i 
 

 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Investigating the Adoption of Building 

Information Modeling (BIM) in Design 

Stage of Construction Projects 
(Saudi Arabia as a Case Study) 

 

 

 

 
 

 

By 

Mo'tasem Najeh Ghanim 
 

 
 
 

 

Supervisors 

Dr. Ehab Hijazi 

Dr. Ahmed Saleh 
 

 
 

This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the 

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Engineering 

Management, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An Najah 

National University, Nablus, Palestine. 
 

2017 

An Najah National University 

Faculty of Graduate Studies 
 



ii 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

Investigating the Adoption of Building 

Information Modeling (BIM) in Design 

Stage of Construction Projects 
(Saudi Arabia as a Case Study) 

 

By 

Mo'tasem Najeh Ghanim 
 

This thesis was defended successfully on 11/10/2017 and approved by: 

Defense Committee Members  Signature 

1- Dr. Ehab Hijazi / Supervisor ………..……… 

2- Dr. Ahmed Saleh / Co-Supervisor ………..……… 

3- Dr. Hisham Shkokani / External Examiner             ………..……… 

4- Dr. Mohammed Abu-Ne‟me / Internal Examiner             ………..……… 



iii 
 

Dedication  

To my father 

Mother 

And my special Fiancee 

 

 

  



iv 
 

Acknowledgment 

I would like to thank Almighty Allah for giving me strength and 

power to finish this research. 

 I want to thank my supervisors Dr. Ihab Hijazi and Dr. Ahmed 

Saleh for their continuous attention and coordination. Also, I want to 

thank Dr. Hikmat Ali for his help at the beginning of this research. 

 

 

  



v 
 

 اإلقرار

 أنا الموقع أدناه مقدم الرسالة التي تحت عنوان:

في مرحمة التصميم  بحث تطبيق تكنولوجيا نمذجة معمومات المبنى
)المممكة العربية السعودية كحالة دراسية( لممشاريع االنشائية  

 
Investigating the Adoption of Building Information 

Modeling (BIM) in Design Stage of Construction 

Projects (Saudi Arabia as a Case Study) 
 

أقر بأن ما اشتممت عميو الرسالة انما ىو نتاج جيدي الخاص باستثناء ما تمت االشارة 
اليو حيثما ورد وأن ىذه الرسالة ككل أو أي جزء منيا لم يقدم من قبل لنيل أي درجة عممية أو 

 ثية أخرى.بحث عممي لدى أي مؤسسة تعميمية أو بح
 

Declaration  

The work provided in this thesis, unless otherwise referenced, is the 

researcher’s own work, and not has been submitted elsewhere for any other 

degree or qualification. 

 :Mo'tasem Najeh Ghanim Student’s Name اسم الطالب:

 :Signature …………………………………… التوقيع: 

 :Date 11/10/2017 التاريخ: 

 

  



vi 
 

Table of Contents 

No. Subject Page 

 Dedication  iii 

 Acknowledgment vi 

 Declaration  v 

 Table of Contents vi 

 List of Tables   ix 

 List of Figures   x 

 List of Appendices  xi 

 List of Abbreviations xii 

 Abstract xiii 

 Chapter One: Introduction  

1.1 Overview  1 

1.1 Definition of BIM  2 

1.1 Facts about Construction Industry in KSA  3 

1.1  Design Process  5 

1.1 Problem Statement  5 

1.1  Research Questions  7 

1.7 Significance  7 

1.8 Research Methodology  8 

1.9 Thesis Structure  9 

1.10 Summary  10 

 Chapter two: Background  11 

1.1 Construction Industry and BIM  11 

1.1.1 Challenges of the Construction Industry  11 

1.1.1  BIM Drivers and BIM as Solution for the Challenges  12 

1.1.1  BIM Barriers  17 

1.1 Design Process  18 

1.1.1 Project’s Delivery Systems  18 

1.1.1  Stages of Design  20 

1.1.1  Constructability in Design  22 

1.1 Documentation process  24 

1.1  Qualitative Data Analysis  26 

1.1.1 Definition  26 

1.1.1  Grounded Theory  27 

1.1.1  Qualitative Data Analysis Tools  28 

1.1.1 Grounded Theory Procedure  29 

1.1  Summary  30 

 Chapter Three: Methodology 31 

1.1  Research Strategy  31 



vii 
 

No. Subject Page 

1.1  Research Flow  32 

1.1  Research Tools  34 

1.1.1 Semi-structured interviews in case 1  35 

1.1.1  Structured interviews  36 

1.1 Development of the Interview and Questionnaire  36 

1.1.1  Development of case 1 interview’s questions  37 

1.1.1 Development of the case 2 questionnaire  39 

1.1  Research Sample  40 

1.1.1  Case one sample  40 

1.1.1  Case two sample  41 

1.1  Data Analysis Procedure  42 

1.3 Summary  49 

 Chapter Four: Data Analysis 50 

1.1  Introduction  50 

1.1 Design Process  50 

1.1.1  Design Stages  51 

1.1.1.1  Case 1 design stages 51 

1.1.1.1  Case 2 design stages  57 

1.1.1  Main Design Problems  59 

1.1.1.1  Design problems in case 1  60 

1.1.1.1  Design problems in case 2 64 

1.1.1   Suggestions to enhance the design process 66 

1.1 Documentation  69 

1.1.1 Documentation method  70 

1.1.1  Problems of documentation 73 

1.1  Communication  74 

1.1.1 Communication method  75 

1.1.1  Goals of communication  75 

1.1 BIM Adoption 78 78 

1.1.1  Technology tools 78 78 

1.1.1 Experience with BIM 79 79 

1.1.1  Benefits of BIM 79 79 

1.1.1   Factors that affect BIM implementation 81 

1.1.1.1   Motivators  82 

1.1.1.1 Barriers  82 

1.1 Summary  85 

 Chapter Five: Discussion of Results 86 

1.1   Introduction  86 

1.1   Discussion of Results  87 

1.1.1 Design Process Stages  87 



viii 
 

No. Subject Page 

1.1.1.1  Case 1 firm  87 

1.1.1.1  Case 2 firm   93 

1.1.1  Design Problems  96 

1.1.1.1 Design problems in case 1  96 

1.1.1.1  Design problems in case 2  101 

1.1.1  Documentation Process  102 

1.1.1   Communication Process  105 

1.1.1 Interviewee’s Suggestions to enhance the design process  107 

1.1.1  Building Information Modeling  109 

1.1.1.1  Benefits and Potential Benefits of BIM  109 

1.1.1.1 Barriers of BIM  114 

1.1.1.1  Motivators of BIM   119 

1.1   Summary   120 

 Chapter Six 121 

1.1 Conclusion  121 

1.1 Research Recommendations   125 

1.1 Summary   126 

 References   127 

 Appendices  142 

 ب انًهخص 
 

 

 

 

  



ix 
 

List of Tables 

Table No. Title Page 

Table 1.1 Six economic cities information, source (SAGIA) 4 

Table 2.1 BIM benefits according to different references 15 

Table 2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of DBB delivery 

system 

19 

Table 2.3 Advantages & disadvantages of DB delivery system 20 

Table 3.1 Case 1 interviewee's profiles 41 

Table 3.2 Case 2 respondent's profiles 42 

Table 4.1 “Tendering Design” stage in Case1 53 

Table 4.2 "Design Modification” stages on case1 55 

Table 4.3 Design stages in case 2 59 

Table 4.4 Main design problems in case 1 63 

Table 4.5 Design problems in case 2 66 

Table 4.6 Suggestions to enhance the deign 69 

Table 4.7 Documentation method 72 

Table 4.8 “Problems of documentation" category interviewee 

answers 

74 

Table 4.9 Goals of communication 77 

Table 4.10 Benefits of BIM 81 

Table 4.11 Barriers of BIM according to case 1 83 

Table 4.12 :Barriers of BIM according to case 2 84 

Table 5.1 Investigating the benefits of BIM 110 

Table 5.2 Barriers of BIM implementation 115 

 

  



x 
 

List of Figures 

Figure No. Title Page 

Figure 1.1 BIM benefits at each stage of facility lifecycle 

(Messner, 2009) 

14 

Figure 2.2 Highway development Stages 21 

Figure 2.3 Representation of grounded theory analysis by K. 

Punch (2009) 

30 

Figure 3.1 Research flow diagram 34 

Figure 4.1 Design Stages Diagram  56 

Figure 4.2 Stages of design in case 2  58 

Figure 4.3 Design problems coding frequency  62 

Figure 4.4 Suggestions to enhance the design process  68 

Figure 4.5 Documentation methods  71 

Figure 5.1 Project delivery system in case 1  93 

Figure 5.2 Comparison of communication between the client 

and contractor, Source: Goh et al  

114 

 

 

 

  



xi 
 

List of Appendices 

Appendix  No. Title Page 

Appendix (1) Transcript of Taped Interview with Designer 

from case 1 firm 

142 

Appendix (2) Transcript of Taped Interview with Consultant 

from case 1 firm 

145 

Appendix (3) Case 1 Interviewees Answers 148 

Appendix (4) Questionnaire Form for Case 2 firm 

Employees 

166 

 
 

  



xii 
 

List of Abbreviations 

BIM Building Information Modeling. 

AEC Architecture, Engineering and construction. 

KSA Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

SAGIA  Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority 

UK United Kingdom 

USA United States of America 

CAD Computer Aided Design. 

FM Facility Management. 

PP Process Protocol. 

DO Design Offices. 

AR Augmented Reality. 

AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation 

Officials 

SSD Stopping Sight Distance 

PSD Passing Sight Distance 

HR Human Resources  

MEP Mechanical, Electrical, Plumping 

GIS Geographic Information Systems 

QDA Qualitative Data Analysis 

RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects 

ROI Return On Investment 

DBB Design-Bid-Build  

DB Design-Build 

CII Construction Industry Institute 

 

  



xiii 
 

Investigating the Adoption of Building 

Information Modeling (BIM) in Design 

Stage of Construction Projects 

(Saudi Arabia as a Case Study) 

By 

Mo'tasem Najeh Ghanim 

Supervisors 

Dr. Ehab Hijazi 

Dr. Ahmed Saleh 

Abstract 

    Building information modeling (BIM) is a topic that takes interest of 

many researchers in the field of construction management around the 

globe. Further, recently business reports show that BIM is spreading out 

among the AEC industry firms especially in UK and USA. Thus, predicting 

the same to be in the Middle East region sounds rational thinking. 

