Investigating the causal impact of design errors and its impact on cost performance in the Ghanaian construction industry

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Date
2021-07-13
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Abstract
The subject of project success is of major concern to many construction practitioners especially project managers. Hence, it is the desire of every construction manager to deliver project to time, quality and cost. One issue that has hindered this success is errors in design documents which often lead to rework and cost and time overruns. Due to this, this research studies therefore sought to investigate the causal mechanism of design errors and its impact on cost performance in the Ghanaian construction industry. In order to achieve the set aim, three objectives were set; to identify the critical factors influencing design documents deficiencies, to assess designers’ and contractors’ perception of the achievement of design documents and to assess the impact of design errors on cost of construction projects in Ghana. On this basis, critical review of literature was carried out which led to identification of the factors that influence design documents deficiencies and also attributes of quality construction documents. Questionnaires were administered to D1K1 and D2K2 construction firms in Kumasi. Data collected from the survey was analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings from this research show that lack of coordination, incomplete or inaccurate information received from other designers and high stress situations are the major factors that influence design document deficiencies in the Ghanaian construction industry. Moreover, most of the documents produced are complete and standardized. However, the documents are mostly not produced on time and also it does not normally depict exactly what is to be constructed. In addition, the major effect of design errors, is its huge impact on construction cost, normally resulting in cost overruns. The research therefore recommended that the time period for preparation of design documents should be well planned and experts should be consulted for design documents whenever the need be. The study also recommended that other research work be done with relatively large sample size.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Construction Technology and Management, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award Degree Of Master of Science.
Keywords
Design, Errors, Performance, Perception
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