ABSTRACT
Planning in construction involve defining the activities, actions, time, cost, durations and performance milestone which will result into successful completion of the project. This study was carried out to assess construction time and cost planning of indigenous contractors with a view to enhance their performance. The objectives of the research were to assess contractors’ perception of construction time and cost planning, articulation of contractors’ current method of construction time and cost planning and assessing the efficiency of each contractor’s method of planning construction projects. The methodology of the research involve use of purposive sampling technique, sample size of 50 companies was determined using 90% confidence level from a population size of 1920 calculated with sample size table and formula. Questionnaire was self-administered to respondents, questionnaire (A) was administered to project managers of the organizations which contains questions that aim at assessing how organizations plan and what planning entails in their organizations, this questionnaire record 83% response rate. Questionnaire (B) was administered to professionals in the organizations who manage construction on site, questionnaire (B) aim at assessing the effectiveness of construction planning, problems associated with construction planning and how to improve construction planning, questionnaire (B) records 88% response rate. Questionnaires were analyzed and results was presented in tables and bar charts. Findings from the research revealed that construction time and cost planning is insufficient and requires improvement. Cost overrun, time overrun, poor scope control and reduction in profit are problems experienced by contractors. The failure of construction time and cost planning was attributed to client unethical dealings, lack of integrity in financial dealings of client and poor communication among project members.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
• Background of the Study
The guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PM BOK (2004) defined project to be a temporary human effort which has definite start and finishing date and also has clear objectives. Henry (2006) identified project to be made up of group of interrelated activities constrained by specific scope, budget and time to deliver specified product or service. Example of projects are construction of a house, building a software and accomplishing a space mission. Hence, a project is characterized by time, scope and objectives.
Construction activities also shares features of a project, this is because construction involve transforming raw materials, finished or semi-finished goods using management, manpower and technology with in an agreed specification of time, quality into a facility. Abimbola (2013) defined construction as series of actions undertaken by an entity which produce, modify or altar building or infrastructure.
Regardless of the nomenclature, every project involve accomplishment of distinct or interconnected stages, these stages are conceptualization, planning execution and completion, and they are termed the project life cycle. For a project to be successful, every aspect of it needs to be prepared or planned. Time and cost planning was defined by PM BOK (2000) as that stage of a project which identify the project activities and how each of the activities will be accomplished. The purpose of planning project is to identify each major task, estimate time and resources required, and provide a frame work for management or owners to review and control its progress.
Construction time and cost planning involve defining the work to be done, its objectives and constraints, choice of methodology and technology on how the construction will be carried out. It also involve identifying key activities that must be accomplished, their sequence and any possible interconnection between activities.
Some critiques of construction time and cost planning, such as Laufer and Tucker (1987) argued that planning and evaluation of planning processes are insufficient, there is emphasis on critical path methods, inexperience of construction process and lack of information gathering methods by construction planners hinders the construction time and cost planning process. Planning of construction project often become more of control-oriented rather than action oriented, construction planning are often presented with complex and technical terms which can only be understood by professionals in construction industry.
Graham and John (2005) indicated that despite the fundamental importance of the debates, recent researches have proceed into refinement of existing planning tools and emphasizing on use of software for construction planning, but neglecting researching to explore organizational context of construction planning. This approach of studying planning has not provide the required improvement in construction time and cost planning, this is indicated by Basil (2005), who reported that lack of successful construction time and cost planning to be an important factor that lead to death of newly formed small and medium construction firms in Nigeria with in their first five years of in cooperation.
Construction time and cost planning involve identification of activities and actions, time and cost targets, performance mile stone, it is one of the four phases of construction project life cycle. Construction planning was shown to impact project positively, Harris and Mc Caffer (2005) indicated that contractors of the developed countries have embrace planning of construction project, because the performance and profitability of the companies were found to be directly affected by efforts expanded in planning, careful and controlled construction project delivery. But many Indigenous construction companies are unable to meet their contractual requirements because of their in ability to prepare and implement a good plan for a successful construction project delivery (Aniekwu and Audu, 2010). This according Saleh (2004) has contributed to the inability of the industry in meeting the construction needs of Nigeria.
