Dosumu, O S (2018) Perceived effects of prevalent errors in contract documents on construction projects. Construction Economics and Building, 18(1), pp. 1-26. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
One of the highly rated causes of poor performance is errors in contract documents. The objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalent errors in contract documents and their effects on construction projects. Questionnaire survey and 51 case study projects (mixed method) were adopted for the study. The study also involved the use of Delphi technique to extract the possible errors that may be contained in contract documents; it did not however constitute the empirical data for the study. The sample of the study consists of 985 consulting and 275 contracting firms that engaged in the construction of building projects that were completed between 2013 and 2016 and were above the ground floor. The two-stage stratified random sampling technique was adopted for the study. The data for the study were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics (based on Shapiro-Wilk’s test). The results of the study indicate that errors in contract documents were moderately prevalent. However, overmeasurement in bill of quantities was prevalent in private, institutional and management procured projects. Traditionally procured projects contain 68% of the errors in contract documents among the procurement methods. Drawings contain the highest number of errors, followed by bill of quantities and specifications. The severe effects of errors in contract documents were structural collapse, deterioration of buildings and contractors' claims among others. The result of the study implies that, management procurement method is the route to error minimization in developing countries, but it may need to be backed by law and guarded against overmeasurement.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction projects; contract documents; effects of errors; prevalent errors; project performance |
| Index terms: | survey, drawing, bills of quantities, statistics, Delphi technique, case study, minimization, specification, contract document, mixed method, questionnaire, sampling, project performance, procurement method, deterioration, construction project, developing country |
| Subjects: | development economics, project management theory and practice, production management, contractual condition, algorithms, mathematical modelling, data collection methods, financial and cost management, material degradation and durability, contractual arrangements, technical documentation |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, International Construction, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Procurement, Research Practice, Project Management, Construction Materials, Cost Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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