Assessing the quality of design and contract documentation and its impact on construction projects performance in Northern Ghana.
Abstract
Building construction projects in Ghana’s construction industry are facing many quality
issues most especially with design and contract documentation. The main purpose of this
study was to assess the quality of design and contract documentation, and the impact it
has on the performance of construction projects in Northern Ghana. A questionnaire
survey was performed on 85 respondents (40 Consultants, 25 Clients, and 20 Contractors),
52 responses were received representing 61.2% response rate, and 96.15% of these
respondents acknowledged there were indeed deficiencies in design and contract
documentation. The data were analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII) and
Kendall’s concordance testing. Majority believed that consultants were mostly
responsible for this problem followed by clients. A conclusion was drawn based on the
data analysis that, out of the 40 factors, these were the critical factors that bring about
design and documentation deficiencies. They are: the selection of designers on the basis
of lowest price selection strategy (Lowest bid approach), the unwillingness to pay fees
commensurate with the design of high-quality services, the last minute changes by the
client, insufficient design reviews with relevant parties, the slow payments system for
design services, and the insufficient and missing input information from the client. It was
also concluded that the following affected the time and cost performance of public
construction projects in Northern Ghana which are in order of the degree of severity:
Projects abandonment, Delays (Time overrun), Cost overrun, Payment claims, and
Variation/Change orders. Recommended to the Clients and Consultants to help in the
prevention of design and contract documentation deficiencies in construction projects in
Northern Ghana are the following strategies. These are: Clients must ensure that
consultancy fees are proportionate to the required service quality, Consultants should
make sure there is an adequate review of design and documentation with all stakeholders
involved, and Clients must ensure that the selection of consultants is on meritorious
grounds. And the rest are Prompt changes should be tolerated if the need be, Ensuring
timely and regular payments for design service providers and that Clients must make sure
that briefs are adequate, clear, precise and concise
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a degree of Master of Science,
Keywords
Construction projects performance, Northern Ghana, Quality, Deficient Design and Contract documentation