Propelling construction industry developments through SMC development

Recent construction industry development recommendations seem to have been mostly formulated from the perspectives of 'large contractors', e.g. in partnering. But small and medium sized contractors (SMCs) are very significant, in terms of their number and share in the industry, the workforce they employ, and the amount of work they carry out. Therefore, no improvement initiatives can be achieved without addressing the problems faced by SMCs. The present paper reports on an ongoing Research and Development (R&D) project in Hong Kong. It is designed to improve the efficiency of SMCs, which can eventually contribute to industry improvement. The paper coveys project highlights, including the types of services to be offered, in order to improve and maintain the SMC competitiveness. These are based on a preliminary 'needs analysis' study, a structured questionnaire survey, workflow analysis, and relevant feedback from the industry, including collaborating organisations