Forecasting Models for Change in the Construction Industry
Client: Austin Commercial
Team: David Walls
Faculty advisor: Dr. Barr Year: 2004
Documents: Final report (PDF)
Austin Commercial is a prominent Texas-based construction firm specializing in large-scale projects, including the American Airlines Center, D/FW Airport, and other Dallas landmarks. In recent years, a major challenge has emerged: how to manage the large number of change orders in their construction projects. The focus of this work is to quantify these changes and calculate their impacts on the construction’s cost and schedule.
The primary methods used are regression-modeling techniques that allow forecasts to be made on information that Austin Commercial was currently collecting. Based on the forecasts it is then be possible to predict the actual impacts that these changes are having on construction projects. In the end, accurate models were found that will assist Austin Commercial in effectively managing the high volume of construction change requests and better plan their resource requirements. In the rest of this report the methods of the research, formulation of the models, explanations of the outputs, and impacts to Austin Commercial will be presented.