    The aim of this research was to assess the design process of 

construction projects to identify its main problems and to find out if BIM 

can overcome these problems and enhance the process of design, for the 

achievement of this goal Saudi region was chosen as case study considering 

two different cases, the first case was with construction firm that don’t 

implement BIM in its design and construction processes, where the second 

case was with construction and design firm that partially implement BIM in 

its design processes. 

    Qualitative approach was deployed in data collecting and analysis 

processes. The data was inductively analyzed using computer software 

(QDA Miner) based on grounded theory. The data was gathered through 



xiv 
 

two different tools, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the 

first case’s firm employees, and questionnaire was used with second case’s 

firm employees as a type of structured interview.   

    The results of data analysis uncovered that the first firm deals with 

projects following DBB approach such that the firm modifies the designs 

that come as part of tender’s documents, and the process of modification is 

very time consuming, in addition, it suffers from too many other problems 

most of them are managerial problems.  

    On the other hand, the second firm was found following DB 

approach in its projects, so the firm do the design and construction works. 

The firm implements BIM partially in the design’s operations specifically 

in the detailing stage, the stage where the design is transformed into 

drawing, and the respondents assured that BIM has benefits and save a lot 

of time and money. However, the process of design at early stages also 

suffers from many problems like communication problems with the client 

and the high rate of change orders during the design and construction 

stages. 

    The research concluded that the design process in construction 

projects in Saudi region has problems regardless the project’s delivery 

system, though one of them may be better than the other. Moreover, BIM 

was found as the proper solution to overcome the design problems in both 

cases based on case 2 respondent’s observations that clarified the benefits 



xv 
 

of BIM at detailing stage, and the literature review about how BIM can 

solve each problem of design. 

    However, the implementation of BIM is not that easy, the results 

stated that BIM implementation has barriers like the cost of implementation 

and lack of experienced people in BIM. These barriers should be erased to 

achieve successful BIM experience. 

    Based on the previous findings, the research recommended that BIM 

implementation should be in the whole process of design to benefit from 

the full potential privileges of BIM. In addition, the movement toward BIM 

under the current conditions of Saudi market and the barriers of 

implementing such technology should be performed gradually. Therefore, 

it is recommended to start with a prototype project such that controlling the 

process of implementation and observing the effect of BIM will be easier.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



1 
 

Chapter One 

Introduction 

1.1 Overview 

    Construction is one of the largest nation’s industries and plays a 

powerful role in sustaining economic growth, in addition to improve the 

quality of life. Therefore, the development of this industry is essential to 

the nations and people wellbeing. 

    With the technology revolution and the raise of computers, the 

construction industry was developed simultaneously, starting from papers 

through the Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is a process by 

which a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics 

of a facility are built, analyzed, documented, and assessed virtually, then 

revised iteratively until the optimal model is documented (Yalcinkaya and 

Arditi, 2013). 

    The business value analysis is the way to determine the health and 

wellbeing of the firm in the long run. It’s includes financial, managerial 

and customers value forms. Each firm seeks for increase its profitability 

and gains a higher level of customer satisfaction with more fluent 

managerial processes. However, the construction process flows through 

several complex stages from the planning stage to the operation, 

maintenance…etc. which increases the probability of omissions and errors 



2 
 

that’s increase the cost and affect the quality of the final products, in other 

word, affect the value gained by the firm. Here, the question is “Does the 

BIM improves the value gained by the firms along the value chain of 

construction industry?” 

    While BIM is rapidly expanding around the globe, there are 

significant differences between construction companies’ experience with 

business benefits from BIM in various regions (McGraw Hill, 2014). This 

study will be conducted on Saudi Arabia as it is one of the largest 

construction markets in the Middle East (Ventures Middle East, 2011) to 

find if the applying of BIM is really conservative.  

1.2 Definition of BIM 

    BIM has been defined by many authors, but the precise definition 

has yet to be agreed (Ezcan et al, 2013). Succar (2009a) defined BIM as "a 

set of interacting policies, processes and technologies" which generating a 

"methodology to manage the essential building design and project data in 

digital format throughout the building life-cycle" cited from (Penttila, 

2006). Yalcinkaya and Arditi (2013) defined BIM as "process by which a 

digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a 

facility are built, analyzed, documented and assessed virtually, then revised 

iteratively until the optimal model is documented". Another definition of 

BIM was by Underwood and Isikdag (2011); "The information 

management process throughout the lifecycle of a building which mainly 

focuses on enabling and facilitating the integrated way of project flow and 



3 
 

deliver, by the collaborative use of semantically rich 3D digital building 

models in all stages of the project and building lifecycle." Al mohannadi et 

al (2013) cited this definition from Aranda-Mena et al (2009);"a) a 

software application, b) process for designing and documenting building 

information, and c) an approach to practice and advance the profession 

which requires implementation of new policies, contracts, and 

relationships amongst project stakeholders".  

   The common thing between the previous definitions is that BIM is a 

digital or virtual representation of the building, also it’s a process that 

allows managing information of the project throughout its lifecycle in a 

collaborative and integrated method among the project parties. Where, 

Succar (2009a) and Aranda-Mena et al (2009) definitions argued that BIM 

also requires implementation of new polices and regulations to control the 

process of BIM adoption. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, any of 

these two definitions can be adopted because it’s more comprehensive than 

the others. 

1.3 Facts about Construction Industry in KSA 

- The construction sector in the KSA is the largest and fastest growing 

market in the Arabian Gulf. One quarter of the ongoing projects in 

the Gulf which is estimated by $1.90 trillion are located in Saudi 

Arabia (U.S – Saudi Arabian Business Council, 2009). 



4 
 

- The Kingdome constructs six economic cities as the following table 

explains: 

Table 1.1: Six economic cities information, source (SAGIA). 

- The construction sector has a great potential for growth, especially 

the housing sector as the   Saudi population rising at rate of 2.50% a 

year (U.S – Saudi Arabian Business Council, 2009). 

- According to the expert’s estimates, the Kingdome will spend about 

$400 billion on large infrastructure projects over the coming five 

year (U.S – Saudi Arabian Business Council, 2009). 

    Building on the above mentioned facts, the KSA construction market 

can be considered as rich environment that has a great opportunity to 

prevent wasting a lot of money considering the amount of investments and 



5 
 

the diversity of projects. Such investments should motivate rethinking 

about the current construction industry processes and how to develop it by 

deploying innovative tools and processes. Therefore, this study come as a 

step on the way of developing the processes of construction focusing on the 

design process.      

1.4 Design Process  

    In literature, the construction processes is divided into many stages 

and phases, for example, RIBA plan of work (2013) divided the 

construction process into seven phases among them four related to design 

process. The design processes and its products like models and drawings 

act as input to the whole construction process. Therefore, it is necessary to 

evaluate the process of design to find if it has problems or not. According 

to Vantenn et al (2015) problems in the design process negatively affect the 

whole project lifecycle in terms of productivity and increasing cost. 

Moreover, the cost of change at the design stage is low which make it the 

best stage of project for value realization (Samset, 2008).  

   In the light of this, this research will focus on the design process in 

the construction process due to its important role in the wellbeing of the 

whole project lifecycle in terms of cost, time, and quality.  

1.5 Problem Statement 

    The traditional view of construction process is that it is a set of 

subsequent activities that can be managed and processed in ordered linear 



6 
 

way. However, the real image is not as it looks like, the frequent failures to 

complete construction projects on time and budget indicates that the 

process is neither ordered nor predictable. Examinations reveal that the 

construction process is complex, nonlinear, and dynamic phenomenon 

(Bertelsen, 2003).  

    The proposed country-KSA- invests much money in developing the 

infrastructure of the country. As mentioned earlier, the government 

intention is to build more seaports, airports, roads and economical cities 

which will support the economy growth of KSA. However, the main 

problem faces the construction firms is to finish the projects on time and 

budget with the desirable quality which decreases the profit margin of these 

firms and prohibit the plan of development. There are many reasons of 

wasting time and money, it could be due to design errors, weak project 

control, ineffective communication, repeated work…etc. Tilley (2005) 

stated that rework and document insufficiency come as a result of poor 

management at early stages of design. Since the focus of this research is on 

design process; the first problem is to identify the current design process 

and its main problems. 

    The large content of information and the dynamic nature of 

construction require an efficient tool that can deal with this complexity in a 

systematic way which saves time, minimizes the cost and effect of change. 

Since BIM is the proposed tool in this research, investigating the ability of 



7 
 

BIM to overcome the design process problem is the second issue that 

should be figured out in this research. 

1.6 Research Questions 

    The construction project passes through many stages and to move 

from one stage to another, each stage must be finished properly to avoid 

errors in the next stage. The design stage is one of the important stages in 

the project lifecycle, for this reason the following questions need to be 

answered in this research: 

1- What are the main stages that design process passes through? 

2- What are the main problems that face the designers during the design 

process? 

3- Is the adoption of BIM can overcome the problems of the design 

process? 

4- What are the main barriers of BIM implementation in the 

construction projects? 

1.7 Significance  

   The significance of this study arises from the significance of BIM 

itself. BIM is argued to be a motivator for change aims to reduce industry 

fragmentation, enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. Hence, this study 

will analyze the design process of construction projects and identifies the 



8 
 

main problems that face the designers. Moreover, the effects of these 

problems on the design and the whole lifecycle of project will be identified. 

Then, the study will investigate if the adoption of BIM is the solution to 

avoid the design problems through determining the main potentials of BIM. 

Building on this, the study provides a case study evidence on the efficiency 

of BIM in enhancing the project’s lifecycle which in turn will support the 

development of the construction industry and provides a better chance for 

economy growth. 

1.8 Research Methodology 

     In order to answer the research questions, the research should follow 

a clear and appropriate methodology that fit the research questions. The 

research could follow two main approaches, quantitative approach like 

surveys or the qualitative approach like interviews. Roshan and Deeptee 

(2009) stated that qualitative approach is an exploratory method to collect, 

analyze and interpret the data captured from human behaviors while 

quantitative approach collect, analyze and interpret the data captured from 

numerical patterns. So what is the appropriate approach for this research? 

