Using system dynamics to better understand quality management in the construction industry

System dynamics was applied to evaluate the use of quality management in the construction industry. Results were reached with the following: 1) a background study; 2) group model building; 3) a case study of a construction project; 4) a simulation model. The main objective of the study is to assist in minimising the total quality cost for a construction project with the holistic approach system dynamics offer. The model offers a unique contribution to the possibility to be adapted to other projects. It can then be used to minimise cost with suggested dynamic policies. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current study is the first to offer a system dynamics approach to evaluate the cost of quality in a construction project. The results give a link to the literature with a comparison between simulation outputs and Juran's (1988) graphical representation of the total cost of quality.