Development of Building Quality Measurement Tool: Building Construction Quality Index (Bcqi)

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 | Jan -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
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DEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING QUALITY MEASUREMENT TOOL:
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION QUALITY INDEX (BCQI)
Jogdand P.ME(C&M) Student ,Department of Civil Engineering, Trinity College of Engineering and
Research, Pune 411048
Deshmukh S. S.,Department Of Civil Engineering, Trinity College Of Engineering And Research,
Pune 411048
-------------------------------------------------------------------****----------------------------------------------------------------------
India’s economic development leads to an
unprecedented increase in the pace of urbanization.
In India, the rate of execution of construction
projects has been increased to great extent from past
few decades. This study develops and uses a tool,
Building Construction Quality Index (BCQI).
Developed index, BCQI can be used for checking
degree of quality of building projects and benchmark
for future improvement in quality. Developed index
can also be used in comparing quality of building
projects. This study adopts literature review,
questionnaire surveys for data collection and
application of developed model to measure
construction quality of building projects. Analytical
Hierarchical Process (AHP) has been adopted to
determine weights of construction quality attributes.
Since quality affects different aspects of project
management, improvement in quality measurement
in turn improves decision making of project
management team. This study will contribute to
improve construction quality measurement systems
in developing countries like India.
Keywords: AHP, project management, quality system.
1.INTRODUCTION
As the urban population and incomes increase in
India, demand for every key service such as water,
transportation, sewage treatment, low income housing
has increased in cities of every size and type. Increased
competition among builders and construction
contractors leads to reduction in cost of building
projects. Architectural planning and provision of services
also plays important role in achieving quality of building
projects. Affordable/ Low cost houses have to be
planned and organized considering healthy and clean
environment with excellent sanitation and green area.
These developments should be in close vicinity of
workplace, shopping complexes and educational
institutions Karim (2011). Thus architectural planning,
public transport connectivity, drinking water supply,
drainage systems, availability of services such as
shopping markets, hospital and schools affects overall
construction project quality and thus have been
considered in this study. Cost and schedule parameters
along with construction quality have been considered as
project success parameters (Khosravi and Afshari,
2011).Yet very less weight has been given to
construction quality in comparison with cost and
schedule (Rwelamia and Hall 1995). Construction quality
is equally important as cost and schedule parameters of
project management Rad and Khosrowshahi (1998). It
has been found that poor construction quality is
responsible for cost and schedule overrun of the project
(Love,2002, Round and ASCE, 1985). Other than
schedule and budget overrun degradation of contractor,
loss of trust and demoralization of employees are
drawbacks of poor construction quality.
Indian construction industry has not yet witnessed
uniform and objective quality measurement system and
construction firms practice their own developed
standards/ methods for quality measurement. These
developed systems mostly include checklists and are
subjective in nature and have proved difficult in rating
construction quality objectively. Construction quality
measurement has been proved cumbersome task
because of subjective nature of quality definition Rad
and Khosrowshahi (1998), Minchin et al. (2008).
This paper aims at development and application of
simple, easy to implement building construction quality
measurement model/ system based on model developed
by Minchin et al. (2008) which can be uniformly
accepted industry wide. By applying this developed
model, one can measure quality of completed as well as
ongoing building projects, which in turn can be used for
comparing finished projects, tracking ongoing
construction projects, and developing guidelines for
construction companies for continuous improvements.
The research has included literature review,
identification of attributes and sub-attribute, calculation
of attribute weights using AHP, Development of quality
measurement system BCQI.

II. CONSTRUCTION QUALITY DEFINITIONS
Paul Watson and Tim Howarth in their
bookConstruction Quality Management have recognized
the differences in quality definitions among various
authors and claim that “quality means many different
things to many different people”.They reviewed
following quality definitions, in the 1931, Shewhart
defined quality as ‘the thing which have positive
attribute of conformance to specified standards’. Later in
1961 focus has been shifted from achievement of
specifications to customer satisfaction and Feigenbaum
defined quality as the customer determination which is
based on customer’s actual experience with the product
or service, measured against customer’s requirements.
Crosby in 1979 reiterated importance of specifications
and defined quality as conformance to requirements.
