23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction - Perth, Australia - 2015

Social Network Analysis for Construction Specialty Trade Interference and Work Plan Reliability

S. Alireza Abbasian-Hosseini1, Min Liu2 & Simon M. Hsiang3

1Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; PH (919) 917-4547; email: [email protected]
2Associate Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; PH (919) 513-7920; email: [email protected]
3Derr Professor, Industrial Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409; PH (806)742-3543 email: [email protected]

Abstract

Managing of multiple specialty trades working on a large number of interdependent tasks in complex construction projects can be challenging. There are various types of uncertainty associated with construction processes such as prerequisite work, weather, material and labor availability. One of the key uncertainty sources which have not been gained much attention is the specialty trades’ (sub-contractors’) interference in the construction jobsite during the project. Although the importance of controlling the trades’ interference is acknowledged by the construction managers, applicable methods to visualize and analyze them numerically are limited. This paper uses social network analysis (SNA) to examine how the existing interference potential among the specialty trades is related to their work plan reliability (WPR) over the course of the project. It evaluates the consistency between the trades’ WPR and the project network characteristics. A 28-week case study involving 43 specialty trades constructing of a single level, $50 million, 14,000 square meter data center was conducted. Primary results show that there is a moderate correlation between the plan percent complete (PPC) and centrality ratio and network density. The findings of this research can help project managers in managing the probable interferences among the working specialty trades and improving their WPR

Keywords

Social Network Analysis, Centrality, Construction trades, Trade performance, Plan percent complete, PPC.

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Reference

Abbasian-Hosseini, S. A. , Liu, M. & Hsiang, S. M. 2015. Social Network Analysis for Construction Specialty Trade Interference and Work Plan Reliability, 23rd Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , 143-152. doi.org/

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