scholarly journals Evaluating Levels of Project Planning and their Effects on Performance in the Nigerian Construction Industry

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin Idoro

This study compares the level of project planning on public andprivate sectors projects and its impact on performance. Thepurpose is to create awareness of the level and effectivenessof the planning done by public and private clients in the deliveryof construction projects. A questionnaire survey administeredto a sample of 130 client representatives selected by stratifi edrandom sampling from the population of public and private clientsin the Nigerian construction industry is used and analysed usingdescriptive statistics, the t-test and Spearman correlation test. Theresults show that the level of preconstruction planning on privatesector projects is higher than that of public sector projects whilethe level of contract planning done by the latter is higher thanthat of the former. Furthermore, the performance of private sectorprojects is higher than that of public sector projects in many of theparameters used. However, the level of preparation of life-cyclecharts that concern project delivery time in both public and privatesectors projects is low and the level of project planning in the twocategories of projects has a limited impact on project performance.The understanding of how public and private sectors projectsperform in planning and its impact are expected to assist publicand private clients to know the challenges ahead of them in theireffort to improve the planning and performance of their projects.

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin Iroroakpo Idoro

The study evaluates the level of mechanisation and its sustainability, the relationship between mechanisation and its sustainability and between mechanisation and project outcome. To achieve these, a field survey involving a sample of eighty projects was conducted with the aid of questionnaires. Data were collected on the production methods adopted in excavation and concreting, whether or not the use of plant for the operations were sustainable and the initial and actual delivery time and cost of the projects sampled. The data were analysed using ranking, mean, t-test and Spearman correlation test. The study reveals that the levels of mechanisation and sustainability of mechanisation in the two operations are slightly above average. It also reveals that the level of sustainability of mechanisation has significant influence the level of mechanisation while of mechanisation has significant influence on quality standards and productivity. The study concludes that there is a strong need for measures that will improve the level of mechanisation and its sustainability in the industry and recommend the introduction of plant mobilisation fund by clients, incentives on importation of construction plant and an effective and functional lease market for construction plant as some of the measures that will improve mechanised construction. Santrauka Tyrime vertinamas mechanizacijos lygis ir tvarumas, taip pat ryšys tarp mechanizacijos ir jos tvarumo bei tarp mechanizacijos ir projekto rezultatų. Įvertinti pasirinkta 80 projektų imtis ir atlikta anketinė apklausa. Buvo renkami duomenys apie kasimo ir betono liejimo darbų metodus, apie tai, ar įrangos naudojimas darbams buvo tvarus, taip pat apie pradinį ir realų darbų atlikimo laiką bei imčiai atrinktų projektų kainą. Duomenys analizuoti naudojant rangavimo, vidurkių, t testo metodus ir Spearmano koreliacijos testą. Tyrimas rodo, kad dviejų minėtų darbų atveju mechanizacijos ir mechanizacijos tvarumo lygiai šiek tiek viršija vidurkį. Jis taip pat rodo, kad mechanizacijos tvarumo lygis daro nemažą įtaką mechanizacijos lygiui, o mechanizacija daro reikšmingą įtaką kokybės standartams ir našumui. Tyrime daroma išvada, kad labai reikia priemonių, kurios pagerins sektoriaus mechanizacijos lygį ir tvarumą, bei rekomenduojamos kelios mechanizuotą statybą pagerinsiančios priemonės: klientams įsteigti įrangos mobilizacijos fondą, skatinti statybų įrangos importą ir sukurti efektyvią bei funkcionuojančią statybos įrangos nuomos rinką.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Daddow ◽  
Martin Skitmore

Despite its obvious theoretical benefits, there has been some reservations regarding the practical implementation of Value Management (VM) for construction projects. In particular, these concerns the extra time and costs involved in conducting VM in relation to the actual benefits gained as a consequence of its use. This paper provides the result of an interview survey of the experiences and observations of 17 professionals working in the property and construction industry to establish the extent to which this is an issue. The main conclusion is that the process is working well, with VM being popular among those with experience in its use - which has been extended into the area of consultant selection. However, in contrast with the prescriptive literature, much of the participants' experiences appear to be more concerned with VM's contribution to the identification and management of the risks involved in project delivery than the straight value-for-money aspects. This may be due to the higher levels of uncertainty involved in construction work than in VM's original use in construction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 318 ◽  
pp. 02003
Author(s):  
Hassan Kamal Alhilli ◽  
Sedki I. Rezoqi

