ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study focused on assessment of quality management practices in building construction firms in Abuja. The quality of building construction projects in any country shows the level of development attained giving that the construction industry provides most of the fixed assets of any country. The study assessed factors affecting quality management of building construction firms, conformity of firms to quality management practices and the effect of firm size to conformance with quality management practices. Purposive sampling was used and 78 questionnaires were administered to building construction firms in order to assess quality management practices in building construction firms in Abuja. The research findings showed, adequacy of site personnel (RII=0.87), certification of materials (RII=0.86) and project control (RII=0.86) ranked highly significant as factors quality management. Whereas Onsite supervision (RII=0.87), quality appraisal (RII=0.84) and education of employee on the need for quality (RII=0.84) ranked highest as the most significant among the practices that firms conform with ensure quality management. The research also established that there is some variations with regards to firm size in conformity with quality management practices. From the research findings, it was concluded that inadequate on site supervision, quality appraisal and education of employees on the need for quality management are the major practices that firms need to conform with to ensure quality management in building construction firms. The research recommends building construction firms to conform strictly to quality management practices.

The issue of quality management in construction projects cannot be over emphasized since building facilities contribute the largest to any nations development and economy (Farooqui, Masood and Aziz, 2008). The construction sector is globally considered to be a basic industry on which the development of a country depends. To a great extent, the growth of a country and its development status is generally determined by the quality of its infrastructure and construction projects (Wasiu, Aliyu and Modupe, 2012).

The quality movement can trace its roots back to medieval Europe, where workers began organizing         into         Unions         called         Guilds         in         the         late         13th         century (American Society for Quality, 2010). Manufacturing in the industrialized world tended to follow this craftsmanship model till the mid- 1750s when the factory system, with its emphasis on product inspection started in Great Britain and developed into the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s. In the early 20th century manufacturers began to include quality inspection in processes as a general practice, at the beginning of World War 2 quality became a critical component of the war effort as a product manufactured in one of the states had to work consistently with products from other states hence the eventual adoption of sampling techniques for inspection, aided by the introduction of military-specification standards and training courses (American Society for Quality, 2010).

The American Society for Quality (2010) notes that in the few years since the turn of the 20th century, the quality movement matured beyond Total Quality. New quality systems have evolved and quality has moved beyond manufacturing into service, healthcare, education, construction and government sectors. A general decline in performance of the construction industry has been observed in recent past, perhaps exacerbated by the recent rate of collapsed buildings, prevalence of abandoned construction sites and general poor quality of completed projects. In Nigeria, the construction industry has been identified as occupying a significant segment of the capital base of the Nigerian economy and also attracts a significant percentage of the labour force in the economy (Sanni and Windapo, 2008). Due to its prime position within the economy, the successful or non-successful performance of the industry impacts either positively or negatively on the whole economy. The construction industry has been slow to apply total quality management, which is standard for most manufacturing concerns, despite the construction industry‟s capital requirement being equal to many years of output from a typical manufacturing organisation. However expressed, quality is obtained if the stated requirements are adequate, and if the completed project conforms to the requirements (Arditi and Gunaydin, 1997). Arditi (2004) also defines quality in terms of professional liability, a legal concept that requires all professionals to know their trade and practice it responsibly. Architects, Engineers and Builders who offer his or her expertise to owners is subject to professional liability laws, some design professionals believe that quality is measured by the aesthetics of the facilities they design. According to Stasiowski and Burstein (1994) Cited from (Sanni and Windapo, 2008) this traditional definition of quality is based on such issues as how well a building blends into its surroundings, a building's psychological impact on its inhabitants, the ability of a landscaping design to match the theme of adjacent structures, and the use of bold new design concepts that capture people's imaginations because aesthetic definitions of quality are  largely subjective,  major  disagreements arise as to whether quality has been achieved or not. Since objective definitions of aesthetic quality do not exist, design professionals generally take it upon themselves to define the aesthetic quality of their designs (ASCE, 2005). Quality can also be defined from the view point of function, by how closely the project conforms to its requirements. Using this definition, a

high quality project can be described by such terms as ease in understanding drawings,

level  of  conflict   in  drawings  and  specifications,   economics  of  construction,   ease  of operation, ease of maintenance, and energy efficiency. In the construction industry, quality can be defined as meeting the requirements of the designer, constructor and regulatory agencies  as  well  as  the  owner.  According  to  an  ASCE  (2005)  study,  quality can  be characterized as follows.

