Assessment of Deficiencies in Design Documents for Large Construction Projects

This paper investigates the significance of the different types of design documents' deficiencies (DDDs) by both contractors and consultants involved in large construction projects. Sixteen different types of DDDs were identified and classified under six different groups. Based on the significance index of the different types of DDDs, the top five ranked DDDs from the perspectives of contractors and consultants are nonconformance to building codes, design errors, specifications errors, operational issues, and lack of design team coordination. Lack of use of constructability analysis in the production of the design documents was ranked high by consultants. The test of agreement on all types of DDDs between contractors and consultants showed a high level of agreement. The study recommended that building codes should be instituted in Saudi Arabia, and consultants should conduct constructability analysis to reduce the level of deficiencies in the design documents.