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Studies on communication in the construction industry have generally concentrated on the briefing process and the construction process. However, studies on communication problems experienced by building clients' and maintenance contractors' representatives in the field of facilities management are less common. Thus, there is a need for studies of effective communication in facilities management, particularly between building clients' and maintenance contractors' representatives as these provide a valuable contribution to the area. Aims to fultil this need.

A maintenance contracting organization and four of its clients were selected for this research. A total of 44 project participants from the building clients and a maintenance contractor were interviewed in Singapore.

The findings suggested that, for effective communication, project participants have to be continuously proactive, even though communication may initially be ineffective. Reactive responses will result in ineffective communication at a later stage, even though communication may initially be effective.

The study identified two additional areas for further research that are mainly related to facilities management. These are modes of communication and communication distance between building users and craftsmen.

The research documented in this paper investigates the factors affecting effective communication between building clients and maintenance contractors. A better understanding of these factors would help to reduce miscommunication and enhance productivity and working relationships.

The study showed that advanced information communication technology helped to overcome some of the communication barriers between the stakeholders in different stages of the lifecycle of a building. However, with building maintenance, proactive responses were encouraged to improve communication between facilities managers and other stakeholders, such as end users.

Traditional management systems sometimes struggle to meet the unique demands of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects. Consequently, contractors have to modify their management practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the management practices necessary to achieve successful implementation of LEED projects.

LEED project management practices implemented by six US contractors from the Top 100 Green Contractors list published by the Engineering News and Record, were analysed using structured case study interviews. An additional case study probed management practices implemented on a LEED‐GOLD project.

Findings support the implementation of management practices classified using the six Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria of leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement, analysis and knowledge management, workforce focus and operation focus.

The qualitative study was based on a limited number of participant organizations. A subsequent quantitative study might provide generalizeable metrics for the green building industry. Further research on the cost effectiveness of the identified management practices is recommended.

This study provides an intuitive framework in the form of discourse on management practices to enhance the success of LEED projects. Contractors may consider the study's recommendations in order to increase their success on such projects.

The need to harmonize management practices with sustainable development has sparked the interest of researchers and practitioners. The study should be of utility to LEED contractors, environmental agencies, governments, educators, and other relevant stakeholders.

This research studies the behavior choice of key actors in the construction supply chain and constructs a model which includes the benefit function of the government, contractors and owners, aiming at improving the coverage of green buildings.

In this paper, tripartite dynamic game is studied and simulated based on duplicate dynamic equation. The tripartite game under government intervention is rarely considered, and government punishment measures are seldom introduced into the research.

According to the simulation results, the practical insights in line with the development of green supply chain are put forward. Rewards and punishments affect the development of the supply chain. New technologies and new materials accelerate the development of green supply chain and then improve the coverage of green buildings.

This paper constructs a dynamic model based on complete information rationality, which is difficult to realize in practice, for information is incomplete and human rationality is limited.

In fact, the government has not issued a punishment document to introduce a new variable adjustment model.

The purpose of this study is to explore how demolition contractors coordinate project activities for buildings at their end-of-life. The organizations are thereby conceptualized as information processing systems facing uncertainty.

A multiple-case study methodology was selected to gain in-depth insights from three projects with different end-of-life strategies: a faculty building (material recycling), a nursing home (component reuse) and a psychiatric hospital (element reuse). Using a theory elaboration approach, the authors sought to explain how and why demolition contractors process information for end-of-life coordination.

End-of-life strategies differ in the degree of building, workflow and environmental uncertainty posed to the demolition contractor. Whether or not a strategy is effective depends on the (mis)match between the specific levels of uncertainty and the adopted coordination mechanisms.

The explanatory account on end-of-life coordination refines information processing theory for the context of (selective) demolition projects.

The detailed case descriptions and information processing perspective enable practitioners to select, implement and reflect on coordination mechanisms for demolition/deconstruction projects at hand.

Reflecting its dual conceptual-empirical and inductive-deductive focus, this study contributes with new opportunities to explain building end-of-life coordination with a refined theory.

