Off-site construction (OSC) is an innovative construction method that transfers most of the site-based work to a more controlled environment. Construction waste minimization, speedy schedules, higher sustainability, and better quality are some of the perceived benefits of OSC. Therefore, significant research attention has been given to OSC. However, minimal research attention has been given to procurement management in OSC, which could impact its pace of adoption. Existing studies on the procurement methods of OSC projects have overlooked several criteria related to OSC that impact the selection of the appropriate procurement methods (i.e., design-build, construction management, etc.). In addition, the literature lacks decision-making tools to assist OSC practitioners in selecting the appropriate procurement method. In this regard, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by (1) identifying the criteria that impact the selection of OSC procurement methods; (2) developing a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to select the appropriate OSC procurement methods. The developed MCDM model uses a hybrid approach of analytic network process (ANP) and evidential reasoning (ER). The ANP, which considers the interdependencies among the collected OSC procurement criteria, is used to calculate the relative importance weights through questionnaire surveys. The ER method evaluates various OSC procurement methods in accordance with the criteria importance weights. The results indicate that project quality, cost control, and funding arrangement are the prominent selection factors. On the other hand, the model reveals that the integrated project delivery (IPD) and construction management (CM) methods have the highest utility scores. The MCDM model has been validated by comparing the results with similar studies. The present study could assist OSC practitioners in selecting the appropriate procurement method for OSC projects.

Cash is considered the most critical resource in construction projects. However, many contractors fail to obtain adequate liquidity due to a lack of proper cash flow management. Therefore, numerous research studies have been conducted to address cash flow-related issues in the construction industry. However, the literature still lacks a comprehensive review of cash flow management, methods and topics, in the construction industry. This study contributes by providing a holistic, up-to-date, and thorough review of 172 journal articles on construction cash flow. To achieve this primary objective, the study applies a mixed review methodology using scientometric and systematic reviews. The scientometric analysis provides the most contributing scholars, the timeline of cash flow research attention, and keywords clustering. On the other hand, the systematic analysis categorizes the cash flow themes, identifies current literature gaps, and highlights future research areas in the cash flow domain. The results show that cash flow analysis gained more research attention in the last two decades, cash flow-based schedule is the most frequent topic in the literature, and optimization techniques are predominant in the literature. Consequently, the study highlights five potential research frontiers. Further, an automated payment framework for modular construction projects using Blockchain-based smart contracts is developed to address some of the literature limitations. This study provides a guideline for future research efforts and raises researchers’ awareness of the latest trends and methods of construction cash flow analysis.

Offsite construction (OSC) techniques are argued to provide superior quality and shorter schedules compared with traditional techniques. Nonetheless, the pace of OSC implementation has been... Practical ApplicationsAs the market share of OSC techniques continues to grow, it is vital for construction professionals to stay up to date with the latest advances and technologies so that they a...

Well-being is defined as “the way people feel and function on a personal and social level and how they evaluate their lives as a whole”. It encompasses several interrelated dimensions, including the physical, emotional, social, financial, environmental, vocational, and intellectual. An individual’s well-being is influenced not only by their personal experiences but also by their experiences at the workplace. Individuals spend nearly one-third of their life at work and tend to carry their experiences into non-work-related domains. As a result, promoting a work environment centered on employees’ health, happiness, and satisfaction not only is important to ensure efficiency and productivity but, more importantly, represents a fundamental dimension of social responsibility and ethical obligation. In the context of off-site construction, the production facility is the primary workplace. Studies have shown how off-site construction can positively influence workers’ well-being. To aid in the realization of off-site construction’s full potential, this paper proposes a multi-step generic framework (Well-OS) to assess and evaluate well-being in off-site construction facilities. Well-OS comprises three phases: well-being factor identification, current-state assessment, and intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. A hypothetical case of off-site construction workers’ thermal comfort is presented to illustrate how the framework can be applied. Ultimately, the framework provides off-site construction managers with a structured approach for conducting a baseline analysis of well-being and proposes the necessary promotive and preventive interventions to improve workers’ well-being and productivity.

Tower and Mobile Cranes are some of the most commonly used heavy equipment in all construction sites, and any crane failures could lead to significant human and monetary losses. Moreover, rigging configuration determination is a critical task that requires the rigging crew to have significant experience and knowledge of various failure modes that can be encountered when performing lifting operations. However, despite the criticality of training riggers, there has yet to be a comprehensive tool used to train and guide inexperienced riggers, and hence, more practical tools are needed. This paper proposes a framework for using Virtual reality (VR) and simulation to train riggers to identify the optimal rigging configurations based on the lift type and the external conditions. Through 3D modeling, the critical components of the rigging system are modeled to accurately simulate the rigging system and their performance when faced with critical loading scenarios. The developed framework is expected to allow inexperienced riggers to identify critical failure modes and enhance construction operations' overall safety performance and productivity. Furthermore, several scenarios are assessed based on historical evidence for rigging configuration failures, and the efficiency of the training tool is assessed through real-life scenarios and tests