OOS. The dreaded acronym that plagues construction projects at every point. The idea that, no matter how well planned your project is, whatever can go wrong likely will go wrong. OOS, or out of sequence work, is possibly the most costly risk factor in the construction industry.

In a study of construction experts and actual projects, CII Research Team 334 (RT-334) discovered a 33 percent increase in construction schedules along with a 25 percent increase in construction costs, both attributable to work not performed according to established schedules. The report also found that, in more than a quarter of studied projects, fully one-fourth of construction costs were chargeable to OOS.

How do you fix something this broken?

From poor project documents to unrealistic budgets and schedules to weak management and processes, there is always enough risk with any project to derail your best-laid plans. Digital construction technology and services provide a much-needed answer to the problem and can deliver effective solutions to questions of risk.

 

Reducing Risk Through Visualization

Human beings are creatures of sense, and sight is arguably the most important. This is especially true in E&C operations, where detailed blueprints are the beginning point of realizing a designer’s intent. 3D/BIM addresses the issue of sight by delivering project visualizations that help participants better understand projects in detail. And because these visualizations can update in real time, participants can virtually see the true status of a project along with the effects of changes both before and as they happen.

With the addition of 4D planning and scheduling capabilities, the entire team can more readily understand the construction sequence. 4D greatly diminishes OOS issues, thereby contributing to risk reduction.

Bringing 5D capabilities into the process switches the responsibility of creating detailed estimates from humans to computers, mitigating the risks of errors, unrealistic budgets, and resource delivery scheduling problems.

 

Reducing Risk Over the Project Lifecycle

Digital construction technologies really shine in two areas: reality capture and Advanced Work Packaging/Workface Planning (AWP). These solutions deliver fast daily or weekly planned versus actual analysis, identifying production issues while there is time to react to, adjust, and fix problems.

Visualization plays a key role in advanced work packaging by using virtual construction models from the planning phase through to handoff. AWP helps reduce risk by integrating scheduling, resource, and construction process information to avoid expensive delays and streamline project performance.

Risk is normally measured in excess dollars and time. While the traditional method of mitigating risk is by adding money and time to bids and budgets, digital technologies can reduce risks and costs through a true understanding of project details. CII estimates transactional costs represent 30 percent of all capital projects. According to CII RF-319, proper execution of AWP can achieve a 10 percent reduction in total installed cost (TIC). Adopting digital workflows and a CM platform to manage smart contracts, competitive sourcing and bids, along with automated construction verification, can remove at least 10 percent of administrative costs.

With the increasing complexity of construction projects, reducing risk continues to challenge every firm on every project. Embracing the risk reduction possibilities offered by digital construction technologies can help ensure decreased risks, delivering higher profitability and happier stakeholders at every point in the process.

Want to learn more about how digital can reduce your risks? Contact us to discover how we can help.