Quantifying client-generated risk by project consultants

An assessment procedure has been developed to evaluate the attributes of construction client organizations with respect to their effects on the performance of consulting firms. It consists of quantifying the degree to which each attribute affects the performance of consultants by processing numerical values through two successive levels. Level 1 consists of client attributes of major interest to consultants in the construction process. These are subdivided at level 2 into groups of mutually related attributes (sub-attributes), each requiring simple judgements from consultants based on their experience with clients. Results from level 2 are processed through level 1 into a single non-dimensional value which represents the potential risk exposure of project consultants to their clients which affords the consultants an appreciation of the risk they face in accepting work from their clients and the opportunity to take corrective action. The most important client attributes used for measuring the risk exposure of consultants were found to be: project feasibility, client’s duties, financial stability, past performance, project characteristics and organizational quality.