An investigation into the responses of the construction industry to preferential procurement in South Africa

Includes bibliographical references.The aim of this research is to establish a base level understanding of the influence of preferential procurement policies on construction firms with a view to contributing to theory development. The fundamental premise of this thesis is that preferential procurement polices are not neutral, but have distributed consequences

A post-contract project analysis of material waste and cost overrun on construction sites in Abuja, Nigeria

Material waste and cost overrun have been identified as common problems in the construction industry. These problems occur at both pre- and post-contract stages of a construction project. As a result of a dearth of empirical research and low level of awareness, the majority of managers of construction projects in Nigeria pay hardly any attention to material waste issues that affect cost overrun. This article examines the material waste issues that affect cost overruns at the post-contract stage of building projects. The study covers building construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria. In-depth interviews were conducted with professionals using purposive sampling technique. It is purposive, because only building professionals handling projects that are worth over eight million USD are consulted/interviewed. The professionals included 15 project managers, nine quantity surveyors, five site engineers and one senior technical officer of a waste management department/unit. The interviews were on issues relating to material waste and cost overruns at the post-contract stage of a project. The collected data were analysed manually, using the deductive approach. This involves constant comparative analysis of the data to generate common patterns on material waste and cost overrun. The research found that poor quality-of-procurement management, construction management, and site management would cause material waste, which contributes to project cost overruns. A good-quality procurement management entails procuring the appropriate materials, at the right time and in accordance with specifications. Rework, site accidents, inadequate site security/fencing, poor site organisation and discipline, construction-site disputes, lack of experience, and lack of co-ordination among the parties all contribute to material waste and cost overruns. It can be concluded that proper attention to material waste issues has the potential to minimise the rate of cost overrun at the post-contract stage of a project. It is recommended that careful attention should be paid to the issues identified in this study, as they would help reduce the rate of material waste and cost overrun for projects

Ineffective programme management on the delivery of health infrastructure projects: A case of the Northern Cape

Programme management remains a challenging management practice in the Northern Cape Department of Health (NCDoH), particularly when a health facility project has to integrate the components of construction management and operations management in order to attain the benefits of strategic importance. The Northern Cape Department of Health consists of various administrative programmes that are supposed to work together in order to attain the benefits of strategic importance. The inability to integrate construction management and operations management is attributed to poor programme management coordination within the Northern Cape Department of Health. This article reports the findings of a case study which determined how programme management coordination among the administrative programmes in the Provincial Office of the NCDoH, Z. F. Mqcawu District Office and the hospital that underwent revitalisation could be improved during the construction of a health-care facility. Data was obtained through interviews with personnel in the three sectors (provincial office of the NCDoH, district office of the Department of Health, and the hospital that underwent revitalisation) directly involved in the delivery of the infrastructure component of the project and preparations operationalisation of the health facility after completion and handover. The results of the study revealed the inability by the NCDoH to integrate both construction management and operations management, due the poor programme management coordination when a health facility project serves as a means for the delivery of health services after handover. Furthermore, the research revealed, among others, functional silos, lack of skills and knowledge for the identification of the critical success factors relevant for integration of construction and operations management as the contributing factors to poor programme management. &nbsp

The contributions of construction material waste to project cost overruns in Abuja, Nigeria

Material wastage on construction sites can contribute to cost overruns. Research to provide evidence of the extent of material wastages’ contribution to cost overruns on construction sites is based mostly on surveys. Thus, the actual contribution is not yet ascertained. The purpose of this article is to report the results of an objectively investigated study on the contributions of material waste to project-cost overrun. The methodological approach adopted for the study is the quantitative technique that is rooted in the positivist paradigm. The investigation included ongoing building construction projects within Abuja, Nigeria, from which a sample of 31 public and private projects was purposefully selected (project value of ?1.6 billion Naira and above). The data for this research were sourced from the field investigation (measurement of the volume of material waste) and data from the archival records (drawings, bills of quantities, project-progress reports, and specifications) on material waste and cost overruns. The collected data were analysed using the Pearson moment correlation and the descriptive method. The research results revealed a statistically significant relationship between material waste and cost overrun. This implies that any increase in the volume of material waste would lead to a corresponding increase in the amount of cost overrun. The results showed that the significant percentage contribution of material waste to project-cost overrun ranges from 1.96% to 8.01%, with an average contribution of 4.0% to project-cost overruns. It is recommended that construction professionals be well informed of the consequences of material waste contributions to project-cost overrun at an early stage, in order to enable the professionals to evaluate the extent to which these consequences could be minimised