    The first question is asking about the design process of construction 

projects in Saudi region which is undefined process, also the second 

question is asking about the problems that face the designers during the 

design stage. Thus the research is exploring all of these things, Creswell 

(2012) and Sauro (2015) discussed that it is better to follow the qualitative 

approach when the research exploring something not defined well.  Also 



9 
 

they stated that qualitative research is preferable to understand the context 

and the environment, so understanding the challenges that face the 

designers. 

    Moreover the third question is asking about the role of BIM in 

solving the design process problems and its potential to enhance the facility 

lifecycle. Using quantitative approach to answer this question requires to 

deal with firms that already adopted BIM in their process, such that they 

can provide numerical information about the effect of BIM on the process 

like providing time estimate to finish the shop drawings using BIM 

software, number of design revisions before and after using BIM, number 

of clashes at construction stage before and after BIM adoption..etc. 

However, the study area is Saudi Arabia and the number of firms that could 

provide such information is not enough to be considered as representative 

sample in quantitative research. According to Building Smart survey the 

BIM adoption in the Gulf region is 25%, and most of those BIM adopter 

are using it for visualization only.   Hence, the qualitative approach is more 

suitable to derive the required data to answer the research questions from 

the people mindset. 

1.9 Thesis Structure 

    This research consists of six main chapters. The first chapter 

provides an introduction for the research report. The second chapter shapes 

a background about the BIM topic from previous researches. In the third 

chapter, the methodology of this research is explained in details in terms of 



10 
 

sampling process, performing interviews and data analysis procedure. The 

fourth chapter contains the data analysis process and the extracting of 

results. In addition, chapter five provides a detailed discussion of the 

research result and the final chapter introduces conclusion and 

recommendations of the research.  

1.10 Summary  

    This chapter provided an overview on the construction industry and 

its importance with explanation of the image of the construction process in 

the first section. Further, the chapter gave the definition of BIM from 

literature in the second section. Then, some facts about the investments of 

Saudi Arabia was shown in numbers in the third section. The fourth section 

answered why the research focuses on the design process. In the fifth 

section the problems that this research concerns about has been discussed. 

And the sixth section clarified the main questions that this research should 

answer. The seventh section talked about the significance of this research 

and what it will add to the construction industry. In addition, in section 

number eight the research methodology and the reasons of using it have 

been explained. Finally, the last section provided the structure of this 

research report. 

 

 

 



11 
 

Chapter Two 

Background 

2.1 Construction Industry and BIM 

    The construction process is complex because it requires different 

parties to deal with each other, those parties could be people, firms or 

governmental agencies and every one of them has its own way of managing 

things. Moreover, the process itself passes through different stages and 

each stage has its own professionals and goals. Hence, due to this 

interaction and movement from stage to stage, problems could arise and 

cause wasting of time and money. So, the following section introduce an 

overview on the challenges of the construction industry and its drivers. 

2.1.1 Challenges of the Construction Industry  

    The construction industry faces many difficulties and challenges 

around the globe. Castro (2009) stated that construction is suffering from 

cost overruns and low productivity as a result of design changes, 

communication problems, lack of skilled labors and unexpected site 

conditions. Latham (1994) and Al Hashash (2014) clarified that 

construction industry in the UK has problems like weak communication 

and coordination. 

    According to a study conducted on the Qatari construction industry 

by Almohannadi et al (2013) delivery on time, delivering high quality 



12 
 

products, staying with budget and consistent communication and 

collaboration are the main challenges of Qatari construction industry. 

Moreover, the study revealed that the main drivers for these challenges are 

poor design integration and poor communication. 

     Also, Nader et al (2013) discussed that the reliance on paper-based 

communication will increase the information fragmentation which leads to 

communication and coordination problems that delay the project delivery. 

    Likewise, Indian construction industry suffers from difficulties in 

construction due to the current work system and methodologies which 

cause waste and negatively impact the project performance (Sawhney and 

Singhal, 2013).  

     In the light of the above, most problems are caused as a result of 

weak design integration and design changes, communication and 

coordination problems and fragmented information. Oscar (1983) and Al-

Hashash (2014) stated that ninety percent of problems in site comes as a 

result of inadequate information. Therefore, this research will concentrate 

on the design process with a little focus on communication and 

documentation.  

2.1.2 BIM Drivers and BIM as Solution for the Challenges 

    In the previous section the industry challenges have been discussed, 

and found that the design process problems are main factor for industry 

problems arising. In literature, the studies show that the construction 



13 
 

industry practitioners try to minimize the projects problems by adopting 

different project managing systems like design-build, integrated project 

delivery system, design-bid-build…etc.  

    However, this section provides an overview about a proposed 

solution to overcome the problems of the design process and the whole 

construction process. The proposed solution is building information 

modeling (BIM). 

     Building information modeling is a modern concept of managing 

construction projects which is being more important day by day and it is 

the focus of developed countries (Ezcan et al, 2013). Almohannadi et al 

(2013) stated that there is a strong relation between perception of the 

construction difficulties and the usage of BIM as a method to overcome 

these difficulties. 

   Likewise, Sawhney and Singhal (2013) stated that top management 

realization for the potential of BIM is a main driver for BIM 

implementation. Moreover, they revealed that technology advancement and 

improving the current work system and methodologies are main drivers for 

BIM implementation too. 

    So, What BIM can add to the construction industry and to the design 

process in particular? While the maximum effect of BIM on a project 

would be in the design phase because of the high chance to affect the cost 

(Hergunsel, 2011). 



14 
 

    Messner (2009) provided a summary that shows BIM benefits at 

each stage of a facility lifecycle. This summary is shown in the following 

figure: 

 

Figure 2.1: BIM benefits at each stage of facility lifecycle (Messner, 2009) 

    The figure concludes that BIM has benefits at all stages of facility 

lifecycle starting from planning stage up to the operation and maintenance 

stage. The focus of this study is the design stage, and one of the most 

important BIM privileges at this stage are better design reviews and design 

authoring which can be called “Constructability Reviews” – Which will be 

discussed in the upcoming sections-.  Moreover, the figure clarified that 

BIM has potentials in movement from one stage to another like “3D 

coordination” which is very important to move from design stage to 

construction stage.  



15 
 

    However, the following table summarizes the main benefits of BIM 

at each stage of a facility lifecycle according to different references: 

Table 2.1: BIM benefits according to different references 

Lifecycle 

Stage 

BIM Benefits at Each Stage Reference 

Planning 

Stage 

- BIM can provide different 

scenarios with accurate 

representation which helps in 

decision making process and 

allows for cost and effect 

comparisons. 

- BIM allows the integration of 

models that representing the 

existing conditions of the project 

site in 3D form like LiDAR. 

- BIM is useful for noise mapping 

by integration of information 

from BIM models and GIS. 

- BIM would be helpful for 

communicating public 

information and future plans with 

people. 

- Autodesk (2015). 

- Autodesk (2015). 

- Cheng and 

Anumba (2015). 

- Liebech (2013). 

Design Stage - 3D coordination between 

different disciplines like MEP in 

order to detect clashes of design. 

- BIM can save half of the time 

and cost that spent using 

traditional design methods. 

- BIM helps designer to 

understand the performance of 

roadway by trying different 

traffic volumes against different 

options of road design. 

- Scheduling and cost estimation: 

BIM models can generates time 

schedules, cost estimates and 

cash flow reports which is very 

essential for communication of 

-Hergunsel (2011). 

- Yan and Damian 

(2013). 

- Autodesk (2015). 

- Shou et al (2015). 

- Autodesk (2011). 

 



16 
 

designs with contractor. Also, 

they are very important for the 

construction stage management.  

- BIM provides flexibility in 

changing the design regardless 

how many time the data has 

changed. 

Construction 

Stage 

- BIM can be used for deriving 

models and information for 

fabrication purposes. 

- BIM allows for generating cut 

and fill models that can be 

integrated with cutting machines, 

as a result enhancing the speed 

and accuracy of work. 

- BIM models can be used for 

safety planning of the 

construction site. 

- Hergunsel (2011). 

- Autodesk (2015). 

- Shou et al (2015). 

 

Operation 

Stage 

- BIM helps in reducing the human 

resource at operation stage. 

- If the BIM model has updated 

continuously through the 

construction stage till the end of 

construction, the final resulting 

model called “As Built Model” 

and it can be considered as a 

record that helps in future 

maintenance operations. 

- Facility management activities. 

- Yan and Damian 

(2013) and 

Autodesk (2002). 

- Autodesk (2015). 

- Shou et al (2015). 

    Further, the study of Sawhney and Singhal (2013) identified the 

impact of BIM on the project performance, the results showed high relative 

enhancement in the design phase like “better design management”, 

“reduced errors and omissions” and “better coordination of 

documentation”. Besides that, the study stated that the importance of BIM 

extends to the construction phase like reduced rework and reducing conflict 

during construction. 



17 
 

    Also, Nader et al (2013) discussed that the adoption of BIM will 

enhance the exchange of information and reduce the waste and inefficient 

activities.  

2.1.3 BIM Barriers  

     As in case of any technology BIM has barriers that prevent the firms 

from deploying it. According to Almohannadi et al (2013) study, firms do 

not implement BIM because they “have not asked to use BIM” and “do not 

have the appropriate people”.  

    While, according to Sawhney and Singhal (2013) the main barriers 

of BIM are “Mindset of people”, “Lack of skilled workforce”, “Lack of 

awareness about BIM” and “Cost of implementation”. Nader et al (2013) 

stated that deployment of BIM should be performed in parallel with 

employee development and process improvement, also top management 

should create a clear vision and suitable business environment. 

    Similarly, Ezcan et al (2013) revealed that having a wide national 

strategy will facilitate the implementation and organizational role should be 

more efficient. Thus, absence of the national strategy can be considered as 

a barrier for wide BIM deployment. 

    Moreover, Yan and Damian (2013) concluded that firms have a weak 

willingness to invest in BIM because its financial benefit not approved by a 

case studies yet. Also, they claimed that people consider the current 

technology is enough and they resist to learn new things.     