• Statement of Research Problem
The performance of Indigenous construction companies was found by Ibrahim et al (2021) to be hindered by mismanagement, which often result into inefficient planning of construction project. Kirmani (1988) observed that this inefficiency in construction time and cost planning has significantly hinders productivity of the industry to a level lower than that of its multinational counterparts, resulting to major percentage of the total project in Nigeria going to multinational contractors.
According to Aibinu and Jagboro (2002), another major criticism facing the Nigerian construction industry is the growing rate of delays in construction project delivery and other associated problems, which often results into dispute, arbitration, total abandonment and protracted litigation by the parties. These problems, according to Odeyinka and Yusif (1997) are associated with planning and scheduling, they are internal factors in an organization that causes delay in construction project delivery.
According to Inuwa et al (2021), Indigenous construction companies were found to be using their central administration to plan project operations instead of an identified project manager, in appropriate application of planning techniques and non-adoption of computer applications and ICT in planning of construction projects.
Other studies, such as Agbo (2004) and Mohammed (1988) study cost planning relating to construction project, Audu (2001) study how planning techniques affects construction time and cost planning, while Yazid (2009) study the impact of software applications in construction time and cost planning. Each of the researches was able to identify at least an existing problem relating to construction planning but was not able to provide the necessary understanding of the problems collectively, their causes and how to improve planning taking into consideration key variables used in planning of construction projects.
Indigenous construction companies were shown to be associated with inefficient planning which result into low productivity and growing rate of delay. They were also found to be wrongly adopting methods and procedures of planning which was shown to reduce the profitability of the companies and cause frequent cases of contract abandonment. Inefficiency in construction planning also have a negative impact on the national economy. Researches in construction were able to identify inefficiency in planning but does not provide holistic approach to understanding current methods of planning used by contractors, why those methods are inadequate and provide solution on how to improve construction planning methods.
• Aim and Objectives
• Aim
The research aim at assessing the construction time and cost planning process of Indigenous construction companies, with a view to enhancing efficiency in construction project delivery.
• Objectives
The objectives of the research are:
• To assess the contractors perception of construction planning.
• To articulate construction time and cost planning process that indigenous contractors are currently using.
To assess the effectiveness of the planning process on construction productivity.
• Significance of the Study
Ibrahim (2004) described construction Time and cost planning as the heart of proper project management, this is because it provides the central communication tool for the work of all parties, planning establishes the benchmark for the project control system to track quality and cost (Oberlender,1993). Planning is also the first step to project scheduling, Project Scheduling deals with the time table preparation and the establishment of dates during which various resources, such as equipment and personnel required to perform the activities for completing the project.
Considering the identified benefits of construction time and cost planning, there is need for construction companies to continually study and improve on how they plan execution of construction projects. Hence, this study seek to undertake assessment of contractors planning of construction projects, as a way to provide recommendation capable of improving efficiency in construction project delivery.
As a justification to this study, there is need to evaluate current construction time and cost planning of indigenous contractors, this will help in identifying causes of construction time and cost planning problems and how to mitigate the problems. This assessment need to take broader evaluation of construction planning taking into account all necessary components of construction time and cost planning.
1.5 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
The scope of this research is to appraise construction time and cost planning of Indigenous construction companies in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The choice of FCT Abuja as a case study was adopted because it present fair representation of Nigeria’s construction industry. Out of 2960 organizations that are registered as general building and construction companies with Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC), 1920 have their head office located in Abuja (CAC, 2021), this represent 65%, of the companies that are registered as general building and construction companies in Nigeria.
1.6 Organization of the study
The research is logically organized into five (5) chapters and references. Chapter one deals with the introduction, which talks about the general idea and relevance of the study. It defines the background, the problem statement, the objectives, the scope and limitation as well as the organization of the thesis.
Chapter two comprises of literature review, and quotes the various related works done in this area of study. Chapter three attempts to describe in detail the methodology of the project followed in this research study. Chapter four contains data presentation, analysis of the information gathered through the data survey, summary of findings and interpretation. Chapter five provides conclusions and recommendations of the study.
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 43 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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