34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34) - Singapore, Singapore - 2026

https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0207

Understanding barriers to IPD adoption in construction SMEs: insights from a collaborative workshop

Yuly Andrea Sanchez Aguirre1, Farook R. Hamzeh2 & Vicente A. Gonzalez3

1MSc Graduate, Construction Engineering and Management, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0009-0007-2915-6825
2Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-6606-3165
3Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Digital Lean Construction, Infrastructure Human Tech (IHT) Lab, Strategic Projects Insight Centre in Engineering (SPICE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-3408-3863

Abstract

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a collaborative project delivery approach intended to address fragmentation in construction projects. Despite documented benefits, its adoption among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains limited, particularly due to challenges related to organizational practices, culture, and readiness for collaboration. Existing literature acknowledges these issues, yet empirical evidence capturing how such barriers are perceived and discussed by practitioners in SME contexts is still limited. This paper reports findings from a structured collaborative workshop conducted with construction professionals from SMEs operating in Alberta, Canada. The workshop was informed by Lean Construction principles and designed to facilitate practitioner discussion and reflection on IPD adoption. Qualitative data generated during the workshop were analyzed using thematic coding. Five thematic areas were used to structure the analysis: trust-based collaboration, knowledge and training gaps, implementation challenges, financial and risk-related concerns, and limitations in performance measurement. The findings indicate that IPD adoption among SMEs is shaped primarily by human and organizational conditions rather than technical considerations. The study indicates that structured collaborative workshops can support the identification of organizational barriers while enabling shared understanding of IPD-related challenges within SME environments.

Keywords

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), collaboration, trust, lean construction, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

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Reference in APA 7th edition format:

Aguirre, Y. A. S., Hamzeh, F. R. & Gonzalez, V. A.. (2026). Understanding barriers to IPD adoption in construction SMEs: insights from a collaborative workshop. In Hamzeh, F., Poshdar, M., & Garcia-Lopez,, N. P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC 34) (pp. 1110–1121). https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0207

Shortened reference for use in IGLC papers:

Aguirre, Y. A. S., Hamzeh, F. R. & Gonzalez, V. A.. (2026). Understanding barriers to IPD adoption in construction SMEs: insights from a collaborative workshop. IGLC34. https://doi.org/10.24928/2026/0207

 

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