An investigation into cost overruns for ongoing building projects in Abuja, Nigeria

The total amount of cost overruns for any construction project can be fully determined once the project is completed. Estimating the amount of cost overruns at different stages of ongoing construction projects is important for project success. There is, however, a dearth of research for this exercise. This article reports the results of an investigative study on cost overruns for ongoing building projects in Abuja. The quantitative technique was adopted in this study. The investigation included ongoing building-construction projects within Abuja, from which a sample of 30 building projects (public and private) was purposively selected (project value of ZAR100 million and above). The data were sourced from the archival records (drawings, bills of quantities, project progress reports, and specifications) on the issues relating to the costs and duration of building projects. The data were analysed using descriptive (percentages) and inferential methods. The results revealed that the percentage of cost overruns ranged from a minimum of 5.56% with 90% project completion, and within 88% of the estimated time limit, to a maximum of 216.08% with merely 5% project completion, and within 8.3% of the estimated time limit. The entire projects had average cost overruns of 44.46%, with an average project completion of 52.4%, and within 91.4% of the average estimated time limit. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that continuous investigation into, and analyses of cost overruns at stages of building projects would encourage professionals to apply the best mitigation measures, in order to achieve a significant reduction in the total cost overrun at the completion of a project. Construction professionals should be well informed of these consequences (cost overruns) at an early stage, in order to evaluate the extent to which these consequences could be minimised

Implementation of the value re-engineering concept in the Nigerian construction industry: Exploratory study

Value Re-Engineering (VRE) is considered a critical analysis and radical redesign of existing construction processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in performance measures. The dissatisfaction of customers’ value offered by the Nigerian Construction Industry (NCI) necessitated a rethink of a new approach to the customers’ need. Hence, this article aims to explore the implementation of VRE in the NCI as a possible solution for the industry to resolve the challenges of customers’ dissatisfaction. A qualitative research approach was used to identify incremental adoption for the implementation of VRE in the NCI. Qualitative data was collected, using a structured tick-box questionnaire interview schedule with 34 key stakeholders in the NCI, including seven directors, nine project managers, nine quantity surveyors, and nine engineers. The tick-box interview schedule explored the level of importance of the activities of the implementation process in the eight phases (steps) for VRE take-off in the NCI. Using QSR Nvivo 12 (a qualitative content analysis tool), the tick-box data was given a numerical score, on a 5-point Likert scale, so that the data could be rated and reported quantitatively. This included frequencies and percentages. The exploratory research findings indicate that there is a significant need for the process to be re-engineered and for establishing a VRE organisational structure critical to achieving the successful implementation and adoption of VRE. Other most important activities for the successful implementation of VRE include evaluating the impact of new technologies; monitoring employee attitudes, customer perceptions, and supplier responsiveness, as well as identifying disconnects (anything that prevents the process from achieving the desired results and, in particular, information transfer between organisations or people). Identifying the customers’ needs by the NCI helps create the market value of the product being produced by the industry players. On the other hand, this improves the global competitive market for the industry by adopting the radical redesign process for the industry

A systems thinking approach to eliminate delays on building construction projects in South Africa

It is obvious that the performance of firms and their market competitiveness hinge on project delivery time. Many approaches have been used to reduce the effect of the potential factors of delay on project delivery time. In this study, the systems approach has been employed and validated. Inferential statistical analysis was conducted to analyse eighty-eight questionnaires returned during the primary study and twenty-four during the validation phase. The holistic role of professionals in the construction industry was illustrated with the aid of causal loop analysis, showing cause and effect relationships. Based on the findings that eight out of the twelve categories of problems of delays are construction-related, the study identified seven stages of construction project delivery and various activities in these stages that could reduce the negative influence of delay factors on project delivery time. The interventions category, which has the most influence on the elimination of delays in project delivery, occurs during the construction stage, followed by interventions during the briefing/design stage. The interventions category with the least influence is pre-qualification of suppliers. The study recommends that adequate planning, pre-qualification of suppliers, provision of work schedule, and prompt payment of interim certificates be focused on to mitigate delays in project delivery time. Furthermore, the following courses should be included in all built-environment education programmes: operational planning; quality; design, and generic management

