The Potential of Blockchain in Building Construction
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The potential of blockchain in building construction is an interesting topic but this manuscript has been poorly written.
Manuscript looks like rough notes.
There is no connection between headings/paragraphs.
Major issue low quality literature review.
Majority of the statements have no reference. Even introduction has not a single reference....
In first four heading-there is only a single reference....astonishing.
Suggestions:
Add some good introduction (with the help of a number of manuscripts as literature review) and
Please follow the basics of manuscript.
Introduction
Literature Review/Background
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Author Response
Reviewer #1:
The potential of blockchain in building construction is an interesting topic but this manuscript has been poorly written. Manuscript looks like rough notes. There is no connection between headings/paragraphs. Major issue low quality literature review.
Litterature review on blockchain application in construction is very limited (if not “not existing”). Indeed, this research area is new and we would like to invite researchers to do research in this field.
The authors have taken into consideration the reviewer’s comment. Here are some of the references added:
[2] J. A. Keiser, “Leadership and Cultural Change: Necessary Components of a Lean Transformation.” 2012.
[3] P. K. O. Fung, I. S. N. Chen, and L. S. C. Yip, “Relationships and performance of trade intermediaries: an exploratory study,” Eur. J. Mark., vol. 41, no. 1/2, pp. 159–180, Jan. 2007.
[4] M. Janssen and H. G. Sol, “Evaluating the role of intermediaries in the electronic value chain,” Internet Res., vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 406–417, Dec. 2000.
[6] P. J. Taylor, T. Dargahi, A. Dehghantanha, R. M. Parizi, and K.-K. R. Choo, “A systematic literature review of blockchain cyber security,” Digit. Commun. Networks, Feb. 2019.
[8] H. F. Atlam and G. B. Wills, “Technical aspects of blockchain and IoT,” Adv. Comput., Dec. 2018.
[9] A. H. Mohsin et al., “Blockchain authentication of network applications: Taxonomy, classification, capabilities, open challenges, motivations, recommendations and future directions,” Comput. Stand. Interfaces, Dec. 2018.
[11] A. MUNEEB, N. JUDE, S. RYAN, and J. F. MICHAEL, “Bootstrapping Trust in Distributed Systems with Blockchains,” 2016.
[12] J. Veuger, “Trust in a viable real estate economy with disruption and blockchain,” Facilities, vol. 36, no. 1/2, pp. 103–120, Feb. 2018.
[13] J. Mason, “Intelligent Contracts and the Construction Industry,” J. Leg. Aff. Disput. Resolut. Eng. Constr., vol. 9, no. 3, p. 04517012, Aug. 2017.
[14] R. K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 2013.
[15] Institution of Civil Engineers, “From Transactions to Enterprises A new approach to delivering high performing infrastructure Infrastructure Client Group,” 2017.
[16] L. Koskela and J. Rooke, “The TFV theory of production: new developments,” … Lean Constr., no. July, pp. 2–12, 2007.
Also, Figure 1 was removed since it does not add value to the literature review.
Figure 1. Growth in the size of blocks in the Bitcoin blockchain over 10 years [3].
Majority of the statements have no reference. Even introduction has not a single reference.... In first four heading-there is only a single reference.... astonishing.
Many references were added to support our claim made in the introduction and literature sections.
Examples of references added:
The construction sector has most times gone through a process of collaboration that has to do with a larger or smaller group of participants. Throughout history, communication technology has a significant impact on the relationships among those involved (Turk, 2010).
Extended research was realized to discover how leadership and culture could leverage trust in construction organizations [1]
There are lots of intermediaries in all sectors [3], [4].
Data quality: If a blockchain is used as a database [8], the information…..
Add some good introduction (with the help of a number of manuscripts as literature review) and
Please follow the basics of manuscript.
