Investigating the Factors Affecting the Design Change In Construction Industry In UAE

The construction industry in Dubai is fundamental and influential to the economy of this emirate. In order to execute projects successfully, it is necessary to deploy and integrate a wide variety of resources, skills, and competencies. Because of this demand, the building industry in Dubai has developed into a prestigious but fragmented one. This is due to a large number of stakeholders in the construction industry in Dubai. This research is designed to investigate the factors that contribute to design change in the construction industry in Dubai, UAE. A construction project is usually processed with a set of interrelated activities happening with the aim of ensuring the client’s requirements are met. These activities are usually classified in a set of stages and phases; one very critical and important phase is the design stage. The findings of the study will provide insight into the factors that cause delays in project completion in Dubai. Owner’s factors, mainly poor coordination among the involved parties appear to be the main factor from the ‘owners’ This finding will assist in identifying the areas, which may need more attention. Similarly, the findings will also help in gaining awareness of other important factors, which cause delays, thus helping decision-makers in effective planning and implementation.


Design Changes
The construction project is usually processed with a set of interrelated activities happening with the aim of ensuring the client's requirements are met.   (Lauer, 2014). It has been estimated that between 40 and 50 percent of a project's total work hours were spent on making adjustments. The designers were responsible for many of these changes (Lauer, 2014). Lehner (2015) (Noé, 2014). In addition, an increase in the total cost of the project as well as a lengthening of the time required to finish it are the two primary repercussions seen for change orders (Poeschl, 2013 and extra demands of equipment, materials, labor, and overtime (Rees, & French, 2013) In general present problems to all parties involved in the construction process and  Table   5 provides a list of the keywords that have been utilized in the definition of "design change" by previous studies.

Factors of Design Change
These factors are derived from the previous literature and presented a research gap that helps the researcher to design a conceptual diagram of the current study.

Owner's Factors
According to the research done by (Dispan, & Schwarz-Kocher, 2014), the owner of the organization is basically the main stakeholder and has the maximum stake in the business. Any profits or losses earned will directly be affecting the owner of the organization. The study suggests that having an owner who is experienced in the field puts a competitive advantage for business performance. This implies that a person who has already worked in some capacity in the construction sector would be able to make better decisions looking at the economic and prevailing conditions.
The capital that the owner is investing also makes a difference on the business performance. More capital would not only lead to higher investment but would also lead to easier cash flows. Even if the organization has good business and sales but is not able to receive the money for the there will be the positive word of mouth will be generated. This will help in getting more business from the industry.
In the construction industry specifically, the people in the UAE rely a lot on word of mouth. So the more positive the word of mouth is, the more likely it is that the business generates more sales. Hence, it would be much easier for the consultant who has experience and connections to find even better projects and be able to thrive. This would all add up to his experience and eventually total to the success of the project that the consultant is performing at that time.

Contractor's factors
The contractor is the person in the business who is basically the middle party, according to the research conducted by (Albach, Meffert, Pinkwart, & Reichwald, 2015), and takes up a project for a buyer who basically buy the services of the contractor. Hence, it is imperative to select a contractor based on the past performance of the projects so that the best contractor could be picked that would be able to deliver the progress of the project. Software like GANTT charts could be used.

Project Management
These charts not only help to visualize the entire process but also help to identify how the sources of the project could be maximized in the best possible way.
Project management has a huge role to play when it comes to the success of the project.
Only a project that is being properly managed would be able to be successful.
Since the project of architectural nature in the UAE range from simple to extremely complicated, it is imperative that the project managers handle the project strategically.
A project that has been managed well would be able to deliver all the requirements on time and within the cost.
Project management includes all the aspects that have been described above. They include managing the contractors.

Conclusion
Various studies have been conducted that show the impact of various internal and external factors on the success of the project. The study that was conducted by (Aziz, 2013)  Another study was conducted by (Bammens, Notelaers, & Van Gils, 2013) and found that internal factors that have Owner's factors, mainly poor coordination among the involved parties appear to be the main factor from the 'owners' This finding will assist in identifying the areas, which may need more attention. Similarly, the