Utilisation of forecasting technology for improving construction logistics in Nigeria

The need to investigate new technology for forecasting purposes in construction logistics is due to the fact that the forecasting ability (modern technology utilisation) of the Nigerian construction sector, in terms of logistics management, is relatively low when compared to manufacturing and retailing industries. This is affecting the performance of the construction sector. Moreover, the current logistics technologies used for forecasting operations in the Nigerian construction industry are relatively inefficient and insufficiently investigated to inspire new logistics technologies for the construction industry. Hence, this article investigated how forecasting logistics technologies could be utilised in manufacturing and retailing industries, in order to improve the forecasting processes of construction logistics. Lagos State and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, formed the selected geographical scope of the study, from which five manufacturing; five retailing companies, and five construction projects were purposely selected. A mixed methods research strategy were used. The research instruments included an observation guide (quantitative) and semi-structured interviews (qualitative). The collected quantitative data were analysed, using descriptive analytical tools: frequencies and percentiles. The qualitative data was analysed, using the thematic method. The results revealed that all the observed manufacturing industries (100%) adopted the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology for forecasting purposes in the following areas: material, demand, product, and production forecast. Of the observed companies in the manu-facturing and retailing industries, 80% and 40%, respectively, adopted the Material Requirement Planning (MRP) technology for forecasting purposes. Only 20% (one project) of the observed construction projects adopted the MRP technology for fore-casting in the following: 5% for demand forecast (demand control); 6.7% for material forecast (stock control), and 20% for product forecast (product output). It was also revealed that utilisation of the forecasting technology in construction could have the following benefits: proper resource planning; improved production scheduling; reduction in inventory; effective treatment of scheduling problems, and efficiency of the supply-chain system. Results showed that effective tilisation of forecasting technology in the logistics system of the construction industry could lead to full efficiency gains in forecasting logistics of the construction industry. It is recommended that the Nigerian construction industry should leverage on this, in order to create the best ways of handling the forecasting technology to improve the forecasting logistics systems of the construction process

Assessment of transportation efficiency for the delivery of construction material in North-Central Nigeria

In Nigeria, knowledge on the management of construction material logistics system, especially in transportation, is inadequate. This article assesses construction material manufacturers’ transportation efficiency for the delivery of construction material, in order to improve manufacturers’ transport operation in North-Central Nigeria. A total of 32 construction material manufacturers delivered their material to 42 distribution centres/warehouses and retailer stores, and 30 construction sites were purposely selected. The selected construction materials manufacturers produce six types of materials, namely cement, reinforcement bars (steel), ceramic tiles, crushed stones, masonry hollow sandcrete blocks, and sand (fine and coarse). A case study research design method was used, in which quantitative data were collected and analysed. An observation (quantitative) guide was used as the research instrument. The quantitative data collected were analysed, using descriptive statistical tools such as frequencies and percentiles. The results revealed that transportation efficiency levels are low in their vehicles’ dwell time, loading and off-loading vehicles at the warehouses, retailer stores, and construction sites. It was also revealed that no technology was used in the transport system to integrate the manufacturers’ warehouses with the other logistics partners in the supply chain. The article concludes that manufacturers should address transportation operations along the delivery nodes to help ensure that the construction material arrives at its final destination at optimal quality, time and cost

Evaluating Truck Empty Running in Construction: A Case Study from Cape Town, South Africa

The efficiency of any transport operation isdependent on the degree to which vehiclecapacity is utilised on the forward and returntrips. Efficiency requirements create thelogistical challenges of finding backloads forreturning vehicles. In the absence ofbackloads, vehicles travel empty on the returnjourney. Construction is fundamentallydifferent from other freight services in thatapart from requiring large quantities of materialinputs, it also generates appreciable levels ofwaste. There is therefore, potential forreducing empty running by construction trucksthrough back-loading waste to points ofdisposal, reuse, recycling or reclamation.Back-loading, which is one of the reverselogistics processes is important for returningproducts that are damaged, obsolete or wornout and those unacceptable to buyers. Backloadingis also associated with utilising sparecapacity in the supply chain to increase returnon truck investment. This paper examines theoperations and processes associated withconstruction materials and waste logistics andassesses the potential for reduction in truckempty running through utilisation of thereverse logistics concept