The impact of the digital maturity of a construction organization on the effectiveness of quality control and supervision: an empirical assessment of the implementation of BIM, CDE, and automated work logs

Abstract

The article examines the relationship between the level of digital maturity of construction organizations and the effectiveness of quality control and construction supervision procedures in the context of the slow diffusion of modern information technologies in the industry. The purpose of the study is to provide an empirical assessment of how the comprehensive implementation of building information modeling, a common data environment, and automated work logs affects defect frequency, defect resolution speed, financial losses from rework, and the labor costs of quality control departments. The research is based on data from forty companies of various scales and profiles operating in the residential, industrial, and infrastructure construction markets between 2021 and 2023. The organizations were divided into three groups with low, medium, and high levels of digital maturity depending on the extent of their use of building information modeling, the application of a common data environment, and the degree of automation of as-built documentation. Standardized quality metrics were used for analysis, including the number of nonconformities per thousand square meters, average defect resolution time, the share of rework costs in the estimated cost of construction and installation works, and the relative share of the quality department’s labor costs, along with variance analysis methods and correlation assessment. The results demonstrated a pronounced and statistically significant reduction in the number of defects as digital maturity increased – from around eighteen to approximately eight nonconformities per thousand square meters – as well as a multiple reduction in resolution time from more than twenty to about six days in groups with comprehensive implementation of building information modeling, a common data environment, and automated logs. The share of rework costs in such companies decreases from nearly nine to about two percent, accompanied by a simultaneous shift in the functions of the quality department from routine document management to data analytics and preventive risk management. It is concluded that the comprehensive digitalization of design, document management, and quality control processes has a pronounced multiplicative effect, simultaneously improving technical quality indicators, reducing direct and indirect costs, and increasing the predictability of construction project implementation, which justifies the need for strategic management of digital maturity at the organizational and project portfolio levels.