18 
 

2.2 Design Process  

    As mentioned before, this research aims to answer the research 

questions about the design process and the problems face the designers. 

Hence, this section will introduce literature review about project delivery 

systems and its relation with the design process, stages of design, and the 

constructability of designs. 

2.2.1 Project‟s Delivery Systems 

    Construction projects have multiple delivery systems like integrated 

project delivery system, construction manager, and the commonly known 

systems design-bid-build (DBB) and design-build (DB) systems. The 

Construction Industry Institute CII (2002) provided definitions for the last 

two systems as: 

- Design-build (DB): in this approach, the owner hires one entity to do 

both the design and construction works (one contract). Hence, the 

construction and design start simultaneously. Moreover, construction 

aspects from different disciplines are integrated in the design such that the 

coordination and collaboration among the owner and the designers is 

relatively high. Usually in this approach the design-builder takes the 

contractual risk. 

- Design-bid-build (DBB): this is the most common delivery system 

especially for public projects, where the owner hires a designer to deliver 

all the required design documents, then the owner performs a bidding 

process to hire contractor to do the construction works, usually the lowest 



19 
 

price is chosen. There is no contractual relationship between the designer 

and contractor, so the owner takes the risk of missing information and 

designs. This approach is linear process such that the construction cannot 

be started till the full design is delivered.  

    Actually, it is the owner responsibility to decide the appropriate 

delivery system to achieve his goals. Tyson Building Corporation (2005) 

stated that when the owner selects the delivery system he should consider 

time available to build the facility, the complexity of the building, available 

time and expertise od in-house staff, budget constraints and how much the 

risk that owner willing to assume during the building process.  

    In fact, both systems have advantages and disadvantages, and this 

was clarified by Fernane (2011) as the following tables illustrate: 

Table 2.2: Advantages and Disadvantages of DBB delivery system 

Advantages Disadvantages 

Owner controls design and 

construction. 

Requires significant owner expertise 

and resources. 

Design changes easily 

accommodated prior to start of 

construction. 

Shared responsibility for project 

delivery. 

Design is complete prior to 

construction award. 

Owner at risk to contractor for 

design errors. 

Construction cost is fixed at 

contract award (until Change 

Orders). 

Design and construction are 

sequential, typically resulting in 

longer schedules. 

Low bid cost, maximum 

competition 

Construction costs unknown until 

contract award. 

Relative ease of implementation. 
No contractor input in design, 

planning, or value engineering (VE). 

Owner controls 

design/construction quality. 
 



20 
 

Table 2.3: Advantages and disadvantages of DB delivery system 

Advantages Disadvantages 

Single entity responsible for design 

and construction. 

Minimal owner control of both 

design and construction quality. 

Construction often starts before 

design completion, reducing project 

schedule. 

Requires a comprehensive and 

carefully prepared performance 

specification. 

Construction cost is known and 

fixed during design; price certainty. 

Design changes after construction 

begins are costly. 

Transfer of design and construction 

risk from owner to the DB entity. 

Potentially conflicting interests as 

both designer and contractor. 

Emphasis on cost control. 
No party is responsible to represent 

owner’s interests. 

Requires less owner expertise and 

resources. 

Use may be restricted by 

regulation. 

    However, Change et al (2010) concluded that DB projects provides 

better performance. Also, Tyson (2005) and CII (2002) study in 

collaboration with Pennsylvania State University realized that DB projects 

outperforms DBB projects in terms of cost performance, schedule control, 

number of change orders and quality of end product with reduced rework.  

2.2.2 Stages of Design 

    The focus of this research is on the design process of construction 

projects, and there are a lot of guides that explain the stages of design 

whether it is for a building or infrastructure. Hence, this section will 

provide an example on the stages of design according to the U.S. 

Department of Transportation guide. The following figure illustrates the 

stages of highway development as it was mentioned by the U.S. 

Department of Transportation. 



21 
 

 

Figure 2.2: Highway development Stages 

    They also discussed that the final design features can mostly affected 

by the first three stages of planning, project development and final design.  

 Planning stage: At this stage the need for highway or highway 

improvement is addressed and identified with involvement of the 

public. Moreover, the effects of the proposed project on the 

surrounding area should be considered regarding many factors like 

cost, safety, environmental quality and physical characteristics. 

 Project development stage: this stage includes refinement of the 

purposes of the project. Further, alternatives are developed and 

evaluated regarding its effects on the environment. Also, the major 

design features is identified at this stage. 

 Final Design stage: at this stage the plans, estimates and 

specifications of needed quantities and materials are prepared to be 



22 
 

ready for bidding process. At this stage the designers should be 

aware to be flexible in their designs such that a minor changes to the 

original concept can be made in order to have a better final product. 

 Right-of-way and construction stage: At this stage the bedding 

process is performed and the contractor is selected. As mentioned 

before, minor changes in design may be necessary, therefore the 

involvement of the design team at this stage is also necessary. After 

finishing this stage, the highway will be ready for operation. 

    The U. S. Department of Transportation emphasizes that though 

these stages are distinct, there is an overlap and coordination among the 

project parties, including designers, throughout the stages of project 

development. 

2.2.3 Constructability in Design  

    Many studies in literature have discussed the challenges of design 

process in construction projects. Mendelsohn (1997) and (Anderson et al 

1999) discussed that constructability has an essential role in the planning 

and design phases due to its potential in minimizing changes, disputes and 

delays at construction stage. (Anderson et al 1995) stated that 

“constructability is often portrayed as integrating construction knowledge, 

resources, technology and experience into the engineering and design of a 

project”.  



23 
 

    Consequently, performing constructability reviews requires a 

technology tool that allows integration of different fields of engineering 

with the ability of discovering clashes and omissions, and reinforce all of 

that with high quality representation of a facility. Unlike the traditional 2D 

CAD tools, BIM tools can provides a perfect environment to perform 

constructability reviews for the designs. 

     However, (Anderson et al 1999) have performed a study to find out 

the reasons of weak constructability in highway project’s designs 

considering design firms and construction firm’s points of view. The 

reasons concluded by the study are: 

Design Firms Observations 

1. Inadequate coordination of designs, plans, and specifications. 

2. Lack of experience and knowledge. 

3. Poor communication and feedback. 

4. Inadequate time and funds for constructability. 

5. Unavailability of early review of designs. 

6. Uncoordinated timing, phasing, and scheduling. 

Construction Firms Observations 

1. Unclear designs, plans, and specifications. 

2. Poor scheduling and phasing of construction. 



24 
 

3. Lack of communications and feedback. 

4. Unavailability of design review. 

5. Lack of experience and knowledge. 

2.3 Documentation process 

       Referring to section 2.1.1, fragmented documents and inadequate 

information are considered as main reasons for projects failure. Thus, the 

documentation process is essential for the consistency of information and 

project success. 

    The American Institute of Architects defined (2015) documentation 

as physical things like paper, drawings, contracts, material submittals..etc. 

Electronic things like emails, text messages, visual recording..etc. And 

anything related to the firm’s record. 

    These records should be kept in a suitable way to achieve many 

objectives.  According to ISO 9001:2015 the objectives of documentation 

are: 

1- Communication of information: documents are tool for transmission 

of information and the type of information depends on the firm 

products and processes. 

2- Sharing of knowledge. 

3- Evidence of conformity: to assure that what was planned has actually 

done. 



25 
 

4- To keep the firm experience in order to use it in development 

purposes. 

    The “Quality in Construction” website provides some essential tips 

for document controlling in construction projects regardless the size of the 

project and regardless the method of documentation, it can be considered as 

minimum requirement of document controlling: 

1- Accessibility: The construction team should have easy access to any 

document related to their job in any time. 

2- Changes on documents: The construction team should be always 

informed with any changes or update on any document (especially 

drawings). Else, there is a large margin of risk that people working in 

site with outdated drawings or materials. 

3- Quick inform of changes: There is a need to immediately inform the 

construction team with changes on drawings or documents. It can be 

by marking, clouds..etc. 

4- Coding system: every document or drawing should have a unique 

code in order to facilitate tracking of document. 

5- Previous revisions: once the document or drawing approved, the 

previous revisions should be removed or stored away from the 

project in order to avoid inappropriate use.  



26 
 

6- Status of document: the construction team should be informed with 

the status of document or drawings in their hands. It could be by a 

stamping system or anything else. 

7- Source of information: It is essential to have one source of 

distributing information and it should be known by all construction 

team. Any document or drawing comes from any other source should 

be considered invalid to use in site. 

2.4 Qualitative Data Analysis  

       In order to answer the research questions, this research has followed 

up the qualitative data analysis as a method to collect and analyze the data. 

The following subsections explains the definition of qualitative data 

analysis, why it could be selected and the procedure of this method of 

analysis. 

2.4.1 Definition 

    According to (Gibbs, 2002) qualitative data analysis can be defined 

as a set of procedures that let the researcher understand, explain and 

interpret the situation and the people being investigated. Burnand et al 

(2008) stated that the analysis of qualitative data follows two main 

approaches: the deductive approach and the inductive approach. They 

argued that in deductive approach the researchers tested their own theories 

against the data. While, in inductive approach the researchers have little or 

no predetermined thoughts about the theory. Moreover, they clarified that 



27 
 

inductive approach is more flexible, comprehensive, and most common in 

analyzing data. In addition, deductive approach researchers are narrow, 

primal and unproductive (T. Egan, 2002) and (Glaser and Strauss, 1967).  

Deniz and Lincolen (2005) discussed that qualitative data analysis follows 

inductive and analytical strategy. Pope, ziebland, Mays (1999) and 

Burnand et al (2008) assures that thematic content analysis is the most 

common inductive approach in analyzing qualitative data, this method is 

also called grounded theory.  

2.4.2 Grounded Theory 

    Woods, Gapp, King (2016), Glaser (1978) and Hage (1972) defined 

grounded theory as “ set of categories that are related to one another to 

form a framework that explains the main concerns of the participant in 

relation to the research area and shows how this concern is resolved and 

managed”. Grounded theory study provides a new theory based on 

participant lived experiences (Fassinger, 2005) and (D. Barrnett, 2012). 

