Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution

The operational side of business, such as processes, has been studied broadly in the construction industry. However, from the point of view of building renovation (BR) companies and their operational effectiveness, there is a research gap detected. These companies are becoming increasingly importan...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pekka Rajala, Antti Ylä-Kujala, Tiina Sinkkonen, Timo Kärri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UTS ePRESS 2025-03-01
Series:Construction Economics and Building
Subjects:
Online Access:https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/AJCEB/article/view/8912
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849738045651156992
author Pekka Rajala
Antti Ylä-Kujala
Tiina Sinkkonen
Timo Kärri
author_facet Pekka Rajala
Antti Ylä-Kujala
Tiina Sinkkonen
Timo Kärri
author_sort Pekka Rajala
collection DOAJ
description The operational side of business, such as processes, has been studied broadly in the construction industry. However, from the point of view of building renovation (BR) companies and their operational effectiveness, there is a research gap detected. These companies are becoming increasingly important in the construction industry due to the growth of BR needs, like energy efficiency improvements for existing buildings. Ensuring the continuity of BR companies is crucial to meet these increasing needs and that is where profitability plays an important role. Therefore, by comparing 2 cases, BR companies with high profitability (HP) and BR companies with low profitability (LP), we sought to identify best practices for operational effectiveness that enable a profitable BR business. To review the operational effectiveness, we used semi-structured interviews and 2 frameworks: operational excellence through the 4P model, and a model we created in this research, critical operational key elements (COKE) in the BR business. We detected that both HP and LP cases value the operational elements similarly, but there are clear differences in how the cases perceive and execute the elements. The HP case unconsciously seem to possess certain mainstreams of lean principles. The 4 best practices which we found, and that BR companies can utilize, are: focus on customers, be business-oriented, strive for simplicity and clarity and treasure employees and subcontractors. Additionally, the COKE model can be utilized in BR companies’ business development. For the academia, the COKE model offers a starting point for studying key operational elements in BR business.
format Article
id doaj-art-c5fb7a98a2af437a948b7252d2d24009
institution DOAJ
issn 2204-9029
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher UTS ePRESS
record_format Article
series Construction Economics and Building
spelling doaj-art-c5fb7a98a2af437a948b7252d2d240092025-08-20T03:06:43ZengUTS ePRESSConstruction Economics and Building2204-90292025-03-0125110.5130/AJCEB.v25i1.8912Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable ExecutionPekka Rajala0Antti Ylä-Kujala1Tiina Sinkkonen2Timo Kärri3LUT UniversityLUT UniversityLUT UniversityLUT University The operational side of business, such as processes, has been studied broadly in the construction industry. However, from the point of view of building renovation (BR) companies and their operational effectiveness, there is a research gap detected. These companies are becoming increasingly important in the construction industry due to the growth of BR needs, like energy efficiency improvements for existing buildings. Ensuring the continuity of BR companies is crucial to meet these increasing needs and that is where profitability plays an important role. Therefore, by comparing 2 cases, BR companies with high profitability (HP) and BR companies with low profitability (LP), we sought to identify best practices for operational effectiveness that enable a profitable BR business. To review the operational effectiveness, we used semi-structured interviews and 2 frameworks: operational excellence through the 4P model, and a model we created in this research, critical operational key elements (COKE) in the BR business. We detected that both HP and LP cases value the operational elements similarly, but there are clear differences in how the cases perceive and execute the elements. The HP case unconsciously seem to possess certain mainstreams of lean principles. The 4 best practices which we found, and that BR companies can utilize, are: focus on customers, be business-oriented, strive for simplicity and clarity and treasure employees and subcontractors. Additionally, the COKE model can be utilized in BR companies’ business development. For the academia, the COKE model offers a starting point for studying key operational elements in BR business. https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/AJCEB/article/view/8912construction industrybuilding renovationoperational effectivenessprofitabilitybest practices
spellingShingle Pekka Rajala
Antti Ylä-Kujala
Tiina Sinkkonen
Timo Kärri
Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
Construction Economics and Building
construction industry
building renovation
operational effectiveness
profitability
best practices
title Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
title_full Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
title_fullStr Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
title_full_unstemmed Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
title_short Operational Effectiveness in Building Renovation Business: Best Practices for Profitable Execution
title_sort operational effectiveness in building renovation business best practices for profitable execution
topic construction industry
building renovation
operational effectiveness
profitability
best practices
url https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/AJCEB/article/view/8912
work_keys_str_mv AT pekkarajala operationaleffectivenessinbuildingrenovationbusinessbestpracticesforprofitableexecution
AT anttiylakujala operationaleffectivenessinbuildingrenovationbusinessbestpracticesforprofitableexecution
AT tiinasinkkonen operationaleffectivenessinbuildingrenovationbusinessbestpracticesforprofitableexecution
AT timokarri operationaleffectivenessinbuildingrenovationbusinessbestpracticesforprofitableexecution