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Abstract
A claim can be defined as a request, demand, application for payment or notification of presumed entitlement to which the contractor, rightly or wrongly, considers himself entitled and in respect of which agreement has not yet been reached. Although claims are perceived to be inevitable, conflict and disputes arise because in many cases there exists neither a common foundation of information nor an effective mechanism for evaluating them objectively and swiftly. Claims for delay and disruption are especially problematic because the relationship between the BOQ items, (cost) and programme activities, (time) is not tangible and transparent. The aims of this research were to integrate cost and time in order to develop a productivity measurement system whereby claims, especially those involving delay and disruption, could be objectively and systematically evaluated.
A simple, rational yet sufficiently accurate generic approach to modelling cost and time which aims to encourage agreement and reduce the incidence of claims and conflict was developed. Since site labour productivity is sensitive to changes and delay, is central to estimating, planning and, if measured sufficiently accurately, can also be used to control the site construction process, this was at the heart of the proposed modelling used to integrate cost and time. In the modelling system, work packages of BOQ items related to identifiable site activities, represented the work performed by a single gang/trade and had to be characterised by a single productivity value. This research has demonstrated how each work package may be characterised by a single productivity value, which is associated with the BOQ item of the largest quantity, without compromising estimating accuracy. The models are termed characteristic productivity models to reflect the use and need for a single characteristic productivity value to describe each work package.