Collaborative Project Delivery With Early Contractor Involvement and Target Cost

Lean and collaborative project delivery aim to increase productivity and create value in construction projects. Early contractor involvement and target costing are key elements in collaborative delivery. This study explores how early contractor involvement and target cost has been implemented, and the effects of these elements, in the collaborative delivery of a building in Norway. After two months of daily observations and a literature study, further data was collected from the main stakeholders through a document study and sixteen semi-structured interviews. Establishing a reasonable scope, allowable cost and procurement strategy in the front-end was identified as important. Early contractor involvement was determined to have improved constructability, commitment, cost estimation, and team building during the design phase. A balanced, equitable and clear risk distribution in the target cost, and continuous involvement of the client and senior management, was identified as important for collaboration in the execution phase. External factors beyond the control of the project group were found to have been impactful throughout the project. The study calls for more research on the impact of external factors, and the involvement of architects, consultants and subcontractors, in Lean and collaborative project delivery.