Juran (1985) Quality is product performance which
results in customer satisfaction and freedom from
product deficiencies, which avoids customer
dissatisfaction. In 1986 ISO 8402-1986 quality has been
defined as ‘Totality of features and characteristics of a
product or service that bears on its ability to meet a
stated or implied need’. Imai (1986) ‘Quality is anything
which can be improved.’ Taguchi (1986) ‘Quality is the
loss of product causes to society after being shipped’.
Feigenbaum (1986) ‘Quality is the total composite
product and service characteristics of marketing,
engineering, manufacture and maintenance through
which the product in use will meet the expectation of
customer’. Deming(1986) ‘Good quality means a
predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at a
low cost with a quality suited to the market.’ Juran
(1989) defined quality as ‘Fitness for use’. Gitlow et al.
(1989) ‘Quality is the extent to which the customer or
users believe the product or service surpasses their
needs and expectations’.
In later years, focus has been shifted again to customer
satisfaction, rework minimization, and repeat business.
P. Hoonakker (2010) in his study has reviewed these
changes in opinions in researchers about quality.
(Chase(1998), Kanji & Wong(1998), McKim &
Kiani(1995), Torbica & Stroh(1999)) define quality as
‘meeting the expectation of customer’, (Atkinson(1998),
Love et al.(1999), McKim & Kiani(1995), Pheng &
Wee(2001), Sypsomos(1997)) define quality as ‘reduced
rework or defects’. (Sommerville(1994),
Sypsomos(1997)) define quality as ‘Repeat businesses’.
(Courtice &Herrero(1991), Gransberg et al.(1999),
Jaafari(1996), Kiwus &Williams(2001), Loveet al.(1999),
McKim & Kiani(1995), Ripley(1996), Sypsomos(1997),
Wong & Fung(1999)) define quality as ‘Completion on-
time and within budget’.
III. QUALITY MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
Literature review on quality measurement systems,
following systems can be summarized. In order to
improve construction process, successful systems in
manufacturing industry like total quality management,
lean production are being practiced in construction
sector, while their successful implementation depends
mostly on industry’s culture of teamwork and
cooperation between various players of project.
(Hoonakker et al.2010). James D. Steven (1996) studied
developed blueprint for quality measurement by Quality
Performance Measurement Task Force (QPMTF) of
Construction Industry Institute (CII) and its validation
has been done through feedback from project
management team and implementation on three
projects. Developed blueprint has advantage of ease in
implementation but its use has been restricted to EPC
project only is the main drawback of developed system.
Minchin et al. (2008) developed a construction quality
index for highway projects by rating materials and
workmanship. Development of Quality Based
Performance Rating (QBPR) has been done to overcome
shortcomings of subjectivity and inefficiency of State
Highway Authority's (SHA) rating system. Quality index
has been proved practical, easy to understand and
applicable to both new and old projects. According to
developed model, CQI of the pavement is summation of
product of weight of layer and CQI of that particular
layer. Teo and Ling (2006) created a model on Multi
Attribute Value Technique (MAVT) to measure
effectiveness of safety management system. Developed
index is the summation of product of weight of particular
attribute and rating of that attribute. Validation of
developed model has been done using 3 site audits and
feedback from the industry. Similar approach of Multi
Attribute Value Technique has been used in development
of Building Construction Quality Index (BCQI).
Rad and Khosrowshahi(1998) with the aim of
development of methodology for objective measurement
and quantification of quality, have developed quality
measurement tree and reviewed quality from different
perspectives such as client’s perspective, contractor’s
perspective and customer’s perspective and have
identified attributes/factors affecting quality from above
mentioned perspectives.
In this study extensive literature has been reviewed,
attributes and sub-attributes affecting quality
concerning building projects in Indian construction
industry have been identified and circuited among
experienced construction engineers for finding their
preferences. Weights of these attributes on 0-1 scale
have been calculated by using Analytical Hierarchy
Process (AHP). Subjective nature of quality definition
makes quality measurement very difficult and thus
makes quality a non-measurable term, but it can be
measured indirectly by measuring factors/attributes

affecting quality (Rad and Khosrowshahi year). This
study has tried to develop objective and thus measurable
quality index, BCQI. According to Latham (1996) client
being most important project player, clients’ satisfaction
has always been considered top priority and clients’
satisfaction mainly concerned about construction
quality. In this study, customer satisfaction has been
recorded by rating quality attributes of different building
componentson 1-5 Likert scale by customers/users
through questionnaire survey. These ratings are then
normalized on 0-1 scale. In studying ongoing
construction projects, same questionnaire has been
utilized as checklist or rated by site engineers. In
situations where attribute/sis/are non-measurable,
distribution of weight/s has been done to remaining
attributes in relative proportions. Attributes’ and sub-
attributes’ weights and their normalized ratings have
been used as inputs in finding attribute, sub-attribute
indices and ultimately BCQI indices of different building
construction projects.
IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research has been conducted with objectives:
development of quality attributes indexes and
development of Building Construction Quality Index
(BCQI) for measuring building project quality
Literature has been reviewed to select attributes and
sub-attributes affecting quality. Material qualities,
workmanship of different building members and
services, architectural planning including sanitation,
water supply, access to the housing projects, vicinity of
facilities like hospitals, school been considered as
attributes in this study. List of attributes have been sent
to construction engineers having minimum five years of
experience, researchers, designers and academician.
Total 18 participants out of 62 have responded, showing
response rate 29% and on identification of preferences
of quality attributes, AHP has been applied and weights
of attributes and sub-attributes have been calculated.
List of attributes and their weights have been circulated
to managerial level participants. On finalization of
attribute weights, questionnaire survey has been
conducted. Each attribute has been rated on 1-5 scale by
project users for completed projects, site engineers or in
some cases supervisors for ongoing construction
projects. In few cases, designed questionnaire has also
been used as a checklist by researcher to rate attributes
and sub-attributes of construction projects. In few cases,
where attributes are not measurable, their weights have
been distributed in other respective attributes in
proportion of their weights.
Attribute, sub-attribute indices and Building
Construction Quality Index (BCQI) of residential building
projects have been calculated using developed index in
which inputs are weights of attributes, sub-attributes
and their normalized ratings.

Literature Survey
Identification of
Attributes affecting
Quality
Planning Attributes
Construction
Attributes
Finalization of list
of attributes
affecting quality
Distribution of list
of attributes to
construction
engineers having
minimum 5 yrs of
experience
Preferences of
attributes
Application of AHP
for calculation of
attributes weight
Identification of
method for
development of
BCQI modell
Finalization of
BCQI model and
MAVT/MADT
Development of
Questionnaire for
rating attributes on
1-5 Likert scale
Normalization of
ratings of
attributes on 0-1
scale
Identification of
BCQI of housing
units
Identification of
indexes of main
attributes for
correlation
identification
Testing of
Correlation using
SPSS for different
indexes
Testing of
hypothesis among
two housing
groups
Development of
BCQI model and
MAVT/MADT
Figure 1- Research
Methodology Flowchart
V. QUALITY MEASUREMENT ATTRIBUTES
Considering the importance of quality in construction
industry many quality management systems,
frameworks and methodologies have been developed by
various authors. Rad and Khosrowshahi (1998) have
developed quality measurement system in terms of
quality attributes. They have categorized quality
attributes in three aspects; quality in constructors view,
quality in client's view and quality in third party's view.
Authors have highlighted importance and difficulties
associated in quality measurement. Jha and Iyer (2006)
have identified critical factors affecting success and
failure of the construction projects. Authors have initially
shortlisted 55 attributes affecting quality of construction
projects. Questionnaire survey followed by analyses of
responses confirms project manager's competence,
management support, feedback by participants, and
interaction among participants as critical project success
factors. Critical project failure attributes conflict among
participants, hostile socio-economic environment,
extreme climatic conditions, lack of knowledge and
incompetence of project managers and competition
during tendering. Karim(2011) identified factors
responsible for quality living, sufficient size, sanitation,
clean air and green area in vicinity for leisure and
recreation, connectivity, education facilities and
shopping outlets. Physical planning of city, family
domain, physical environment and neighboring and
community domain are responsible for quality of life.
