Project cost is an important concern in any construction project. Although there has been a lot of studies on factors affecting the cost of construction projects, there seems no consensus as what cost factors have direct influence on the cost of civil engineering projects. This study therefore aims to bridge the current knowledge gap by examining quantity surveyors' perception of the factor structure among nineteen costing attributes identified based on literature review. Questionnaire was used to elicit responses from quantity surveyors working in the Hong Kong construction industry. Principal component analysis is conducted to extract the factor structure of the cost attributes and the attributes are grouped into three factor components, namely the contract management factor, the project management factor and the monetary value factor. Understanding these cost impact factors could be crucial in managing civil engineering projects, since it allows the project stakeholders and quantity surveyors to take precautionary steps to identify the cost management problems and areas for improvement and could even help to avoid cost deviations in engineering projects.

Consultant and owner play a very important role in the construction sector which is one of the main sectors in economic development. There are many stakeholders in a construction project including but not limited to: owner, consultant, contractor, subcontractor, and supplier. The consultant is the party who is to stay in close touch with the project owner, which both consultant and owner are considered as the main key stakeholders to make the project happen. It's not a simple task for a consultant to just implement the same style of management and control within various projects that are of a different background and character of owners. Thus, the adjusting plan management and control to the owner environment has been an essential technique to drive the project to success. The objective of this paper is to identify the significant management techniques for adjusting a plan of management and control to the owner environment in Thailand. The methodology is the identification throughout the analogous to abduction from literature review and our empirical observations of Future Engineering Consultants Co, Ltd. We have been in consultation for twenty-five years (25) in Thailand with 209 projects from both public and private owners. As a result, there are (1) Project management styles, (2) Personal style, (3) Owner expectation management, (4) Scope Management, (5) Time Management, (6) Cost Management, (7) Quality Management, and (8) Environmental Management. The input are: a clear defined goal, showing respect by giving good service, maintaining high quality, keeping in touch with owners, and resources. This would give the output of the project's success by meeting the owner's expectation and requirements.

Bidding and contract systems are used for public construction projects to select contractors following fair competition principles and to execute national budgets effectively. Many challenges have arisen due to a lack of transparency and fairness and because bidding practices have been luck-based. Few comprehensive or comparative analyses have been conducted on the performance and limitations of bidding and contract systems, and empirical analyses designed to improve policies on and the practice of such systems are lacking. This study empirically analyzed current bidding and contract systems to seek ways of improving them. The study proposes several alternatives to resolve the problems with and irrationalities of the current system: 1) improving bidding and selection systems by changing them from a luck-based price competition into a technical merit- and value-based competition; 2) improving the assessment criteria to meet the current market level of bid and winning prices; 3) adjusting contractual responsibilities and sharing structures to meet the current trend; and 4) strengthening the competitiveness and expanding the social responsibility-based procurement systems of construction companies.