A process-based framework for modelling risk-related failure costs in construction

In construction projects the occurrence of any risk-related event often yields extra time and cost, which is sometimes referred to as failure costs. Research studies on failure costs suggest that a significant part of construction costs are unnecessary and can be avoided in most cases. The studies suggested as well that a large proportion of failure costs are related to unattended risks and process related problems. To deal with this problem the work presented in this paper describes the development of a proposed process based framework for risk assessment in construction. The proposed framework considers that construction works can be modelled as a process that contains a set of construction activities and that risks may occur at activity level as well as at process level. In this paper the proposed framework is applied to building foundation works but, in principle, it can also be adapted to be applied to any type of construction work. Initial evaluation of the framework by experts interviewed confirms its usefulness to allow a better assessment of risks and their influence on the overall process performance as well as occurrence of failure costs.