In this research, attributes have been selected through
extensive literature review and broadly classified in
planning attributes and construction attributes. Planning
attributes include building access, water supply,
drainage system, road network, vicinity of essential
services like schools and hospitals, external lights during
night. Construction attributes have been selected
considering components of building projects and thus
include RCC elements, External walls, internal walls,
doors and windows finishing, flooring, services and
material storing and handling during construction. The
constructions attributes are further subdivided in sub-
attributes. Each attribute has been assigned weight on 0-

1 scale, calculated using AHP, with the help of
preferences of attributes given by construction
engineers; refer figure no. 2 for attributes, sub attributes
and weights. Each quality attribute of the building
project has been rated on 1-5 Likert’s scale and on
normalization of attributes to 0-1 scale ratings, MAVT/
MADT has been implemented to determine quality index
of the building projects.
VI. CALCULATION OF WEIGHTS OF ATTRIBUTES
USING ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP)
Analytical Hierarchy Process has been introduced by
Saaty in year 1980 as a multi attribute decision making
management process which converts big problem into
number of smaller problems making it simpler followed
bycalculation of weights of factor/attributes is the
primary objective of AHP.On arranging attributes on the
basis of their dependencies,pair wise comparison matrix
has been developed in which attributes have been
arranged in decreasing order of their importance by
assigning scores on 1-9 scale, 1 signifies equally
important, 9- extremely important. Normalization of
attributes has been done by dividing comparison matrix
score by column total. Average of each row of
normalized matrix gives priority or factor evaluation
number of respective attribute. Validation of weights of
attributes has been done by consistency ratio
calculation. If consistency ratio is lesser than or equals to
0.10 then, assigned intensity numbers are consistent
otherwise, reassign them.
Table No. 1- List of attribute and sub-attributes, their preferences and weights
Attribute Average Preference Rank Weight
Level I
Architectural Planning 2 0.38
Construction 1 0.62
Level II (Architectural Planning Attributes)
Access to building 2.13 1 0.44
Water Supply 3.13 3 0.13
Drainage system 3.40 4 0.09
Road Network in Project 2.53 2 0.26
School, Hospitals 4.67 5 0.05
External Lights (during Night) 5.13 6 0.03
Level II (Construction Attributes)
RCC Components 1.60 1 0.38
External Walls 3.80 3 0.14
Internal Walls 5.40 6 0.05
Doors and Windows 4.47 4 0.09
Finishing 5.27 5 0.03
Flooring 5.53 8 0.04
Services 5.47 7 0.05
Material Storing, Handling 3.47 2 0.22
Level III (Attributes of RCC elements attributes)
Footing, columns, beams, slabs 0.25
Level III (external and Internal walls attributes)
Bricks 1.47 1 0.68
Joints in masonry 2.27 2 0.20
Workmanship 2.27 3 0.12
Level III (doors and windows attributes)
Material Quality of panel 1.53 1 0.43

Material quality of frames 1.53 2 0.43
Fixtures and Accessories 2.63 3 0.09
Workmanship in fixing 3.00 4 0.05
Level III (finishing attributes)
Plastering 1.10 1 0.66
Painting 1.63 2 0.34
Level III (flooring attributes)
Quality of tiles 1.42 1 0.58
Maintenance of slopes 2.26 2 0.27
Workmanship in fixing 2.47 3 0.1
Finishing and cleaning 3.36 4 0.05
Level III (services attributes)
Plumbing 1.30 2 0.5
Electrical fittings 1.15 1 0.5
Level IV (RCC Components)
Quality of concrete 1.67 1 0.53
Reinforcements 1.93 2 0.30
Cover 2.53 3 0.12
Finishing 3.87 4 0.05
VII.BUILDING CONSTRUCTION QUALITY INDEX
(BCQI)
Multi-attribute value technique/ Multi Attribute Decision
Technique has been deployed for calculation of BCQIs of
building projects, as implemented by Minchin et al.
(2008) for development of CQI of highway projects, Teo
and Ling(2006) to measure effectiveness of safety
management system and Khosravi and Afshari (2011)
have developed system to measure project success. It is
Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method or also called
as weighted sum method (Fishburn, 1967). Simplest
form of SAW can be given as
Pi = ∑
BCQI has been developed to quantify quality on 0-1 scale.
