Construction Management or Contractor : A client´s choice

Sammanfattning: Clients within the construction industry have become more aware of benefits that exist and can be reached when going through a major construction project, benefits that invite for efficiency improvements both during construction and its prophases. New methods of execution and their different advantages are evaluated. This change has opened the door for new business models such as Construction Management (CM) but it also demands the contractors to adapt and come up with more client-customized methods. The thesis goes further into the question of when to use which execution method and describes how the client thinks in the decision-making process. What factors affect the client when making the choice between CM and contractors? It investigates and highlights the behaviors, features and processes that affect the client in their way towards an optimal investment. It further explores what the contractors and CM firms can do in order to adapt to their clients and win their trust. The Analysis & Conclusion chapter provides a summarized view of What the clients have in mind but also Why and How they make their decisions. Throughout the literature review and interviews we found five different parameters as particularly important: • Experience – what has been done before and was it successful? • Availability – how easy is it for clients to recall the different actors? • Relations – optimal teamwork and collaborations or just personal relations and quick fixes? •Price/Risk – what risks are included and how is that linked to costs? •In-House Resources – what does the clients’ own organizations look like and what resources are available? Clients wish for a riskless, cheap and short construction process with retained good quality and without friction between organizations. On their way towards this goal they face several complex aspects as well as their own human characteristics, being affected by biases and heuristics. This thesis shows that the choice between these two business models is complex and not obvious but that improvements in the client’s evaluation and decision-strategies can be made. The right business model for a projects specifics’ can, in particular for redevelopment projects, give several benefits. It also shows that the execution firms can change and adapt in many ways in order to influence their situation with the clients.