Impact of design changes on virtual design and construction performance for electrical contractors

Specialty trade contractors have increasingly invested in virtual design and construction (VDC) capabilities to virtually model the project, ensure the constructability of the model, engineer its system components, prefabricate its assemblies, and layout the virtual model on-site automatically. This paper investigates the impact of design and scope changes on the performance of VDC tasks by adopting a hybrid research methodology that depends on interviewing and survey samples of electrical contractors. Drivers of VDC cost overruns and best practices to control and recover these costs are presented. This paper provides two contributions to the body of knowledge and industry practice of the construction engineering and management community. First, the paper presents the extent and drivers of the inefficiencies and cost overruns experienced by electrical contractors in managing VDC work scopes. Second, a set of best practices is suggested to manage, plan, and control the performance of VDC tasks of electrical contractors and other specialty contractors.