The ‘lowest‐price wins’ philosophy has been a consistent theme of contractor selection over the years. To comprehensively elucidate this selection preference and compare it with the use of a multi‐criteria selection (MCS) approach in the tenderer evaluation process, this paper investigates MCS tender price selection preferences. That is, project‐specific criteria (PSC) and lowest‐price wins selection practices of UK construction clients, in both building and civil engineering works at in detail via results of the empirical survey. The investigation provides further insight into the evaluation of contractors' attributes (i.e. PSC). Levels of importance assigned (LIA) for each criterion were analysed (i.e. quantitative analysis of the differences in opinions and, variance amongst the respondents) in a multivariate statistical method. Importance attached by construction clients to the ‘lowest‐price wins’ philosophy is also presented. Contrast was made between the MCS approach and the ‘lowest‐price wins’ option amongst the surveyed construction clients. It was found that increased awareness of the use of PSC prevailed amongst the survey construction clients. This indicated that cost has to be tempered with the evaluation of PSC and the attempt of construction clients searching for a new evaluation paradigm (i.e. adoption of MCS approach rather than basing on the lowest‐price wins alone).

Identifies major issues related to building management in the context of large and dense residential estates. Aims to understand the relationship between the owners and the building management company and determine the keys to success for building management in large and dense residential estates.

Field interviews are conducted with the management committees of three residential estates. Semi‐structured questions are asked. A model of service quality is applied in the context of building management.

A framework of the context of building management is constructed. The relationship among the management committee and the building management company is a partnership. Guidelines for narrowing possible service gaps in the process of building management are proposed. Key success factors of building management are identified.

The sample size is small. This study reflects the field practice of outsourced building management of a few large and dense residential estates in Hong Kong. Further validation is necessary elsewhere.

This is a useful source of information for building owners and service providers to effectively implement building management.

The context of building management is graphically represented. The gap model of service quality is applied in the study of the process of service delivery of building management.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of financial management practices of small-scale building contractors on the technical performance of the contractors in the northern part of Nigeria with international best practices. Previous studies argued that the technical performance of small-scale building contractors in developing countries is poor because of insufficient cash to acquire strategic resources at the outset of a project. This continues to pose a challenge to the sustainable development of the construction industry, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria. There is, therefore, a need to identify, assess and compare the effects of financial practices of the contractors with technical performance best practices.

The technical performance of each contractor was evaluated using a five-point Likert scale. This is used to obtain the mean technical performance levels of the contractors. A questionnaire survey was administered to the professionals in the industry who were selected by using a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The contractors’ performance was compared using ANOVA with post hoc, and the effects of contractors’ financial management practices were determined using multiple regression analysis.

The results of this study indicated that the contractors in Nigeria were average technical performers and there were large effects of financial management practices on the technical performance of contractors in building projects.

This study is limited to small-scale building contractors in northeast Nigeria. One of the implications of this study is that it provides the criteria for an evaluation of small-scale building contractors’ technical performance in Nigeria and other developing countries that faced similar problems.

The practical implications of this study are that it establishes the current level of contractors' technical performance and serves as an awareness of contractors' current financial practices.

This study created bases for self-evaluation of contractors’ technical performance and competition among small-scale contractors in Nigeria for the enhancement of productivity particularly in rural areas for national development.

This study emanated from the government reports and past studies in the area of performance management based on the persistence of poor technical performance of small-scale contractors in the construction industry.

Quality assurance (QA) has been adopted by the public construction sectors in Asia since the introduction of ISO 9000 quality standards in 1987. The Governments of Singapore and Hong Kong have designed a series of quality infrastructure to promote, develop and improve the quality management system in the construction industry. Highlights the rapid development of quality systems in Singapore and Hong Kong, and the implementation of the construction quality assessment system (CONQUAS) in Singapore. Examines the performance assessment scoring system (PASS) in Hong Kong to assess the quality of building works. Discusses and compares the incentives for the construction sectors to achieve the ISO 9000 certification in both cities.

Thie purpose of this paper is to present the critical success factors (CSFs) for engaging in the building maintenance business in Hong Kong where maintenance is a major market sector.

In this study, CSFs are identified for the business of building maintenance based on data collected from a questionnaire survey and interviews.

A total of 12 CSFs are identified, such as client's satisfaction, certification of company, reliability of service, quality of service, and company reputation, and most are related to two principal factors, namely maintenance service and organization, and project management.

This paper provides a review of building maintenance in Hong Kong and identifies a list of success factors for the business of building maintenance. The identified CSFs and principal factors provide useful reference for maintenance contractors to have a clear understanding of the expectations of the building maintenance market in Hong Kong.

Design and build has increased in its use for construction procurement in recent times. However, its performance as a procurement method has been widely criticized by professionals in the construction industry. This paper reports a survey of 40 architects, using a structured questionnaire to investigate the performance of contractor‐led design and build in project procurement. Although 20% of architects' private sector workload (and 8% of public sector) is derived from D&B, they perceive this procurement type to involve sacrificing product quality and design innovation. Where clients insist on a choice of D&B, architects generally prefer the use of either novation D&B or develop and construct, rather than ‘traditional’ D&B.