Developing a standard methodology for measuring and classifying construction field rework

As the industrial construction sector in Alberta faces a period of megaprojects, cost and schedule overruns are becoming a major concern for both owners and contractors. One factor that often contributes significantly to these overruns is construction field rework. Despite the significance of rework, there are few industry standards available for defining, quantifying, and classifying field rework. This paper presents the results of a pilot study, conducted on one such megaproject, that attempts to develop a standard definition of construction field rework, a standard index for its quantification, and an approach for classifying the causes that lead to field rework so that they can be remedied. The data collection methodology developed is discussed, and the findings that arise from this methodology for the case study are presented. The main conclusion of this paper is that the proposed methodology is quite effective in its thorough analysis and treatment of the field rework issue, and it can be used as a first step towards an industry Best Practice for measuring and classifying construction field rework. It can now be used on subsequent projects over time to collect a sufficient dataset, from which the construction industry can develop industry standards and statistics on construction field rework.