consistency reliability. Kendall's coefficient of concordance reveals a significant degree of consensus among the respondents regarding the ranking of the bid/no-bid decision factors. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicates statistical significant differences in importance weights between public and private bidders for 6 factors out of the 53 factors considered