Value engineering practices and its impact to construction industry

Abstract

Value engineering (VE) is a systematic method to elevate the value of goods, products and services. Purpose of this paper is to investigate the current situation and real practice of VE technique in Sri Lankan construction sector and to give recommendations to construction organisations and national level construction regulatory bodies to standardize, VE practices toward achieving value for money for all stakeholders. A broad literature survey was carried out and seven case studies, thirty nine interviews and six expert interviews were conducted among construction professionals, who are having extensive knowledge on VE technique in Sri Lankan construction industry to gather facts. Content analysis and cognitive mapping were used in this research to analyze data and to identify the patterns of cases. Findings of the research revealed that the application, knowledge and experience of construction professionals are not satisfactory in VE technique. Some recommendations can be mentioned as reduce contractor’s design responsibility, introduce a proper VE guideline and regulate VE technique by law. This research is an ongoing research and a framework is going to build up which will help authorities to improve the applicability of VE technique. A formula is also going to form to determine a margin between contractor’s portion due to VE technique and original profit of the contractor.