Moreover, grounded theory demonstrates complications in practitioners 

experiences (D. Barrnett, 2012). Charmaz (2006) concludes that grounded 

theory provides more flexibility and focus than many methods. He also 

claims that with grounded theory, the researcher can refine the process of 

gaining data and as a result refine the collected data.  

     In fact, everything the researcher could learn during the research can 

be considered as data, Barneyg G. Glaser says “All is Data” (cited in 

Charmaz, 2006, P16). Likewise, Charmaz (2006) discussed that the 



28 
 

researchers like graduate students have an advantage point while they can 

start a research project based on their concrete background in their 

disciplines. However, the researcher should be open to new things as much 

as possible during the research. 

2.4.3 Qualitative Data Analysis Tools 

    Peter and Wester (2004) stated that qualitative analysis has to be 

done in three ways, observation, interpretation and selection. Chowdhury 

and Quant (2015) discussed that the researcher can collect data through 

various methods such as observation, interviews practitioners and written 

discourses. Hence, the interviews are the most common in qualitative 

studies (A. Saleh, 2013) and (Egan, 2002), it had been adopted in this 

research. According to Bowers (1988) interviews may be structured, 

unstructured or semi-structured, he concludes that structured interviews are 

not suitable for grounded theory studies. However, in literature structured 

and semi-structured interviews are considered compatible with grounded 

theory studies.  The researcher could use semi-structured interviews in 

order to gain more focused information and he can lead the conversation 

using persuading words (K. Duffy, C. Ferguson, H. Watson, 2000). In 

addition, they assures  (Rose, 1994) debates that in semi-structured 

interviews the researcher can follow up with respondent answers to gather 

information related to significant issues that could be related to research 

questions. 



29 
 

2.4.4 Grounded Theory Procedure 

    Peter and Wester (2004) stated that in qualitative analysis the 

analytical frame arise during the research project itself. However, (K. 

Punch, 2009) explains that data analysis should starts with coding. He 

defined code as label, tags or names, hence coding means connect these 

tags or labels with data. Moreover, he discuss the types of coding as 

follows: 

- Open coding: is generating abstract categories from data, these 

abstract categories considered as building block of the theory. The 

codes derived by open coding are descriptive more than inference 

codes. 

- Axial coding: is the next step of qualitative data analysis, it comes to 

connect the codes generated by open coding (Strauss and Corbin, 

1990). There are many logical methods to connect things together, 

for example, cause and effect, procedure or steps of a process, or 

properties of something. 

- Selective coding: is the third stage of qualitative data analysis which 

means selecting a core category and focus on it. 

  



30 
 

The following diagram explains K. Punch definitions of coding types 

 
Figure 2.3: Representation of grounded theory analysis by K. Punch (2009) 

2.5 Summary 

    This chapter provided an overview in literature about the main topics 

of this research. In the first section, a literature review has introduced about 

the challenges of construction industry and BIM. Where the second section 

clarified the projects delivery systems, the stages of design process and the 

definition of constructability. The third section discussed the 

documentation objectives and how to document construction project 

documents. Lastly, the fourth section was about the qualitative data 

analysis meaning and the grounded theory procedure.  

 

  



31 
 

Chapter Three  

Methodology 

    This chapter provides a detailed description for the method that was 

used to collect and analyze the data in order to answer the research 

questions. In addition, it explains the research strategy, research tools, 

research sample and the source of data. 

    Qualitative data analysis was chosen as an approach to analyze the 

data by a computer software called QDA Miner. The research was 

conducted with engineers from the field of construction projects in KSA. 

Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were performed to acquire 

data about the design process stages and its problems, and to find out what 

BIM can add to solve these problems 

3.1 Research Strategy 

       As mentioned in chapter 2, qualitative data analysis follows two 

main approaches, the deductive approach, and the inductive approach. The 

difference between these two approaches is that the researcher has a theory 

or predetermined thoughts about the theory before he conducts the research 

or not.  

     In this research, the targeted area is Saudi Arabia where the adoption 

of BIM is not an industry fashion. According to a survey conducted by 

Sharif (2011) 75% of the construction industry personnel in Gulf region 



32 
 

and Jordan are not BIM adopter, and most of the other 25% are beginner 

with BIM –they use it only for visualization-. Hence, the amount of studies 

in literature about the BIM topic and its potentials in the Gulf region seems 

to be nonexistent. And this prohibit shaping a picture about the effects of 

adopting BIM in the construction industry. 

     However, Egan (2002) concluded that it is sufficient to have general 

understanding about the situation being investigated to initiate qualitative 

data research. Hence, because of the above mentioned reasons and to add 

more flexibility to the process of gathering data, the researcher decided to 

employ inductive qualitative data analysis following the procedure of 

grounded theory that was discussed in chapter 2 in order to discover more 

about the design process from the project’s engineer’s experiences in their 

daily lives (A. Saleh, 2013 and Mariapolski, 2001) and to assess the 

existing design process and its main problems from the real design 

environment of construction projects.  

    Furthermore, the research utilized this approach in order to answer 

the question of what BIM can add to enhance the design process and the 

whole construction industry. 

3.2 Research Flow  

    The research has been started with performing a literature review 

about the main topics of this research like construction industry challenges, 

design process and BIM potential benefits. Then, two firms have been 



33 
 

considered as different case studies, the first case is not BIM-adopter firm 

and the second one is BIM-adopter. 

Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with industry 

practitioners from not BIM-adopter firm in order to deeply understand the 

design process main stages and its main problems that negatively affect the 

whole project lifecycle. In addition to identify the perception and thoughts 

of employees about BIM. It is important to notice that not all the 

interviewees are employed in the case firm, some of them are consultant 

engineers that are working in projects executed by the case firm. 

    The next step came as following up to the results of case 1 because it 

make more sense to discover the role of BIM in overcoming the design 

process problems based on real business experience. Hence, data gathering 

from the second case, which is BIM-adopter, was through a questionnaire 

distributed to 9 engineers from the case firm technical office in order to 

further understand the design process and its problems, in addition, to 

identify if BIM can fix these problems. 

    Actually the firms in two cases are working in different fields of 

construction, the first one is in infrastructure projects and the second is in 

the field of steel structure buildings. However, it makes no difference what 

is the field of firm’s operation as the research concerns is the design 

process as flow of work not what is technically done in the process.  



34 
 

    The following figure illustrates the research flow a9nd what is each 

stage about: 

 

Figure 3.1: Research flow diagram 

3.3 Research Tools  

     In order to gain a valuable results, the gathered data should be 

sufficient and clear which can be achieved through using the suitable 

research tool. One of the main goals of this research is to assess the design 

process and reveal its main problems, and the general situation in KSA is 

that the construction firms are not BIM-adopter. Hence, Semi-structured 

interviews were used to collect data in case 1 of this research since it’s the 

case of not BIM-adopter firm. Semi-structured interview is the most used 

tool in qualitative research, also it gives the researcher more control and 

Literature 
review 

 

 

• Construction industry challanges. 

• BIM potential benifits. 

• BIM barriers. 

• Construction projects delivery systems. 

• Design process stages. 
 

 

Case 1 

• Construction firm in the field of infrstructure (Not BIM-adopter). 

• Semi-structured interviews with 10 practitioners. 

• Identifying design process stages and problems. 

• Identifying the perception of BIM and BIM barriers. 

Case 2 

•Construction firm in the field of steel structures buildings (Partialy BIM-adopter). 

•Structured interviews with 9 engineers employed by the firm. 

•identifying the design process stages and problems. 

•identfying the benifits and barriers of BIM. 

Comparison  

•compare the rsults of interviews with the results of questionnare to uncover if BIM can 
overcome the design process, taking into consideration the literature review outcomes. 



35 
 

flexibility to pursue the interviewees during the interviews. Moreover,  

audio recorded semi-structured interviews give a chance for further refine 

of transcript and gain a high level of details (Saleh, 2013) ( D.L. Morgan & 

Guevara, 2008; Silverman, 2001).  

    On the other hand, structured interviews were used to collect data in 

case 2 since it came as a following up case in this research. Cohen and 

Crabtree (2006) stated that structured interviews best use is after using less 

structured interviewing methods that provide the researcher with adequate 

information about the topic. The following subsections explain how each 

approach was used in this research: 

3.3.1 Semi-structured interviews in case 1  

   The questions of the interviews were open-ended questions in order 

to give more freedom to the interviewees in their answers and create a 

chance of acquiring more data (A. Saleh, 2013) and (Kadushin, 1990). The 

interviews were performed in Arabic language considering that some 

interviewees are not fluent with English. Then, the interviews transformed 

from audio recorded into written transcript in English language. These 

transcripts were used as input data to a computer software to analyze it and 

extract a meaningful information. The interviewing process has started on 

7-Dec-2015 and ended by 22-Nov-2016, each interview took 

approximately 40 to 50 minutes to be conducted. 



36 
 

3.3.2 Structured interviews 

    The interviews in this case were paper-based self-administered 

questionnaires, this type of questionnaires are considered as structured 

interviews (Cohen and Crabtree, 2006). The questionnaire have been 

distributed on the engineers of second firm’s technical office and they 

asked to answer the questions within two days. The questionnaires were 

distributed in 15-Oct-2017 and collected in 17-Oct-2017. Then, the answers 

of questionnaires were analyzed using the same computer software that is 

used in case 1. 

    Mckenson and Wille (1999) highlighted that computer systems 

allows the researcher to deal with huge amount of data and provides better 

coding techniques. Hence, the QDA Miner software was used in analyzing 

data as per grounded theory method. According to PROVALIS research 

website, QDA Miner software is a qualitative data analysis tool for coding, 

annotating, retrieving and analyzing documents and images that can be 

used to analyze different types of data like interviews, transcripts, speeches, 

journal articles and any type of text data. In addition, it allows for 

analyzing photographs, paintings and drawings.    

3.4 Development of the Interview and Questionnaire  

    The interview questions in both cases were designed to collect the 

required data to answer the research questions. The following subsections 

clarify each interview’s development process: 



37 
 

3.4.1 Development of case 1 interview‟s questions 

    There were two different forms of interview’s questions (Refer to 

appendix 1 &2). The first one was used with engineers from the firm’s 

technical office and the other was used with consultant engineers that are 

working in the same projects of the case 1 firm in order to gain data from 

different point of views. However, both two forms questions have the same 

goals. 

