Evaluating Contractor Performance: Application to the Dubai Construction Industry

Predicting the performance of the contractor is very important for both the contractor and the owner especially in highly competitive markets. The research presented in this paper offers a new model for contractor performance prediction. The model developed here utilizes qualitative as well as previously unconsidered quantitative measures about the contractors’ performance. The model makes use of performance measures such total weighted tardiness, average number of late jobs, average lateness, average cost overrun etc... to evaluate the contractors in addition to qualitative measures relating to safety, environment, and personnel. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to assign scores to each contractor based on a pair-wise comparison between the identified qualitative measures. The model was tested for the case of the United Arab Emirates. Twenty contractors were selected, and construction managers/owners were asked to evaluate the contractors based on a questionnaire as well as historical project records. Discriminant analysis was conducted and the contractors were divided into three groups: High Performance Contractors, Medium Performance Contractors and Low Performance Contractors.