ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT CONTROL PRACTICES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the level of control practices in the building construction firms. It also analysed the factors influencing the project control practices in the building construction firms and evaluated the effect of project control practices on the performance of building construction firms. This is with a view to providing information on the extent of control practices and to know the key factors influencing control practices in the construction industry. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the indigenous and multinational construction firms nonregistered and registered with Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI). A purposive sampling technique was used to select a total of two-hundred (200) questionnaires were used for the analysis. Construction project control practices: Planning, Monitoring, Analyzing and Reporting were ranked based on the level of relevance to the construction firms measured using mean response rating. Inhibiting factors influencing the control practices that often lead to project time delay and cost overrun were measured using Kruskali-Wallis to know which of the factors is most prevailing among others. The effect of project control practices on the performance of building construction firms were measured using factor and regression analysis respectively. The result showed that development of programme of work for project (8.75), ensuring the programme of work is realistic (7.68) and ensuring all activities have cost allocation to them (7.49) as the top three leading project control practices by most firms while analyzing performance using S-curve (4.33), ensuring people are inclined to information on time (4.64) and utilization of cost value comparison (4.83) were the least three control practices. Results also showed that time delay; design changes, financing and payment for completed works and unstable government policies were the three major factors influencing time delay while for cost overrun; inflation price of building materials and inaccurate evaluation of project cost were the three top major factors of cost overrun of construction project. In conclusion, result showed that the most prevalent control practices on time and cost by most construction firms in Lagos State is project control practices on planning, while monitoring, analysing and reporting are not given due considerations. In addition, design changes and inflation price of building materials are the key factors influencing project control in the study area. Based on this conclusion, it is recommended that project control mechanism be adequately followed by consulting and contracting organizations so has to improve their overall performance and that of the industry.