`Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction, 9(1), 2022
State-of-the-art Materials and Techniques in Structural Engineering and Construction
Edited by Holschemacher, K., Quapp, U., Singh, A., and Yazdani, S.
Copyright © 2022 ISEC Press
ISSN: 2644-108X
www.doi.org/10.14455/ISEC.2022.9(1).LDR-03
PND-25-1
AN OVERVIEW OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING
TECHNIQUES IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS CLAIMS
MANAGEMENT
DIKELEDI ANNA MATSEKE, NTHATISI KHATLELI, and DAVID ROOT
Dept of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Claims in the construction sector result from, but not limited to, poor contract
performance, delays, conflicts and force majeure. The use of Multi-Criteria Decision
Making (MCDM) techniques are proposed in construction-related decision-making and
prove advantageous in ensuring that claims management processes are effective. This
paper provides an overview of existing MCDM techniques proposed for construction
claims management. A narrative literature review is performed where Google Scholar
and EBSCO host are used to identify relevant articles for the study and 49 articles were
selected. From literature, some of the proposed techniques in construction claims
management are AHP, ANN, NN, MAUT, SWOT, TOPSIS and VIKOR. Findings
from the study indicate that the outdated nature of traditional standalone MCDM
techniques has seen the use of hybridised models in construction-related decision-
making more useful. Supplementing MCDM techniques with techniques such as BIM
is rather relevant since BIM alone has the potential to reduce claims emerging from
large construction projects.
Keywords: Effectiveness, Hybridized, Conflict, Resolution
1 INTRODUCTION
Claims are commonplace in the construction sector (Mashwama et al. 2021). They result from
poor contract performance (Batarlienė and Meleniakas 2021) and occur between various
contracting parties such as project owner, contractor and designer (El-Sayegh et al. 2020).
Causes of claims include incorrect design/specifications, unusually severe weather conditions,
change orders, and extra work (ibid). According to Araya (2019), some claims result from
conflicts. Conflicts disrupt workflow resulting in additional costs, delays, and other impacts that
lead to construction-related claims (Ali et al. 2020, Tshidavhu and Khatleli 2020). Claims
administration need to be effective and efficient throughout a project’s life cycle to prevent
disputes, arbitration and litigation (Faraji et al. 2021, Grant 2021). It is imperative that the
usefulness and the weaknesses of the current MCDM techniques used in claims management
processes be identified and understood.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Claims management exists as a mechanism for resolving, mitigating, minimising, specifying and
regulating processes meant to track, expedite and resolve claims resulting from construction
contracts (Barakat et al. 2018). It exists to ensure that claims are avoided by a thorough oversite
of all contract documents, design plans, and an ongoing awareness of the project’s adjusted
contract price and schedule (Grant 2021). Araya (2019) opined the importance of claims
management by stakeholders and how imperative it is to clearly understand the information used