Cost and schedule overruns are endemic features of transport infrastructure projects. Despite the considerable amount of research within the field of transport and planning in the past thirty years, limited progress has been made to improving the performance of projects. We contend that this will continue to be an issue as long as research efforts focus on the ‘outside view’ with emphasis being placed upon strategic misrepresentation and optimism bias. Understanding ‘why’ and ‘how’ projects overrun, particularly from both ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ perspectives, is pivotal to reducing their impact and occurrence. Thus, in conjunction with the transport and planning literature, references to cost-overrun studies undertaken within the field of construction and engineering are examined. Our objective is to provide policy makers, industry, voluntary organizations, and the public at large with an ameliorated understanding about time-overrun and cost-overrun phenomena. Suggestions to mitigate overruns based upon recent process and technological innovations are identified and discussed.

Cost overruns are prevalent in hydrocarbon (oil and gas) megaprojects. A recent report indicates that 64% of ongoing megaprojects globally are facing cost overruns. Despite their increasing occurrence, there has been limited published research in the mainstream literature that has specifically examined why and how they occur. Consequently, suggestions regarding how to constructively address cost overruns in hydrocarbon megaprojects are scant. To better understand the causal nature of cost overruns in hydrocarbon mega-projects, this article provides a critical review of the extant literature. Findings from the research indicate that complex interactions between project characteristics, people, technology, and structure and culture contribute to cost overruns occurring. As a result, it is suggested that chaos theory can be used to explain how cost overruns arise in hydrocarbon megaprojects. This article provides a reference point for engendering future research in this pervasive and fertile area.

Purpose – The popularity of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has improved tremendously in recent years. The business sense it makes to construction small to medium-sized (SME) organizations has also become vitally important, especially when the deliverables of BIM potentials are becoming more explicit than they were several years ago. Moreover, there is adequate evidence to suggest that an early adoption of BIM by construction SME organizations could mean marked sustainable business advantage to them. The purpose of this paper is to initiate a long-term study on how BIM triggers market improvements in the Australian construction industry, to establish the specific impact of these on construction industry's contribution to Australian economy, also to develop a simple model on the cost of implementing BIM in a typical construction SME. Design/methodology/approach – This research relies on evidence from literature to identify different operational models of construction organizations, namely; matrix, divisional, functional and networked business models. A definite approach was taken to articulate some contributory concepts and rationales which drive organizational response to technological changes across the identified four categories of organization structure models. Focus group discussion was the primary research method for this study, while additional data were collected from public sources. Respondents and data were sourced from two firms selected from each type of organization model. In the end, 24 industry practitioners from a range of Australian construction SME businesses that provide software and technical support services, consultancy and contracting services took part in the study. Findings – Analysis of 32 sample cases revealed that BIM implementation costs were mostly defined by a range of cost variables, including software acquisition and technical support, hardware, training, services and implementation contingencies. On the average, software costs accounted for about 55 percent of total implementation costs. This particular cost descriptor was about five to seven times more than the cost of hardware (depending on the level of sophistication of operations, expected implementation outcomes and whether new hardware were used or existing installation were upgraded with BIM compliant drivers). The study also found that training cost was a third of software costs, while the average total cost of services, recruitment and contingencies, all added together, was about 5 percent of total implementation costs. In the end, a linear model was developed to predict the cost of BIM implementation in construction SMEs. Originality/value – A preliminary version of this study has been presented in the 2010 edition of the International Conference on Information Technology in Construction (CIB W078). As a study in a new direction, it focuses on specific organization models and their unique responses to drivers of change. While other studies have looked into macro implementation of BIM, mostly without considering the peculiarity and dynamics of organization structure, this study has focused on construction SME businesses offering a wide range of services.

Building information modeling (BIM) is reshaping the way construction projects are being delivered; its effective implementation is dependent upon collaboration. Yet existing contractual instruments hinder the adoption of BIM because they do not wholly support collaboration. This paper provides a review of the team collaboration literature and identifies future constructs of contract language that can be used to support the use of BIM. Potential claims and disputes are discussed with the objective of presenting a contractual framework that can be used to legitimize multidisciplinary collaboration and integration. Precedent cases involving BIM stakeholders are not frequent. However, lessons are drawn from definite attributes of collaboration with a view to addressing potential disputations around BIM. In particular, this study draws strength from case laws with decisions that are pertinent to collaborative environments and the impact of technology on construction contracts. These are contextualized toward BIM.