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Traditional cost management systems adopted by construction firms have many problems, which are widely discussed in the literature: the information provided by them is usually too late, and tends to be too aggregated and too distorted to be relevant for production management. The main objective of this research work is to propose a project cost planning and control model for construction firms. This model aims to support the development of production management systems, in which cost management and production planning and control can be gradually integrated, in order to overcome the existing limitations of cost accounting systems. The scope of the model was limited to building projects carried out by small and medium sized companies, involved in both product development and production. The development of the model was based on the literature review and also on the results of nine empirical studies conducted in four different Brazilian construction firms. The model suggests the integrated application of three fairly well known cost management techniques: operational cost estimating, S‐curves and target costing. By using this set of tools, it is expected that cost management will become more proactive, and able to deal with the dynamic, uncertain and complex construction environment that exists in most projects. The model was partially tested in two case studies, in which it provided key information for supporting decision making related to design, production planning and contracts with suppliers.

The performance of the product development process has a critical influence on the efficiency and duration of building projects, as well as on the quality of the final product. Despite its importance, relatively little attention has been given to the management of this process, if compared with production. The main objective of this paper is to present some results of a research project which aimed to devise a general model for managing the product development process in small sized companies involved in the development and construction of residential and commercial buildings. This model consists of a template for the product development process, which can be used by different companies as a basis to devise their own models for managing individual projects. The development of the model was based on case studies carried out in two companies from the south of Brazil and also on a benchmarking study.

Mass customisation involves the provision of product variants that fulfil clients' specific requirements seeking to increase product values. The configuration process involves a chain of decisions, which needs to be undertaken to create product variants that meet each client specific requirements. In this paper, this chain of decisions is conceptualized in terms of customisation units. Each customisation unit encompasses a customisable attribute (e.g. size, colour) and the range of items offered for this attribute. A design science approach was adopted in this investigation. In this approach, knowledge is produced by creating and testing a solution, which provides practical and theoretical contributions. A method is proposed to analyse and improve the configuration process by conceptualizing this process as a tree diagram. The proposed method is used to analyse the configuration process developed by organisations of the house-building sector based in the U.K. and Brazil: a manufacturer of floor tiles, contractors, and registered providers. These analyses enabled a comparison of the distinct configuration processes adopted. In addition, problems associated to the configuration process (such as burden of choice) and opportunities for improvements were also identified. Finally, alternative chains of decision were also devised based on these analyses to address the problems identified.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for planning and controlling the design process in companies that design, manufacture and assemble prefabricated engineer-to-order (ETO) building systems. This model was devised as an adaptation of the Last Planner® System for ETO multiple-project environments.

Design science research, also known as prescriptive research, was the methodological approach adopted in this research. An empirical study was carried out at the design department of a leading steel fabricator from Brazil, in which the proposed model was implemented in six different design teams.

The main benefits of the proposed model were shielding design work from variability, encouraging collaborative planning, creating opportunities for learning, increasing process transparency, and flexibility according to project status. Two main factors affected the effectiveness of the implementation process commitment and leadership of design managers, and training on design management and project planning and control core concepts and practices.

Some limitations were identified in the implementation process: similarly to some previous studies (Ballard, 2002; Codinhoto and Formoso, 2005), the success of constraint analysis was still limited; some of the metrics produced (e.g. ABI, causes of planning failures) have not been fully used for process improvement; and systematic feedback about project status was not properly implemented and tested.

The main contributions of this study in relation to traditional design planning and control practices are related to the use of two levels of look-ahead planning, the introduction of a decoupling point between conceptual and detail design, the proposition of new metrics for the Last Planner® System, and understanding the potential role of visual management to support planning and control.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a production planning and control model known as the Lean construction management (LCM) model, which applies a number of visual tools in a systematic way to the planning and control process. The application of the visual tools in this way facilitates the flow of information, thus improving transparency between the interfaces of planning, execution and control.

Design Science research is adopted for this investigation, which analyses the original development of the model and reports on its testing and refinement over different types of projects. The research is divided into three parts, each part focussing on a different stage of development and construction project type.