    Each interview contains 13-17 questions divided into 5 sections. The 

first section aimed to gather personal data about the interviewees, the 

interviewee name, position, years of experience, and contact information.  

     The second section contains introductory questions in order to 

identify the stages of design process which is answering the first research 

question, and its main problems to answer the second research question. 

Also there was a question about the technology tools that are used in design 

process, and the last question was about the current usage of BIM tools in 

the design process to assess the engineer’s familiarity with BIM 

applications. 

    In order to gather more focused data, the interview’s questions had 

considered the main industry challenges that was discussed in chapter 2. 

The fragmented nature and insufficient information, ineffective 

communication and coordination are the main difficulties that face the 



38 
 

industry practitioner. Therefore, the third and fourth sections concentrate 

on the documentation and communication problems.  

     The third section was to gather data about the documentation method 

of produced design and the problem that faces the practitioners in the 

current method of documentation. Moreover, this section aimed to 

determine the role of BIM to overcome the documentation problems from 

the interviewee point of view. 

    The fourth section was about the communication tools that are used 

by the project parties and the difficulties of communication process if it is 

exist. Furthermore, this section investigates the role of other engineering 

sections like Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in the design process 

to investigate about the coordination process. 

     The fifth part of interviews came to investigate more about BIM and 

its potentials. It aimed to define the proper use of BIM to enhance the 

design process and at what stage of the design process it is better to adopt 

BIM. In addition, this section gathered the interviewee’s suggestions to 

improve the design process and their perception of BIM as a tool of design.  

     However, though the case firm is not BIM-adopter, the questions 

related to BIM were developed to gather data in case the respondent is 

familiar with BIM from his own previous experience. Besides that, the 

researcher added questions in some interviews through the discussion with 

interviewees or as a response to the interviewee’s answers.  



39 
 

3.4.2 Development of the case 2 questionnaire 

    The questionnaire consisted of two parts (Refer to appendix 4), the 

first one was to gather personal data about the respondent like name, 

position and years of experience. Where, the second part contained five 

questions, the first question asked about the problems that the designer 

faces during the process of design, , and the second one was about the 

stages of design process followed by the case firm, so these two questions 

were to further investigate about the results of case 1. While the third 

question was about the technology tools that are adopted by the case firm, 

and the fourth question was about the benefits of using these tools against 

the traditional tools of design, so these two questions aimed to reveal what 

BIM can do to overcome the design problems. The last question was about 

the barriers of using such tools in the whole process of design and 

construction as the case firm is partial BIM-adopter. 

    It is important to notice that the questionnaire came more focused 

than the semi-structured interview for many reasons. First, the 

questionnaire was after the semi-structured interview, so it focused on the 

main research objectives which are design stages, design problems and role 

of BIM in enhancing the design process. Second, questionnaires should not 

be too long because long questionnaires are completed with less accuracy 

by the respondents (Adam and Cox, 2008). As a result the questionnaire 

did not asked about the communication and documentation topics, besides 



40 
 

that, the firm does not use BIM to communicate its designs, it uses the 

traditional 2D drawings.  

3.5 Research Sample 

3.5.1 Case one sample 

     Burnand and Gill (2008) clarified that qualitative data analysis 

requires intensive resources and time consuming. However, in this 

approach unlike the quantitative methods there is no equations to determine 

the required sample size. Egan (2002) mentioned that “Data collection is 

not time discrete but is woven with data analysis until the researcher has 

determined a point of saturation”. Furthermore, (Dey, 1999) stated that the 

researcher should stop sampling when theoretical saturation achieved. 

Saturation occurs when the researcher cannot view new information 

(Simon, 2011).   

     Therefore, the researcher started sampling with no previous idea 

about the number of required interviews to reach the point of saturation. 

The process of data collection progressed with data analysis interview by 

interview. In other word, the researcher conducted the next interview after 

finishing the previous one coding. The point of saturation was achieved 

after conducting 10 interviews, out of them 7 were with contractor’s 

employees, and the other with consultant engineers from different firms. 

The following table illustrates the interviewee’s profiles: 

 



41 
 

Table 3.1: Case 1 interviewee's profiles 

Serial 
Interviewee 

Name 

Position Years of 

Experience 
Employer 

1 
Hussen 

Mahmoud 
Designer 6 Al-Rwabet 

2 Amro Saleem Draftsman 8 Al-Rwabet 

3 
Abdulmen’m 

Jamal 

Project 

Manager 
15 Al-Rwabet 

4 
Abdullatef 

Adam 

Consultant 

Engineer 
8 SATIC 

5 Mostfa Othman Designer 

6 as designer, 

5 as site 

engineer 

Al-Rwabet 

6 Ahmed Dahi 
Project 

Manager 
13 Al-Rwabet 

7 
Malek 

Alasyote 
Designer 4 Al-Rwabet 

8 
Nour Al-din 

Ata 
Designer 

3 as site 

engineer 
Al-Rwabet 

9 Ala Bakkar 
Consultant 

Engineer 
7 Saudi Tech 

10 
Mohammed 

Abu Hashem 

Former 

consultant, 

Designer 

7 Bayt Alkhebra 

3.5.2 Case two sample  

    As mentioned before, the used approach in this case was distributing 

questionnaire as a type of structured interview. The case firm technical 

office contains 13 detailing engineers and 5 design engineers, the 

respondents were 7 detailing engineers out of 13 and the designers were 3 

out of 5, so the respondent’s percent were 54% and 60% in arrow. The 

following table explains the respondent’s profiles: 

 



42 
 

Table 3.2: Case 2 respondent's profiles 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.6 Data Analysis Procedure 

The data analysis has started after conducting the first interview 

according to the process that was stated in section 2.4.4 starting with open 

coding of data, then finding relations between codes as axial coding, and 

finally select the core category as selective coding.  

Though, the procedure of grounded theory explains that defining the 

core category is the third stage in analysis. K. Punch (2009) mentioned that 

“potential core categories are noted right from the start of the analysis, 

though final decision about the core category should not be made too 

early”.   

The following example explains how the researcher has adopted the 

grounded theory method in analyzing the gathered data through the 

interviews and questionnaires. 

Serial 
Interviewee 

Name 
Position 

Years of 

Experience 
Employer 

1 Ezat Abu-Farha Manager 10 IBSF 

2 Omnyia Yassin Design Engineer 6 IBSF 

3 Samar Bishawi Design Engineer 6 IBSF 

4 Riham Abu-

Shmais 

Design-Detailing 

Engineer 
6 IBSF 

5 Sama Sha’ar Detailing Engineer 5 IBSF 

6 Ramz Bustami Detailing Engineer 4 IBSF 

7 Amal Alsafadi Detailing Engineer 2 IBSF 

8 Lubna Waleed Detailing Engineer 2 IBSF 

9 Safaa Suliman Detailing Engineer 2 IBSF 
 



43 
 

Consider the question No1 in the second section of contractor’s 

employee’s form of case 1 interviews. The question was: 

Do you think that the design process has any problems? If yes, what are the 

main problems that you are facing during the process? 

The respondent answers were as follows: 

Interviewee No 1 

Yes, we face many problems during the design which occurs 

due to poor planning from the beginning of the project. For 

example, our designs depends on data that have been 

gathered from site by surveying tools. In many cases this data 

may be fault. Then, the error discovered at the late stages of 

the design in such time doing modifications will be 

disastrous. 

Interviewee No 2 

Yes, the main problem that the work does not organized well. 

I have to deal with each engineer or surveyor separately. In 

some cases there are a lot of jobs that I should finished 

immediately. This make me confused and affect my 

productivity. 

Interviewee No 3 

Yes, one of the most important problems is that the designers almost 

do not have executive experience. Therefore, they may ignore some 

executive limitations when they put the design criteria. As a result of 

this, the contractor has to make modifications on these designs to 



44 
 

consider such limitations. Moreover, as in case of municipality 

projects, the executives work in site started before the designs 

completely finished. As a result, doing modifications become harder 

with the project progress in site.  

Interviewee No 5 

Yes. I think the process of design approval after modification of the 

design is very time consuming. The designer should make the 

suggested modification then send it to the consultant. The consultant 

may approve the design and then send it to the client to review it or 

he may suggest another modification. This process is not integrated 

and very time consuming. 

Interviewee No 6 

Yes. We face a problem with the technical office. The shop drawings 

of structural elements which produced by the designers may cause a 

large quantity of wasted steel. The designer should consider the 

length of bar in a manner that reduce the wasted steel to the 

minimum.  

Interviewee No 7 

Yes, we face many problems during the design phases. For example, 

most of ministry of transportation projects the designs are produced 

by a design office hired by the ministry. When the contractor and 

consultant of the project defined they will make modifications. This 

process consume time and effort. Also, in some cases the surveyor 

that collect data from site may be unprofessional I think there is a 

problem with the employee recruiting. 

 



45 
 

Interviewee No 8 

Yes. The main problem here is the repeated work that comes as a 

result of lack of coordination between project parties. In such cases, 

the client and the consultant may suggest different solutions to solve 

a problem or perform action. Especially in preparing shop drawing, 

you work for days on preparing it according to consultant 

instructions, then before the approval, the client may suggest 

different instructions, as a result you have to repeat the work. 

Moreover, preparing shop drawing or as built drawing or proposals 

should be done according to time schedule in order to organize the 

work of technical office, here we deal with more than one project 

and every project engineer want his job done in short time even he 

asks for it when he needs it. This puts you under continuous pressure 

and causes lack of concentration to designer.   

    The analysis was started with open coding, all sentences underlined 

with red color are coded as “Design Problems”. Likewise, sentences 

underlined with green coded as “Causes” and the Pink-underlined 

considered as “Effects”.   

    The next step was axial coding, at this stage the researcher was 

trying to find connections between the open-coded data. Let’s take a look 

on data of the code “Design problems”: 

1. Error discovered at the late stages of the design. 

2. The work does not organized well. 

3. The designers almost do not have executive experience. 



46 
 

4. The executives work in site started before the designs completely 

finished. 

