Determining the factors causing rework in Turkish construction industry

The construction sector plays an important role in national development and is considered one of the most active sectors in developing countries like Turkey. Cost and time overruns in construction projects damage not only the projects and stakeholders but also the national economy. Therefore, the primary objective of stakeholders is to improve project performance. The performance of construction projects depends on success criteria such as completion on time, achieving the desired quality, meeting project requirements, and staying within the estimated budget. One of the major risks that reduces the performance of construction projects is rework. Despite the significant impact of rework on project performance, the impact of rework in the Turkish construction industry has not yet been systematically investigated. Rework is the unnecessary effort spent to redo a task that was performed incorrectly the first time. They can occur at any point during a project, from the planning stage to the final delivery of the project, and are caused by various factors such as errors, omissions, or changes. In order to predict, prevent, or mitigate the impact of rework, it is necessary to fully understand the underlying factors and conditions that lead to the occurrence of rework. For this reason, the aim of this thesis is to identify the main factors that cause rework in building projects, determine the frequency of their occurrence, and determine their importance levels in the Turkish construction industry. For this purpose, 43 possible rework criteria were identified through a systematic literature review. The criteria were classified into six groups according to their source of occurrence. The opinions of 209 project stakeholders; consisting of architects, project managers, civil engineers, and contractors across the country, were obtained. Statistical analyses of the data collected by the questionnaire method were performed by the SPSS program. As a result, this thesis examines the factors of rework in building projects and the reasons for their occurrence. The findings are intended to contribute to the improvement of project performance in the Turkish construction industry.