GIRI commissions new research on cost of error

New research to identify the UK construction industry’s progress in eliminating error has been commissioned by the Get It Right Initiative. The project aims to provide an update of the annual direct cost of error and develop a methodology that can be deployed as frequently as every year to take a snapshot of whether the industry has made any progress in relation to error. 

In 2016, the research that led to the formation of GIRI showed that the direct cost of error to the UK construction industry was around £5 billion a year, rising to between £10 and £25 billion when indirect costs, latent defects and unrecorded process waste are included. The new research will use both quantitative data about errors and qualitative insights into the industry’s cultural change around error elimination that together will create a picture of how the industry is responding to the challenge of zero error.

‘This is a new baseline analysis, using data that was not available when the original research was conducted,’ says Ralf Waterfield, who is heading up the research with the support of GIRI director Cliff Smith and an industry steering group. He explains that the quantitative research will focus on public sector contracts, for which error data is more readily available. ‘The project team will use this data to develop a more accurate figure with regards to the cost of rework on public sector projects as a proxy for the industry as a whole.’

The project will also consider the progress of GIRI’s campaign, with case studies focusing on the impact of GIRI training on the frequency and cost of error.

The initial research also identified the top ten root causes of error. The follow-up research will revisit these, analysing the most common causes of error identified over the last two years by construction leaders, then testing these through further industry engagement to produce an updated list.

To find out more about the cost of error to UK construction watch our short film or read our reports.

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