Dosumu, O; Idoro, G and Onukwube, H (2017) Causes of errors in construction contract documents in Southwestern, Nigeria. Journal of Construction Business and Management, 1(2), pp. 11-23. ISSN 2521-0165
Abstract
The issue of continual poor project performance in the construction industry remains unresolved and there is need for improvement. In view of improving project performance, the study aims at investigating the frequent causes of errors in construction contract documents. The survey research design and mixed research methods were used for the study. The respondents for the study consist of 86 consulting and 98 contracting firms that have been engaged on building projects that is above one floor between 2012 and 2015. 51 interviews were also conducted on contractors, project managers and consultants on the projects they were involved and can equally provide necessary information for the study. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20) was used for the analysis of the study. The study found that the frequent causes of the errors in contract documents are frequent design changes by clients, lack of adequate time to prepare documents and design management experience among others. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the causes of errors in contract documents vary from one state to the other. It was also concluded that there is difference in the causes of errors in contract documents based on types of building, services rendered by construction organisations and states in South West, Nigeria. However, there is no significant difference in the causes of errors in contract documents based on procurement method except where there is incomplete documentation or contracting organisations have overlapping activities. The study recommends that the frequent errors identified should always be prevented from occurring if cost and time overrun are to be minimized. Also since most of the causes identified are related to consultants, it was recommended as suggested by interviewees that all designs must go through quality assurance process.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | contract documents; errors; interview; project performance; questionnaire survey |
| Index terms: | Nigeria, research design, package, project manager, time overrun, procurement method, construction organization, construction industry, project performance, construction contract, social science, survey, quality assurance, documentation, design change, interview, contracting organization, documents, contract document, questionnaire, design management |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, quality assurance, project controls, Geography, contractual condition, design process, project management theory and practice, professional development, theoretical framing, contractual arrangements, practitioner, profession, data collection methods, research design and methodology, organization, contract type |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Design Practice, Quality Management, Time Control, Contract Administration |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here