Development of a constructability assessment model for international projects using a structural equation model

In recent decades, international construction projects have grown to mega scale and are in need of a more complex process with higher technical requirements. However, rewards from the projects have been decreasing because of the intensive competition in the international market. For this reason, constructability assessment needs to improve the performance during the pre-construction phase. Constructability is a kind of management technique to reduce the re-work or conflict in the construction phase based on a review of the risks of the precedent phase, and influences factors to improve construction performance. To this aim, this paper developed a constructability assessment model between the design and construction phases for international construction projects. The proposed model contains the relationships between 8 latent variables and 34 observed variables based on structural equation model techniques with statistical significance test. As a result, the relationships were analyzed by direct/in-direct effects to assess the constructability of a project, and defined the priorities of each variable. Consequently, if the project manager uses the proposed model with their own experience and knowledge during the set up of the construction plans or management points, then constructability and project performance will be enhanced.