Measuring the Impact of Change Orders on Project Performances by Building Type

The project performances can be measured in terms of meeting the project schedule, budget, and conformance to functional and technical specifications. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the causes and effects of change orders for both vertical and horizontal construction, respectively. However, these studies mainly focus on a single project type, so this paper examines the impact of change order for cost growth and schedule overruns using four different building types to close the gap in the change order research area. A total of 211 building projects are collected from four building types: healthcare, residential, office, and education. Statistical analyses using ANOVA tests and linear regression models are used to examine the created metric $CO/day on the cost and schedule impacts. The results found that mean $CO/day values were not statistically different among building types, and that the sum of change orders is a statistically significant predictor of $CO/day. The results will help project stakeholders mitigate the negative change orders effects can be a challenge for project managers and researchers alike.