Quantifying the impact of change on the progress of construction projects

Change management is an integral part of any construction project. Although changes in scope in the construction phase are mainly caused by owners, they can occasionally be caused by contractors. Previous studies and experience have shown that scope change can have a substantial impact on the project's progress, budget, schedule, and labor performance. In fast-tracking projects, sometimes poor-quality engineering drawings are issued for construction, which necessitates changes during the project's execution. In this research, the authors address the indirect impact of engineering changes on construction labor performance during the project's construction phase. This method involves using baseline schedule, earned value management system (EVMS), and an actual progress tracking tool. The occurrence of changes in the engineering scope is integrated with the EVMS charts to illustrate the impact of engineering changes on the construction labor performance factor (LPF). This method provides quantitative measurements of the labor performance loss due to engineering changes. It was applied using data from a real construction project to quantify the LPF loss due to changes. The results show that the LPF deteriorates in direct proportion with the number of changes made to the original scope.