Value Engineering Awareness Variation Among Construction Project Professionals and the Attributed Value Workshop Objectives

Abstract

In typical Value Engineering (VE) exercises, Value Workshops are instantiated to explore alternative perspectives to cost minimization and enhanced functionality of a construction project by a team of construction and allied professionals. Meanwhile, studies on the regional contexts of the Nigerian construction industry had been empirically implicit on the varying levels of VE awareness among these professionals, let alone the value workshop objectives (VWOs) that might have accounted for the variation. This study assessed the variation in the level of VE awareness among construction project professionals in Kogi State, Nigeria along with the attributed Value Workshop Objectives (VWOs) for the variation. 94 snowballed survey questionnaires were retrieved from seven groups of construction and allied professionals across the three regions of Kogi State. Descriptive data analysis featured the calculation of weighted mean score and standard deviation of respondents' level of VE awareness on the basis of the ten VWOs drawn from existing literature, while the normality assumption for the randomized survey data was relaxed to justify the use of the Kruskal-Wallis H test statistic. A variation in the levels of VE awareness among these professionals was affirmed from the disparity in their individually ranked VWOs. At p<0.05, it was found that the significant variation in the levels of VE awareness among these professionals is attributed to VWOs comprising value optimization over project life cycle, minimizing adverse environmental impact of project, enhancing project flexibility, and enhancing project usability, convenience and comfort, all with medium effect sizes in the range: 0.06≤ η2<0.14. This variation reflects the professional diversity required for an inclusive peer review of project briefs. The study contributes to the knowledge of professional diversity and inclusiveness in pre-qualification of experts for value engineered construction projects.