The selection of a contractor is one of the most important among decisions made by the ownerof a construction. The application of the prequalification procedure enables the selection of themost competent tenderers. Various mathematical models are helpful in carrying out prequalificationprocedure. In the paper, some selected mathematical models are briefly characterized and modelbased on the theory of fuzzy sets is offered. The applied model takes into consideration theowner’s various objectives, as well as different evaluation criteria. The results of the sensitivityanalysis of the model are also presented. Part of a computer software applying an earlier presentedprequalification mathematical model is described.

The basic element of a project organizing construction works is a schedule. The preparation of the data necessary to specify the timings of the construction completion as indicated in the schedule involves information that is uncertain and hard to quantify. The article presents the methods of building a schedule which includes a fuzzy amount of labour, time standards and number of workers. The proposed procedure allows determining the real deadline for project completion, taking into account variable factors affecting the duration of the individual works.

One of the contract awarding systems in public sector in Poland is the Design & Build system. In this system, a client concludes a contract agreement with only one company, a contractor, in order to carry out both design and construction of works. While deciding on this form of delivery of a public project, the client is obliged to conduct a single proceeding aiming to select the contractor. In this paper, public works contracts awarded in the D&B system in Poland are analysed, whilst attention was put on the contracting modes and assessment criteria. The results are assessed against the experience of other countries and recommended methods for selection of the Design and Build contractor.

The model for estimating the whole life costs of the building life cycle that allows the quantification of the risk addition lets the investor to compare buildings at the initial stage of planning a construction project in terms of the following economic criteria: life cycle costs (LCC), whole life costs (WLC), life cycle equivalent annual costs (LCEAC) and cost addition for risk (ΔR_LCC). The subsequent stages of the model development have been described in numerous publications of the authors, while the aim of this paper is to check the accuracy of the model in the case of changing the parameters that may affect the results of calculations. The scope of the study includes: comparison of the results generated by the model with the solutions obtained in the life cycle net present value method (LCNPV) for time and financial input data, not burdened with the risk effect; the analysis of the variability of results due to changes in input data; analysis of the variability of results as a consequence of changing the sets of membership functions for input data and methods for defuzzification the result.

The paper presents an approach to evaluating a building throughout its whole life cycle in relation to its sustainable development. It describes basic tools and techniques of evaluating and analysing the costs in the whole life cycle of the building, such as Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Management, Life Cycle Cost and Social Life Cycle Assessment. The aim of the paper is to propose a model of cost evaluation throughout the building life cycle. The model is based on the fuzzy sets theory which allows the calculations to include the risks associated with the sustainable development, with the management of the investment and with social costs. Costs incurred in the subsequent phases of the building life cycle are analysed and modelled separately by means of a membership function. However, the effect of the analysis is a global cost evaluation for the whole life cycle of the building.

The article presents briefly several methods of working time estimation. However, three methods of task duration assessment have been selected to investigate working time in a real construction project using the data collected from observing workers laying terrazzo flooring in staircases. The first estimation has been done by calculating a normal and a triangular function. The next method, which is the focus of greatest attention here, is PERT. The article presents a way to standardize the results and the procedure algorithm allowing determination of the characteristic values for the method. Times to perform every singular component sub-task as well as the whole task have been defined for the collected data with the reliability level of 85%. The completion time of the same works has also been calculated with the use of the KNR. The obtained result is much higher than the actual time needed for execution of the task calculated with the use of the previous method. The authors argue that PERT is the best method of all three, because it takes into account the randomness of the entire task duration and it can be based on the actual execution time known from research.