The main findings are related to the benefits of visual management in the construction planning and control process, such as maintaining consistency between different planning levels, so that feasible execution plans are created; control becomes more focussed on prevention rather than correction, and creates opportunities for collaborative problem solving. Moreover, the physical display of the visual tools in a discrete planning area on-site encourages a regular exchange between participants on actual work progress as it unfolds, leading to more timely reaction to the problems at hand.

The problem of a lack of transparency in construction planning and control leads to communication issues on-site, poor process orientation and high levels of waste. LCM improves process transparency by making information related to system-wide processes more readily available to project participants. This enables them to foresee problems in a timely manner and to take necessary measures to resolve them or to adapt the process to current circumstances. The LCM model proposes a new way of applying visual tools and controls systematically to improve transparency in construction planning and control.

The COVID-19 pandemic offered a unique glimpse into the resilience of construction projects, shedding light on several learning opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to develop propositions for the improvement of resilient performance in construction in the post-pandemic era.

The propositions were developed based on an empirical study in Brazil. Data collection involved the analysis of regulations, interviews with health experts, managers, and workers, in addition to non-participant observations of the use of 37 control practices in 39 construction sites comparing the work-as-imagined and the work-as-done. The practices were classified in a hierarchy of controls.

Seven propositions for the improvement of resilient performance were developed, addressing collaboration between construction companies, slack resources, new health and safety practices, production planning and control, digital technologies, visual management, and organizational culture. These propositions emphasize organizational support for resilience. This is in contrast to the nature of most observed practices (57%) that relied on administrative controls and personal protective equipment, which are measures dependent on behaviors that resemble resilience at the individual level.

Although much has been studied on COVID-19 implications for construction projects, previous empirical studies have not adopted the organizational resilience perspective as the main theoretical background.

This paper proposes a method for managing client requirements with the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The development of healthcare projects demands a large amount of requirements information, in order to deal with a diversity of clients and frequents changes in healthcare services. The proposed method supports healthcare design by adopting a process-based approach for client requirements management, with the aim of improving value generation.

Design Science Research was the methodological approach adopted in this investigation. The main outcome of this study emerged from an empirical study carried out in a healthcare project in Brazil.

The proposed method involves three stages: (1) capturing and processing requirements; (2) product and requirements modelling, which involves the connection between requirements and the BIM 3-D model and (3) supporting design solution refinement, through the communication of requirements and the assessment of design in relation to updated client requirements information.

This study explores client requirements management from a process perspective, proposing activities and their interdependences and possible sources of data, including healthcare services information. The main theoretical contributions are related to the understanding of the nature and complexity of the information involved in client requirements management, and how this can be modelled.

Discusses the effectiveness of construction practices on standardisation based on six case studies developed both in Brazil and in the UK, focusing on the “bricklaying” process. The case studies showed a paradox: construction companies developing written standards but failing to implement and maintaining standard practices. Written standards were extremely ineffective in the case studies due to the lack of teamwork and problem solving activities. It became clear that the abstract meaning of standardisation has far larger possibilities than simply developing descriptions of practice in written documents. Information on standards could be displayed in the packing system or equipment, for instance. Most importantly, information on standard procedures should be available when and where the construction worker needs it, despite the great need for workstation mobility. Hence, concludes that there is an urgent need for promoting a more widespread use of “visual management” approaches in order to enable effective dissemination and use of standard practices within the construction environment.

An effective way to promote a continuous flow of ideas for improvement in production systems is to challenge people with “stretch targets”. This should generate a creative tension between a desired situation and the present situation. In the UK, the potential of this approach has been recognised by the Construction Task Force in their report, Rethinking Construction, which recommended that construction companies should establish challenging targets for improving the quality and efficiency of their processes. Investigates to what extent construction companies are currently using targets for driving continuous improvement in their production processes. The analysis is based on the empirical evidence collected on six Brazilian and UK construction sites. The analysis shows that most construction managers in the case studies did not use “stretch targets” as a strategy for driving continuous improvement in construction processes. “Stretch targets” were generally contingent to project constraints and were not supported by other fundamental complementary practices.