Abstract:
Over the years, Cost issues have been very significant factor in construction projects. The study
looked into Cost issues in building construction in the Federal University of Technology, Akure
(FUTA), Ondo state, Nigeria. Survey research design was used. Questionnaire with focus on
purposive sampling technique was used to obtain data from the respondents. The data was analyzed
with the use of relative important index, percentages and mean point value. The hypotheses were
tested using Chi square. There are forty five (45) departments and fifteen (15) Units in FUTA out
of which six relevant departments and three relevant units in building cost management were
selected for this study. These include: Quantity Survey department, Building Technology
department, Estate Management, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Project Management
Technology department, Physical Planning unit, Bursary unit and Works. Both descriptive and
inferential statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean score, chi-square and Relative
Importance Index (RII) were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that Earned Value
Method (EVM) is a powerful tool for tracking project progress in building construction with high
ranking RII of 0.808. It was also discovered that risk factors such as construction and financial
risks affects construction projects. They must be adequately managed to prevent project failure.
Construction risk was highly ranked with RII 0.847 closely followed by financial risks with RII
0.843.Based on these findings, experts in building construction should encourage the use of EVM
as cost management tool for tracking project progress. Also adequate plan for managing risk
factors, especially construction and financial risks must be in place. This would go a long way in
cost reduction as well as enhancing value for money in construction projects. The experts in
building construction must adequately determine how much is needed to complete the project and
how effectively the said amount could be adequately managed for the success of the project.
Building construction projects in the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) constitute
the bulk of the infrastructures in the university, hence the need for efficient cost management in
the sector.
