Catalog of Over 300 Heavy Civil Construction Case Studies

The case studies shared here are solely for educational purposes. The aim is to raise awareness of potential issues in heavy civil construction projects. The case studies are concise, and focus on five key areas: root cause, impacts, corrective measures, lessons learned, and future audit questions.

So many things can go wrong on heavy civil construction projects. Case studies focusing on failures or mistakes are essential for construction professionals to learn from past experiences, and enhance future practices.

These case studies serve as valuable educational tools for students, young professionals, and seasoned professionals. They offer real-world examples of project issues, their root causes, impacts, corrective actions, and lessons learned.

The case studies also demonstrate that to avoid repeating the same mistakes, construction professionals must have complete knowledge of the contract, and implement best practices to execute the scope of work.

The issues, problems, and challenges shown in the case studies are an indication that the best practices were not being followed. The root cause and the lessons learned tell us of the best practices that should have been in place to prevent the situations from happening.

One of the most important best practices in construction is to know the contract, follow the specifications and drawings, and when in doubt seek clarification.

A review of the case studies indicate that there are so many factor at play. However, many of the issues reported in the case studies result from interpretation of the contract specifications and drawings, planning, construction method, design flaws, coordination, and differing site conditions.

• Master how to read and interpret contract drawings, specifications, and QC requirements to prevent contract misinterpretations and construction errors before they occur.

• Gain in-depth knowledge of time and cost factors to consider at bid/proposal phase and construction phase to identify risks early and avoid key items from being overlooked.

• Calculate various construction equipment production rate and have first hand knowledge of daily output before start of work, and ensure that issues related to projecting earthwork production rate are avoided on future projects.

• Strengthen expertise in field inspection and verification items, and construction work tasks to identify risks early and stop them from escalating into costly delays or disputes.

• Integrate thorough work planning, and cost estimating methods to ensure related problems revealed in past case studies are avoided on future projects.

• Apply knowledge of job hazards and implement safe environment to ensure that safety incidents and accidents revealed in previous case studies are not encountered on future projects.

• Master the use and application of trend chart for progress assessment to ensure that past cases resulting from poor project monitoring and documentation are not repeated.

• Apply daily cost analysis (per earned value analysis) and assess potential gains or losses before start of work, and allow for necessary changes to the plan to ensure that cost control problems revealed in past case studies are avoided on future projects.