Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to define the quality and productivity problems, and
improvement opportunities that face the construction industry today.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted interviews and surveys plus they
researched pertinent literature to come to their findings.
Findings – The paper concludes that there is a lack of good research for improved approaches and
that construction work is considered an undesirable profession. It also concludes that there has been a
slow change over from quality control (QC) to total quality management (TQM).
Research limitations/implications – The research for this paper was limited to surveys and
interviews conducted in the USA.
Practical implications – The paper concludes that improved quality and productivity is needed to
eliminate high levels of waste in the construction industry.
Originality/value – The paper defines construction problems as they exist today