Ranking the Rework Causes in Iran Construction Projects and Investigating the Effect of Lean Construction Techniques

Rework is one of the common problems in the construction industry. Despite the many studies that have taken place in the world, the lack of a comprehensive examination of the rework causes in Iran is evident. In addition, there is a need to provide an efficient and effective way to improve the rework issues. Therefore, in this study, using the survey method through the questionnaire, the main factors of rework in Iran were identified and ranked according to the criteria of cost, time, quality, safety and satisfaction of the project team by Fuzzy-TOPSIS method. Then, lean construction techniques were considered as a strategy to prevent rework, and the impact of these techniques on the importance of the rework factors was tested. The results of 52 questionnaires showed that the factors related to the client, the construction phase and the design phase were three main factors of the rework in Iran. Factors for insufficient turnover and commissioning resourcing, late client changes, delaying financing and contract delivery, insufficient skill levels, and ineffective management of project team are also the most important sub-factors, respectively. On the other hand, the lean construction measuring of the projects was examined through the Lean Project Rating System (LPRS) with 14 factors. The results showed that some of the lean construction factors considered in this study (including focus on communication and collaboration status, the use of IT and RFI, and the use of BIM) significantly alter rework and the importance of the its causes.