5. The process of design approval after modification of the design is 

very time consuming. 

6. We face a problem with the technical office. The shop drawings of 

structural elements which produced by the designers may cause a 

large quantity of wasted steel. 

7. Most of ministry of transportation projects the designs are produced 

by a design office hired by the ministry. When the contractor and 

consultant of the project defined they will make modifications. 

8. The surveyor that collect data from site may be unprofessional. 

9. The repeated work. 

10. Preparing shop drawing or as built drawing or proposals should be 

done according to time schedule in order to organize the work of 

technical office. 

It is clear that there is a relation among some of these problems. 

Some are related to technical issues such as problem No 6 and problem No 

8, and the others related to managerial and organizational issues. Therefore, 

the code “Design problems” can be recoded as “Managerial design 

problems” and “Technical design problems”. However, it is possible to 

code the same problem in both new codes, for example, sentence No 8 can 



47 
 

be coded in both codes. It can be technical if the high risk of collecting 

fault data is considered. On the other hand, it is coded as managerial if the 

problem seen as problem in recruiting the right people or as problem in 

training of employees.  

The same happened with the code “effects” 

1. This make me confused and affect my productivity. 

2. Very time consuming. 

3. This process consume time and effort. 

4. This put you under continuous pressure and cause lack of 

concentration to designer.   

     By taking a look into these effects, it is noted that a connection can 

be identified among them. Some affect the employees themselves like 

making the employee confused, and the other affect the work such as 

consuming time and effort. Therefore, the code “effects” can be divided 

into two codes “Effect on personnel” and “Direct effect on the work”.  

     The third step in coding process is selective coding, at this stage the 

researcher should concentrate on the core category by further scanning and 

skimming of data. For this example, the code “Causes” was produced by 

open coding contains: 

1. Occurs due to poor planning from the beginning of the project. 



48 
 

2. In many cases this data may be fault. 

3. Lack of coordination between project parties. 

     The above are reasons for problems arising in design process. 

However, the first one claims that poor planning from the beginning of 

project is a cause for arising problems and that is true, considering another 

point of view, poor planning can be considered as managerial problem. 

Therefore, this sentence was recoded with “Managerial design problems” 

as selective coding process.  Likewise, the other two causes, the second one 

was recoded with “Technical design problems” and the third was recoded 

with “Managerial design problems”. 

    The researcher emphasizes that it is possible to find data that should 

be coded in a category that isn’t related to the question’s goal. On other 

words, if question No 1 in the interview aims to gather data about design 

problems, it is not obligatory to code only from this question’s answers 

only. For example, the thick-red underlined sentence “shop drawing or as 

built drawing or proposals should be done according to time schedule in 

order to organize the work of technical office” was coded as “Managerial 

design problem” and as “Suggestion to enhance the design process” though 

gathering suggestions to enhance the design process was the aim of the last 

section of the interview.   



49 
 

3.7 Summary 

     The methodology chapter introduced a detailed information about 

the methodology of acquiring and analyzing the data. The first section of 

the chapter explained why qualitative data analysis and the grounded 

theory was chosen as a research strategy. The second section clarified the 

research flow as steps. While the third section discussed the research tools 

and the data gathering process. Where the fourth section illustrated how 

the interview and questionnaire’s questions were developed. And the 

research sample section discussed the process of sampling and the sample 

size of both cases of the research. And the last section explained the 

research procedure of analyzing data by providing a detailed example. 

 

 

 

  



50 
 

Chapter Four 

Data Analysis 

4.1 Introduction 

    After discussing the methodology of data collecting and data 

analysis in the previous chapter, this chapter will explain in details the 

findings from the conducted interviews and questionnaires. These findings 

should asses the current conditions of design process in construction 

projects in Saudi region and reveal the role of BIM in this process 

enhancement. 

    At the beginning of the analysis it is important to present the coding 

process as per discussed in chapter 2, the process starts with open coding 

such that the researcher puts labels on the text. Then, finding relations 

among these labels as axial coding. And finally revealing the core category 

in the process of selective coding. However, Glaser (1992) mentioned that 

“literature can be used as data and constantly compared with the emerging 

categories to be integrated in the theory”. 

4.2 Design Process 

    The assessment of design process that is currently used in Saudi 

region concludes assessment of the stages of design process in order to 

shape understandable conception for the process. In addition, the 

assessment identifies the main problems of the design process that affect 

the process itself and the whole lifecycle of the facility.  



51 
 

4.2.1 Design Stages 

4.2.1.1 Case 1 design stages 

     The first step in data analysis of case 1 interviews is to identify the 

design process of roads projects and the stages that the design being 

developed through it. From the interviews answers, it has been noted that 

the road design passes through two main stages. The first one is called 

“Tendering design” at this stage the client hired a design office to 

transform the project from idea into a real design. The second stage is 

“Design modification stage”, this stage occurs after identifying the 

contractor that will execute the project. The following subsections will 

explain each stage in details as per respondent answers 

Tendering Design 

    As mentioned above, this stage comes first to transform the project 

from idea into a real design such that the client hired an external design 

office to perform the design activities and produce the project drawings that 

would be part of tender documents. 

     The interviewees stated that this process consists of five stages as 

follow: 

1- Topography study: At this stage the designer study the region’s 

topography such that many road paths are generated as design 

alternatives to choose the proper one among them. 



52 
 

2- Identifying the proposed road path: this stage comes as a result of the 

previous stage after studying all design alternatives and the proper 

road path is chosen. Demographical and economical factors are 

considered in the process of identifying the road path. 

3- Surveying data collection: the surveyors of the design office start 

collecting surveying data along the chosen path, the coordinates and 

level of centerline are collected. Also, every obstacle in the way of 

road like buildings, electric poles and civilian’s lands should be 

surveyed.   

4- Geometric design of the road: based on the collected surveying data, 

the designer starts to design the road geometrically such that the 

horizontal alignment and the profile of road are designed. At this 

stage the coordination with other engineers like electrical and 

mechanical is very important in terms of removing the obstacles and 

design the electrical and mechanical elements if it exist. Further, all 

the structural elements like retaining walls, bridges and culverts 

should be designed at this stage. 

5- Final delivery of drawings: the designer submits his designs from the 

previous stage to the client as drawings to be a part of tender’s 

documents.  

The following table shows some of interviewee’s descriptions for 

this stage: 



53 
 

Table 4.1: “Tendering Design” stage in Case1 

Design Stages 

Interviewee‟s 

No 
Quote Open coding 

Axial 

Coding 

6 

Studying the topography of the region. After determining the road 

path a surveying data need to be collected.  Starts the design process 

where the roads geometry is designed and any needed structural 

elements also is designed in this process. Structural element like 

culverts, bridges, retaining walls. The final design transformed into 

drawings which is included in the bid documents. 

1- Topography study of the 

region. 

2- Evaluate Alternatives. 

3- Surveying data collection. 

4- Geometric design and 

structural elements design 

5- Design approval and shop 

drawings delivery. 

Tendering 

Design 

7 

Topography study for the region of the two point that will be 

connected. Propose road path alternatives. The suitable alternative 

chosen based on economical, demographical, topographical criteria.  

Collecting surveying data from the site. All obstacles, electric poles, 

manholes, houses that the path passed through it or beside it should 

be surveyed. Start the design process itself based on AASHTO 

specifications or any other specifications defined by the client or 

consultant. This stage also includes the design of any needed 

structural elements, like bridges, retaining walls and culverts. If the 

designs performed by external design office the design approvals 

done with the client -–ministry of transportation- while if it 

performed by the contractor the designs approved by the consultant. 

Preparing of the final drawings. 

1- Topography study of the 

region. 

2- Evaluate Alternatives. 

3- Surveying data collection. 

4- Geometric design and 

structural elements design 

5- Design approval and shop 

drawings delivery. 

Tendering 

Design 



54 
 

Design Modification Stage 

    After performing the tendering process (Bidding) in order to select 

the contractor, the construction stage would start. Thus, the design 

modification stage occurs at construction stage where the execution of the 

project has to be start, this process has been discussed by respondent as 

follow: 

1- Surveying data collection: the contractor’s surveyors repeats the 

collecting of surveying data as in stage 2 of tendering design such 

that the coordinates and level of the centerline are gathered, in 

addition, every obstacle in the right of way of the road should be 

collected. 

2- Geometric design: based on the new surveying data, the contractor’s 

designer repeats the geometric design of the road. Further, the 

contractor may suggests changes on the designs from tendering stage 

according to many factors that will be clarified later. 

3- Final delivery of drawings: all the designs that produced from the 

previous stage should be approved by the consultant in order to be 

constructed in site. However, there would be many revisions for the 

same design before the approval of the consultant. 

The following table explains some of the interviewee’s descriptions 

of this stage: 



55 
 

Table 4.2: "Design Modification” stages on case 1 

Design Stages 

Interviewee‟s No Quote Open coding 
Axial 

Coding 

5 

However, in most cases when the contractor is identified. The 

contractor team repeat the surveying data collection process. If 

any obstacles or mistakes are discovered, the contractor design 

team perform the required modifications with the coordination of 

the consultant. For example, if the contractor discovered that the 

road path crosses a land owned by a citizen, the contractor may 

suggest to transfer the road centreline to avoid problems with this 

citizen because the procedure of transfer the ownership of such 

land from a citizen to the government takes a very long time. 

1- Surveying data 

collection 

2- Design modification 

Design 

Modification 

Process 

8 

… Most of our works is to modify the designs that comes with 

tender documents. The surveyors start with checking the 

centreline coordinates in project site, in most cases they found 

difference between the designs and reality, here our job starts. We 

took the new surveying data and modify the designs according to 

it, we may add retaining wall or culvert or shift the centreline of 

the road and then change the road geometric design. 

