‘Factors that influence the high rise in cost of residential buildings in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis’
Abstract
This research was conducted with a population of 37 dealers in building materials, 70 contractors and 180 building owners (clients). Purposive and quantitative data gathering procedures were used. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), Likert and Microsoft Excel 2013 methods were used to analyze the quantitative data. The analysis of 7 factors that contribute to the high rise in cost of residential buildings in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis were revealed. The two major factors identified are, the discovery of crude oil in the Western Region of Ghana as was shown by a mean score of 4.02. The second one is, high cost of building materials accounting for increased cost of building residential houses. This is indicated by the mean score of 3.71. Out of 9 effects identified, there were two major ones. The 1st one was, a majority view (96.8%) showing that the effects of high rise in cost of residential buildings is the increase in rent. It was also found that whenever there is an increase in the prices of building materials, it indirectly affects contractual charges and the cost of seeking for accommodation. This was shown by 92.4% respondents who were in agreement. The first suggestion agreed on by the total respondents as a strategy to lower the cost of residential buildings, (87%) of the respondents were of the view that efficient utilization of logistics plays a fundamental role in reducing building cost. The second suggestion agreed on by (80.5%) of the total respondents as a strategy was good management by contractors. Also, the factors of large scale land acquisition and utilization of local building materials emerged strongly to the two phenomena. In general, the respondents alluded to the fact that the discovery of crude oil in the Western region of Ghana, increase in population, cost of lands, the rate of inflation, cost of building materials, availability of infrastructure among other factors have over the last 3-5 years contributed to the high rise in the cost of residential buildings in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, College of Art and Built Environment in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science,