Changes are a common phenomenon in the construction industry, impacting the project's cost, time, and performance. The purpose of this work is to a comprehensive review relating to variation order causes. Also, the aim here is to determine variation order causes in the building’s construction. More importantly, explore the relationship between these causes. However, the importance of specifying the causes for change orders is the first step in managing variation orders to reduce the harmful effect on a project. The field survey was conducted for several institutions such as health (Karkh’s health), higher education (University of Baghdad and University of Kufa). As a result, a field visit was made to the project sites. They were then, Conducting interviews with the resident engineer, the consultant, and the contractor. A developer tool called cause (variation orders) breakdown structure (CBS) included 12 causes at the first level, including 103 sub-causes. There is a relationship between the variation orders causes, which is evident in the third level. The study recommends adopting (CBS) a comprehensive reference for variation order causes in projects due to facilitating their management processes. Future research could examine the relative importance of variation order causes, in addition to using a fuzzy cognitive map to find the extent of each cause’s influence on the other.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilsa Kuiper ◽  
Dominik Holzer

Building Information Modelling (BIM) can be defined as a process of generating and managing information of a building or infrastructure during its life cycle. Whilst the 3D visualisation or dimensional functions of BIM are not necessarily new, it is the usage and integration of this information related to project delivery, management and performance analysis that are challenging current construction industry practices.  Industry has called for the development of more collaborative and integrated contractual arrangements to facilitate the use of BIM. Such recommendations appeal to the ideal use of BIM, but also provide a potential opportunity to seek improvement within the construction industry. This paper proposes a procurement approach to BIM to establish the applicable contractual context to address the potential legal risks and commercial considerations, relative to current practices in Australia. It als ooutlines why BIM, with other enabling technologies, will drive the evolution of contract delivery methodologies.


Author(s):  
Peter S. P. Wong ◽  
Luke Edmonson ◽  
Michael Phillip Kanellopoulos

Prefabrication has been widely adopted in the construction projects in recent years. It has also been advocated as a greener and more sustainable approach of project delivery. However, with a wealth of evidence supporting other reasons as the drivers of using prefabrication, it is questionable whether the real goal of prefabrication is to achieve sustainable construction. This study aims to investigate the roles of prefabrication in fostering sustainable construction. The effectiveness of prefabrication on fostering sustainable construction was evaluated on the five aspects enlisted by the UK’s Green Construction Board: Waste, Water, Carbon, Materials, and Biodiversity. An industry survey was conducted in Melbourne, Australia for data collection. 200 questionnaires were sent via email or post to a variety of fields within the construction industry. Entropy ranking analysis was adopted to analyze the effectiveness of using prefabrication in construction. The results suggest that prefabrication is effective in reducing construction waste and sourcing energy efficient materials. However, the utilization of prefabrication was found unsuccessful in reducing carbon emissions during the construction process. It is suggested that proactive actions should be taken at the design stage to unleash the potential of prefabrication in construction.


Author(s):  
Douglas Aghimien ◽  
Clinton Aigbavboa ◽  
Ayodeji Oke ◽  
Matleko Setati

Adopting a good pre-project planning or front-end loading method during the early stage of construction is important to the success of the project. However, most construction projects have failed as a result of poor project planning at their early stage. Based on this knowledge, this study assessed the challenges facing the use of front-end loading. The study adopted a quantitative survey approach and questionnaire was used to harness information on the objective of the study from construction professionals in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Data gathered were analysed using statistical tools such as percentage, mean score and standard deviation. Findings revealed that the major challenges affecting the use of front-end loading are inability to identify importance of the process, unreliable information during early project stages, insufficient time to thoroughly carry out the front-end loading process, indecisiveness or lack of knowledge by the client, and lack of structured project team during inception phases of the project. It is therefore recommended that the construction clients be made aware of the importance of front-end loading, while project team members should be introduced to the project from the early stage of the project.


