| dc.description.abstract | Within the construction industry, there have been many attempts to identify the cost factors or to compare the building costs. However, it seems the combination of both has not been applied so much especially in healthcare construction. The purpose of this study is to compare cost performance in the hospital construction between Norway and United States and identify the most important cost factors.
A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods has been used in this study. Case studies, questionnaire, Purchasing Power Parity, and Pareto analysis were the main methods used. The data include both primary and secondary. 3 Norwegian and 3 American hospital cases and questionnaire responses are the primary data. Statistical indices are the secondary data used to gain a holistic perspective on the construction situation.
The results show the reported hospital construction cost in the US is lower than Norway; 2602 /m2 vs. 3822 /m2, respectively. With 973 /m2, the Norwegian projects also had higher standard deviation than the American counterparts with 171 /m2. The analysis of the reported cost breakdown structures revealed similarities, such as in HVAC, and differences, such as in special costs category. The Pareto analysis showed there are similarities between top factors in Norway and the US. Therefore, there is a substantial incentive for future knowledge sharing initiatives. The overall experts opinion was that the number of bed spaces is the most important factor in hospital construction costs. Experts also selected consultants and owners as the stakeholders who can affect a larger group of factors. By the end of study, a priority checklist of the cost factors was created based on the experts opinion. The checklist shows that the building and HVAC cost categories are better to be monitored more closely.
Unlike previous researches which were mostly focused on building costs, regional comparisons, and operational aspect of hospitals, this thesis draws on the international experience and concentrates on hospital construction costs. Moreover, this research is centered around on quantifiable cost factors and the findings are mainly based on the case studies.
There are different implications regarding this thesis. For industry, it unveils the common cost areas where projects can learn from each other. For managers, it suggests priority checklist of important factors that may need more attention. For project stakeholders in general, the influence of main stakeholders on different cost factor has been presented which can help them to allocating the resources more efficiently. For researchers, it identifies potential factors for future researches. | |