BCQI = ∑ ∑ ∑ wi x rin
i
BCQI model,
BCQI = 0.20 (PlanIndex) + 0.80 (ConsIndex)
PlanIndex = 0.44r1 + 0.19r2 + 0.13r3 + 0.07r4 + 0.06r5 +
0.04r6 + 0.03r7+0.04r8
ConsIndex = 0.38r7+ 0.14r8 +0.05r9 +0.09r10 + 0.03r11 +
0.04r12 + 0.05r13
RccIndex (r7) = 0.25r15 + 0.25r16+ 0.25r17 + 0.25r18
EwalIndex (r8) = 0.68r19 + 0.20r20 +0.12r21
IwalIndex (r9) = 0.68r22 + 0.20r23 +0.12r24
DawIndex (r10) = 0.43r25 + 0.43r26 +0.09r27 +0.05r28
FinIndex (r11) = 0.66r29 + 0.34r30
FloIndex (r12) = 0.58r31 + 0.27r32 + 0.1r33 + 0.05r34
SerIndex (r13) = 0.5r35+ 0.5r36
MatIndex (r14) = 0.52r38 + 0.30r39 + 0.12r40 + 0.05r41
On identification of weights of factors affecting
construction quality, model has been developed. The
developed model directly quantifies the quality of
building project. Weights have been already identified
and used in the developed model. We just have to rate
the identified attributes on 1-5 scale (and conver it into
0-1 scale) and put the values in developed model. The
model will directly give the number, it represent the
degree of quality of building project. Greater the number
more is the quality of building and vice-versa.
BCQI = 0.20 Architectural Planning + 0.80
Construction Quality

= 0.20 (0.44 r1 + 0.19r2 + 0.13r3 + 0.07r4 + 0.06r5
+ 0.04r6 + 0.03r7+0.04r8)
+ 0.80 ((0.38 r7 (0.25r15 + 0.25r16+ 0.25r17 +
0.25r18)) + (0.14 r8 (0.68r19 + 0.20r20 +0.12r21) + (0.05 r9
(0.68r22 + 0.20r23 +0.12r24) + (0.09 r10 (0.43r25 + 0.43r26
+0.09r27 +0.05r28) + ( 0.03 r11 (0.66 r29+ 0.34 r30) + (0.04
r12 (0.58r31 + 0.27r32 + 0.1r33 + 0.05r34) + (0.05 r13 (0.50
r35 + 0.50 r36 )
VIII.CONCLUSIONS
The developed model has been applied to different
building projects and quality of building projects has
been identified. It has been observed that developed
model can easily be applied to any building projects.
Software and android applications can also be developed
in MS excel, Matlab and other languages for
commercialization of developed tool.
The paper presented a building construction quality
index. Application of developed quality index can be
done in checking for quality different buildings. The
building construction quality index has been developed
for building project in India, which can be generalized to
any construction project.
REFERENCES
Florence Yean Yng Ling, (2005),"Models for predicting quality of
building projects", Engineering Construction and Architectural
Management, Vol. 12 Iss: 1 pp. 6 - 20
Guidelines for affordable housing, Government of India
http://mhupa.gov.in/w_new/AffordableHousing.pdf
Hafazah Abdul Karim “Low Cost Housing Environment:Compromising
Quality of Life?” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 35 (2012) 44
– 53
K. N. JHA & K. C. IYER “Critical Factors Affecting QualityPerformance in
Construction Projects”1478-3363 Print=1478-3371
Online=06=091155–16 # 2006 Taylor & FrancisDOI:
10.1080=14783360600750444
Paul Watson and Tim Howarth Construction Quality Management Spon
Press
Peter Hoonakker “Barriers and benefits of quality management in the
constructionindustry: An empirical study” Total Quality Management,
vol. 21, No. 9, September 2010, 953-969
R. Edward Minchin, Michael I. Hammons and Junyong Ahn (2 9) “A
construction quality index for highway construction”Construction
Management and Economics, 26:12, 1313-1324
Rad H N and Khosrowshahi F (1998) “Quality measurement in
construction projects”Hughes, W(Ed.), 14th Annual ARCOM Conference,
9-11 September 1998, University of Reading Association ofResearchers
in Construction Management, Vol. 2, 389-97
Shahrzad Khosravi and Hamidreza Afshari “A Success Measurement
Model for Construction Projects” 2011 International Conference on
Financial Management and EconomicsIPEDR vol.11 (2011) © (2011)
IACSIT Press, Singapore
Thomas L. Saaty “Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process”
Int. J. ServicesSciences, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.83–98

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