Introduction
Literature Review/Background
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
It is done. Now the outline of the article is as follow:
Introduction
Literature review
Research methodology
Results and discussion
Conclusion
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper presents a research on the blockchain applied to the building construction sector. This topic is relevant for the journal. However, the organization of the manuscript is diffuse and various key points need revisions taking into account the following comments:
- Abstract. Why the case study and main findings are not mentioned?
- Introduction. The first reference appears in the second page. The manuscript must be improved considering the state of art.
- Structure. A methodology, which reflects a scientific method must be included.
Author Response
Reviewer #2:
The paper presents a research on the blockchain applied to the building construction sector. This topic is relevant for the journal. However, the organization of the manuscript is diffuse and various key points need revisions taking into account the following comments:
- Abstract. Why the case study and main findings are not mentioned?
This sentence was added in the abstract:
The second part of the paper, in the form of a case study, measures the potential cost savings from the use of blockchain for building construction. The perspective taken to achieve this goal is that of a real estate company. The results reveals a potential cost savings from blockchain deployment at 8.3% of the total cost of housing building construction, with a standard deviation of 1.26 %.
The research methodology was added in the manuscript and in the abstract
- Introduction. The first reference appears in the second page. The manuscript must be improved considering the state of art.
Literature review was added and references too (according to the first reviewer’s comment as well).
Here is some of the literature added:
[2] J. A. Keiser, “Leadership and Cultural Change: Necessary Components of a Lean Transformation.” 2012.
[3] P. K. O. Fung, I. S. N. Chen, and L. S. C. Yip, “Relationships and performance of trade intermediaries: an exploratory study,” Eur. J. Mark., vol. 41, no. 1/2, pp. 159–180, Jan. 2007.
[4] M. Janssen and H. G. Sol, “Evaluating the role of intermediaries in the electronic value chain,” Internet Res., vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 406–417, Dec. 2000.
[6] P. J. Taylor, T. Dargahi, A. Dehghantanha, R. M. Parizi, and K.-K. R. Choo, “A systematic literature review of blockchain cyber security,” Digit. Commun. Networks, Feb. 2019.
[8] H. F. Atlam and G. B. Wills, “Technical aspects of blockchain and IoT,” Adv. Comput., Dec. 2018.
[9] A. H. Mohsin et al., “Blockchain authentication of network applications: Taxonomy, classification, capabilities, open challenges, motivations, recommendations and future directions,” Comput. Stand. Interfaces, Dec. 2018.
[11] A. MUNEEB, N. JUDE, S. RYAN, and J. F. MICHAEL, “Bootstrapping Trust in Distributed Systems with Blockchains,” 2016.
[12] J. Veuger, “Trust in a viable real estate economy with disruption and blockchain,” Facilities, vol. 36, no. 1/2, pp. 103–120, Feb. 2018.
[13] J. Mason, “Intelligent Contracts and the Construction Industry,” J. Leg. Aff. Disput. Resolut. Eng. Constr., vol. 9, no. 3, p. 04517012, Aug. 2017.
[14] R. K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 2013.
[15] Institution of Civil Engineers, “From Transactions to Enterprises A new approach to delivering high performing infrastructure Infrastructure Client Group,” 2017.
[16] L. Koskela and J. Rooke, “The TFV theory of production: new developments,” … Lean Constr., no. July, pp. 2–12, 2007.
Also, Figure 1 was removed since it does not add value to the literature review.
Figure 1. Growth in the size of blocks in the Bitcoin blockchain over 10 years [3].
- Structure. A methodology, which reflects a scientific method must be included.
The structure of the paper was rethought in order to clarify the value added of the contribution and also to make it easy for the reader to follow the structure of the article. Here is the new outline:
Introduction
Literature review
Research methodology
Results and discussion
Conclusion
Thank you for your consideration,
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours faithfully.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Still need some improvements:
Line 297..onward
(see headings numbering and order)
Discussion and synthesis of the role of blockchain in the construction
Implications
The notion of value
The construction value chain
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper has been improved in the present form. However, 16 references are scarce. State of the art should be enhanced in the final version.