2021 ◽  
pp. 44-48
Author(s):  
Anikwe Nnaemeka J ◽  
Agha Kalu A

Economic transformation and the provision of basic infrastructure to engender growth and development in any nation is vested in the construction industry hence the massive investment of the government in this sector. However, the expected gains of the construction industry have been eroded by the failure of many construction projects due to unethical professional practices on the part of the construction professionals. This study analyzed the causes and effects of unethical practices on the industry and project delivery with measures to combat the unethical practices among the stakeholders. The study adopted the survey design and a stratified random sampling technique was used to select 140 respondents. A structured questionnaire was designed and administered to construction professionals (Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Builders and Engineers). The relative importance index tool was used to analyse the severity of the factors identified. Findings revealed the absence of punishment for unethical practices (0.94), collusion between officials, consultants and contractors (0.91), availability of loopholes in project monitoring (0.89), weak law enforcement institution (0.87) and greed for money (0.83) among others as major causes of unethical professional practices which have serious effects on the construction industry. The result also revealed poor workmanship and substandard project delivery (0.88), high cost of construction (0.86), the collapse of structures/buildings (0.82), inflated contract sums (0.81), high maintenance cost (0.79), time and cost overrun (0.76) as the extremely severe effects of unethical practices in the industry. Prosecution and punishment of offenders (0.98), the whilstle blower protection policies and rewards (0.84), strengthening of institutionand anticorruption agencies (0.78), award of contracts on merit (0.75) and civil society participation and oversight (0.68) were identified as highly effective measures to curtail unethical professional practices. The study recommends that the government being a major actor should abide by the due process of contract award and letting, using Public Procurement Act (PPA) guidelines in executing all its construction projects. The professionals, contractors and clients’ representatives should also exhibit high professional excellence through adherence to professional ethics and codes of conduct.


The United Arab Emirates construction industry is beset with negative project performance outputs, such as defects, low productivity, delay in completion, and higher costs. Most critical among the recorded reasons for having these undesirable outputs is the engagement of unskilled craft workers. However, the demand for construction projects in the UAE is continually increasing, especially after Dubai won hosting of Expo 2020, as this consequently translates to increased demand for skilled construction craft workers, if optimal project delivery performance must be achieved. Therefore, subject matters related to skillfulness and productivity of construction craft workers become research windows for academic scholars and industry investigators in the UAE built environment. The main purpose of this study is to explicate the reasons behind employment of unskilled craft workers in the construction projects from the management level perspective. To meet this purpose, the authors conducted in-depth interview with construction project managers. The results show number of reasons why unskilled craft workers are been hired and the effect of specialized certificates on hiring the craft workers


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-254
Author(s):  
Shehryar Idrees ◽  
Muhammad Tariq Shafiq

Abstract The construction industry in Pakistan is experiencing a surge in public sector projects due to major investments in infrastructure projects. Project delays and cost overrun are common features in public sector construction projects in Pakistan. Therefore, an understanding of the causes of time and cost overrun in public projects is essential. This paper investigates delay and cost overrun factors within the context of public sector projects in Pakistan. This study identifies 48 potential factors from existing literature and semi-structured interviews were used to refine the identified factors into ten categories. A questionnaire survey was used to establish a hierarchy of factors using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the major causes of time overruns in public projects were (1) legal issues, such as court stay orders, land acquisition, relocation of public facilities; (2) technical errors leading to low-quality drawings, rework, and errors at bidding stage; and (3) Poor project management. The findings of this research contribute to understanding the causes of project delays in public sector projects in Pakistan.


Author(s):  
Sudarshan S ◽  
Geena George

Planning and scheduling is extremely important role in construction projects thank to the increasing difficulties during this field. Construction Planning is that the necessary warning to Scheduling and determining general sequence, defining labour tasks, construction methods and assigning responsibilities, inappropriate planning can cause major delays with the project work. For the planning and scheduling work requires huge amount of  paperwork, which makes the management very burdensome. These problems may be solved employing a  project management software which helps to grant a planned approach to planning. Nowadays use of project management (PM) software as a tool for managing and organizing work has gained its importance in construction industry and continues to grow at a faster pace in other industries also. During this study, attempt is made  to check project management software such as MS project and Primavera and their feasibility is studied.


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