Submittal review is a formal process that evaluates all the material, equipment, and processes submitted by a contractor, for compliance with specifications, before being installed in a project. For projects that involve unique architectural features, contractors often submit alternatives that can involve minor deviations from some specifications. Thorough evaluation is therefore necessary to save project time and avoid accepting faulty items that have costly long-term impact on the project. To improve the evaluation process, this research develops a structured BIM-based decision-support framework. The proposed framework does not reject submittals with minor deviations; rather, it evaluates the value of accepting them if they meet the original design rationale and some thresholds for the technical criteria. The framework then evaluates the cost of accepting these submittals in terms of additional construction cost and/or operational cost. Finally, the contractor is required to absorb the additional item cost as a condition for acceptance. To facilitate automation, the proposed framework uses a BIM platform as an information depository and integrates it with an analysis tool developed using the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The research examines the top architectural submittals on building projects and applies the developed framework on the architectural windows. The framework is expected to help project managers make efficient decisions in a speedy and objective manner, considering the best project value and the long-term impact on the project.
展开▼
