Estimating Cumulative Damages due to Disruptions in Repetitive Construction

Disruption to continuous workflow is a major cause of cost overruns affecting many construction projects, especially for repetitive construction. The compensatory claims for damages including disruption are different from damages due to delay because of the complex characteristics of disruption per se. To estimate the cumulative damages due to disruptions, all the possible issues of damages caused by interruption of workflow should be considered. Various methods have been proposed in the literature for analyzing the impact on schedules and the damages resulting from disruptions. However, these methods have a limitation because they do not consider the ripple effect of disruptions. This paper proposes a modified method that can reasonably estimate damages caused by disruptions in construction projects, especially for repetitive construction. The proposed method includes the resource continuity and earned value analysis research methodologies to forecast the direct effect of disruptions. In addition, earned value management (EVM) is utilized to demonstrate and forecast the ripple effect of disruptions on construction activities. The original contribution of the paper is summarized as (1) application of EVM to the topic of damage calculations due to changed process sequence and (2) development of a method to assess the ripple effect as well as the direct effect of disruptions on project productivity performance.