1- surveying data 

collection2- Design 

modification 

Design 

Modification 

Process 



56 
 

    In the light of the previous descriptions, it can be concluded that the 

current process of road design passes through two stages. The first stage 

called “Tendering Design” comes before the bidding process such that the 

owner hires a design office to do the job and the final drawings considered 

as tendering documents. The second stage called “Modification stage” 

begins after bidding process, which identifies the contractor and consultant, 

such that the contractor modifies the tendering design simultaneously with 

the start of construction activities. Figure 5 provides a summarized 

representation for the stages of design 

 

Figure 4.1: Design Stages Diagram 



57 
 

4.2.1.2 Case 2 design stages 

  In case 2 firm the respondents explained the stages of design as the 

following points explain, also figure 4.2 illustrates the process. 

1- Get information from the client: The process starts with this stage 

such that the client announce his project to the public seeking a firm 

to construct his project. It is sales engineer responsibility to get this 

information about the project and transform it into a written 

description. This information includes the area of the building, 

function of the building, material, dimensions of the building and 2D 

architectural drawing for the location of the project (site plan). 

2- Preliminary Design: After the sales engineer got the information, 

the firm’s designer job is to take these information and transform it 

into a real preliminary design using MBS (Metal Building Structure). 

3- Bidding Stage: at this stage the client chooses one proposal among 

the competing firm’s proposals considering many aspects that are 

defined by him. 

4- Final Design: once the IBSF proposal has been chosen, the designer 

should finalize his design with more accuracy in calculations.  

5- 3D Model: using Tekla Structures software, the detailing engineer 

creates a 3D model for the building according to the designer 

sketches.  



58 
 

6- Preparing of Approval Drawings: after the creation and check of 

the 3D model, the detailing engineer directly generates 2D drawings 

from the 3D model. 

7- Preparing of Shop Drawings: once the client has approved the 

Approval Drawings, the detailing engineer can directly generate the 

Shop Drawings from the 3D model. 

8- Preparing of Construction Drawings: once the fabrication process 

has finished, the construction stage should starts according to the 

Construction Drawings which are generated directly from the 3D 

model also. 

 

Figure 4.2: Stages of design in case 2 

  

Get infrmation 
from the client 

Preliminary 
Design  

Bidding 

Final Design 3D Model 
Preparing 
Approval 
Drawing 

Preparing Shop 
Drawings 

Preparing 
Construction 

Drawing  



59 
 

Table 4.3: Design stages in case 2 

Case Quote Code 

Ramz Bustami Company takes information 

from the customer in order to 

give a suggested design 

properties 

Get information 

Riham Abu-Shmais Preliminary design according 

to the client architectural 

drawings using MBS or 

STAAD in order to estimate 

the bulk weight of the 

building, section’s profiles and 

column’s dimensions 

Preliminary 

design 

Ezat Abu-Farha ……Then after bidding 

stage,…… 

Bidding 

Riham Abu-Shmais After the bidding stage and 

signing contract a detailed 

precise design is done 

according to the preliminary 

design. 

Final Design 

(Precise Design) 

Safaa Suliman The design is approved and 

the detailing stage starts to 3D 

model the project to export all 

the needed drawings to 

construct it. 

Detailing 

Process 

Riham Abu-Shmais After the approval of approval 

drawings, shop drawings are 

prepared in order to use it the 

fabrication process. Then 

construction drawing are 

prepared to use it in site. 

Preparing of 

Drawings 

4.2.2 Main Design Problems 

    The next step of this research is to discover the main problems of the 

design process in both cases of this research in order to answer the second 

research question. The following subsections explain the design problems 

in case 1 and case 2. 



60 
 

4.2.2.1 Design problems in case 1 

   According to the interviews results, the design problems can be 

considered in two aspects. The first one related to managerial issues and the 

second one related to technical issues, the analysis revealed that most of 

problems in the current design process are related to managerial issues. 

Managerial Issues 

   Managerial issues are related to problems in the process of design 

itself. The interviews results reveal that there are problems in the process as 

the following: 

1- Poor planning and organizing of the process: the interviewees stated 

that the process is not planned from the beginning such that the work 

is done randomly and in some cases the execution in site begins 

before finishing the design. 

2- Unavailability of time schedule: the analysis shows that the process 

of design is performed without a time schedule to organize the work. 

3- Problems in coordination: the interviewees uncovered that in some 

cases some elements are modified without considering other 

elements that related to this one, and this causes inconsistency and 

clashes in design.  

4- Repeated work: the interviewees stated that they suffer from the 

repeated work due to incoordination between project parties which 

make the process of design very time consuming. 



61 
 

5- Time consuming: the process of design approval by the consultant is 

time consuming due to the way of communicating designs with him. 

The designer finish his work and send it to the consultant for 

approval, then the designer should wait for the consultant comments 

to modify the design and so on, and in some times the client has his 

own comments that may differ from the consultant comments which 

make the designer confused and wastes more time in doing 

modifications. 

6- Undefined communication: the communication tools should be 

defined in contract documents in order to avoid conflict during 

construction. Moreover, defining the communication tools will 

define which one can be considered as formal documentation. For 

example, if email is considered as formal communication tool, each 

project party would be responsible on anything he communicated 

using this tool like drawing, schedules, quantities..etc. 

7- Human resources activities: the analysis stated that there is problems 

in hiring qualified people and performing training programs to 

develop the employees in design aspects and using developed 

software in design. 

Technical Issues 

    Technical issues are problems in the inputs of the design process like 

surveying data and people who perform the design. The following explains 

these problems: 



62 
 

1- Fault data: the interviewees stated that in some cases the surveying 

data that collected from the site is not precise and this may causes 

very costly loses if it discovered lately in construction activities..  

2- Lack of experience of designers in execution aspect: like in case of 

designing the retaining walls, if the designer does not has an enough 

executive experience he will not consider the length of reinforcement 

bar in a manner that minimize the wasted material.     

    Actually, both problems can be related to the problem of 

inexperienced employees and designers in field operations and in design 

itself, and this make the technical errors occurrence high.  

 

Figure 4.3: Design problems coding frequency 

 



63 
 

Table 4.4: Main design problems in case 1 

Design Problems 

Interviewee 

No 
Quote Open coding 

Axial 

Coding 

1 

For example, our designs 

depends on data that have 

been gathered from site by 

surveying tools. In many 

cases this data may be 

fault. Then, the error 

discovered at the late 

stages of the design in 

such time doing 

modifications will be 

disastrous. 

fault data 

Technical 

design 

problem, 

cause 

7 

In some cases the 

surveyor that collect data 

from site may be 

unprofessional 

lack of 

experience 

 

 

Technical 

design 

problem 

1 
poor planning from the 

beginning of the project 
Poor planning 

Managerial 

design 

problem  

8 

Moreover, preparing shop 

drawing or as built 

drawing or proposals 

should be done according 

to time schedule in order 

to organize the work of 

technical office, 

availability of 

time schedule 

Managerial 

design 

problem 

10 

if the process of 

communication organized 

well and identified clearly 

in contract, the conflict 

can be avoided  

Undefined 

communication  

Managerial 

design 

problem 

8 

Yes. The main problem 

here is the repeated work 

that comes as a result of 

lack of coordination 

between project parties. 

Repeated work, 

Uncoordinated 

work 

Managerial 

design 

problem 



64 
 

4.2.2.2 Design problems in case 2 

   The respondent’s answers revealed that the process of design in case 

2 firm does not flow smoothly such that a lot of problems, limitations and 

design changes control the flow of the process. According to the 

respondent answers, the most frequent problems they face are: 

1- Change orders: the respondents clarified many reasons that could 

lead to change the design by the customer like changing the project’s 

vision and inadequate information from the customer about his idea. 

However, regardless the reasons of change orders, approximately all 

the respondent assures that too many changes orders occur during the 

design which cause confusion for the designer and too many 

repeated work especially if it comes at late stage of design process. 

2- Inadequate information and Mistakes in building description: 

another problem that faces the designers is that at early stages of the 

design the designer has not a clear idea about the project as a result 

of inadequate information provided by the customer, also the project 

description, which is essential for the designer, is written by the sales 

engineer who could not get the customer idea well. Hence, the 

produced design may not fulfil the customer needs leading to 

increase the rate of changes order. 

3- Weak communication with customer: the produced designs need 

to be approved by the client or his representative, therefore a 



65 
 

communication should occur between the designer and the client. 

Meanwhile, this communication has been described as a slow 

process which in turns causes delay in design approval. 

4- Market Conditions: the respondents stated that in some cases the 

design alternatives could be limited due to unavailability of material 

in market, or due to material shipment constraints, for example, the 

designers are not allowed to use member with a length exceeds 12 

meter because such members cannot be shipped to the project site. 

5- Time limitations: the time of finishing the project is one of the 

contractual issues that controlled by the contract with the customer, 

the respondents clarified that in some cases they find the time 

illogical such that the designs are accomplished with rashness which 

leads to increase mistakes in design.   

6- Coordination of drawings: this issue does not take the respondent 

attention except the manager of the technical office, he assured the 

importance of coordinating different engineering parties work like 

(Civil, MEP, Arch), else a lot of revisions and modifications could 

occurred during the design process and that will increase the cost and 

decrease the quality of design. 

The following table shows some of the respondent’s answers: 

 



66 
 

Table 4.5: Design problems in case 2 

Case Quote Code 

Lubna Waleed 

Change orders by the client which 

could be after finishing the design 

or at late stage of design 

Change Orders 

Ramz Bustami, 

Omnyia Yassin 

“unclear data received from the 

customer or inadequate given 

information” 

“mistakes could occur due to 

mistakes in the building 

description” 

Inadequate 

Information, 

Mistakes in 

description 

Riham Abu-

Shmais 

The communication between the 

designer and the customer is a 

slow process 

Weak 

communication 

Sama Shaar 
Substitution of material due to 

lack in market 

Market 

conditions 

Omnyia Yassin 
some mistakes in design occur due 

to time limitations 

Time 

limitations 

Ezat Abu-Farha 
….is the coordination between all 

parties (Arch, Civil, & MEP)…… 

Coordination 

of drawings 

4.2.3 Suggestions to enhance the design process  

    In the view of design problems section, this section will detect the 

respondent’s in case 1 point of view to make the design process much 

better, the data gathered from case 1 only because the questionnaire in case 

2 has to be short. The responses of the interviewees have been found 

related to managerial and technical enhancement. Since the managerial 

issues were the most concerned by the respondent, the suggestions also 

were focused on managerial enhancement of the process. F