Challenges for Improvement of Quality in Construction of a Growing Economy

Abstract

This paper highlights the results of a questionnaire survey amongst contractors and contracting consultants in a growing economy. The survey was intended to explore the problems that the employees think might affect the quality of construction works. Thirteen factors known to have some bearing on the quality of construction have been identified through literature and were used as a basis for the survey. The findings of the survey revealed that there is a need to focus on the human factors in addressing the quality issue. The four most problematic factors indicated by the respondents are lack of information, time constraint, lack of teamwork and poor communication. The results indicated the importance of a unified force; an enhanced coordination flow and improved teamwork are required to achieve the project quality objectives. A quality system will not succeed unless both the technical and humanistic aspects are addressed. These are some of the challenges that construction-related organisations must address to continually improve their quality of products and services to be able to compete aggressively in an environment where the quality requirements are always rising.

Keywords

• quality
• construction
• human aspect
• questionnaire