1. Meeting the requirements of the owner as to functional adequacy; completion on time and within budget; lifecycle costs; and operation and maintenance.
2. Meeting the requirements of the design professional as to provision of well-defined scope of work; budget to assemble and use qualified, trained and experienced staff; budget to obtain adequate field information prior to design; provisions for timely decisions by owner and design professional; and contract to perform necessary work at a fair fee with adequate time allowance.
3. Meeting the requirements of the construction as to provision of contract plans, specifications, and other documents prepared in sufficient detail to permit the constructor to prepare priced proposal or competitive bid; timely decisions by the owner and design professional on authorization and processing of change orders; fair and timely interpretation of contract requirements from field design and inspection staff; and contract for performance of work on a reasonable schedule with reasonable profit.
4. Meeting the requirements of regulatory agencies (the public) as to public safety and health; environmental considerations; protection of public property including utilities; and conformance with applicable laws, regulations, codes and policies. In addition, one should differentiate between ‘quality in fact' and ‘quality in perception'. The providers of services or goods that meet specifications achieve quality in fact. A service or product that meets the customer's expectations achieves quality in perception (ASCE, 2005). In other words, a product can be of high quality and yet it may not meet customer's needs and vice versa. An example of not meeting customer needs is the prefabricated high-rise apartment buildings that were built in the 1970s using cutting edge technology in low-cost building processes in California, United States of America. The buildings had to be pulled down in the late 1980s because no one wanted to live in these apartments despite the low rents. The buildings failed to meet the tenants' expectations of comfort, aesthetics and function. One should also differentiate between ‘product quality', i.e. the quality of elements directly related to the physical product itself, and ‘process quality', i.e. the quality of the process that causes the product to be either acceptable or not. For example, ‘product quality' in the construction industry may refer to achieving quality in the materials, equipment and technology that go into the building of a structure, whereas ‘process quality' may refer to achieving quality in the way the project is organized and managed in the three phases of planning and design, construction, and operation and maintenance.

1.2   Statement of Research Problem

According to Kado (2010) the major weaknesses of construction firms in Nigeria are in the areas of staff training, awareness, education and skills, objective measurement, feedback and natural use of total quality tools and techniques. Also are the issues of contractors and clients engaging the services of quarks, use of inferior building materials all in the bid to cut costs which usually result in accidents and deaths during and after the construction process.

These concerns involving quality in the construction industry have been identified by various researchers. One of the major concerns of the construction industry in Nigeria is the increasing cases of collapsed buildings across the country in recent times. Another concern is that major construction projects contribute significantly to the economy, standard of living and welfare of the society and thus regarded as an issue of national public interest (Abdulkareem and Adeoti, 2010).

While these concerns linger on, the problem of the technical professional bodies and allied government agencies have not really focused on the quality management of construction projects in such a way as to have a statistical base on the state or status of their quality management implementation (Lawal, 2000 Cited in Abdulkareem and Adeoti, 2010).

1.3 Justification of Study

Construction projects are usually capital intensive. Therefore, time and resources play a very essentials role in determining the cost factor of every project, likewise defects and failures in constructed facilities can result in delays and costs increases where re-construction may be required and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and delays are the result. In the worst case, failures may cause personal injuries or fatalities (Sanni and Windapo, 2008). By adhering to quality management practices the very first time total project cost can be reduced substantially by identifying mistakes, analyzing the situation and solving any unforeseen problem that may arise. The construction industry in Nigeria is one of the biggest industries and any extra cost means huge losses to the contractors and increased cost to the clients (Aibinu and Odeyinka, 2006). To avoid such loss in construction rework, extensive research on quality control needs to be conducted to improve the construction process and delivery. The benefits of strict adherence by professionals like Architects, Engineers, Builders and contractors to the need for quality management has not been given the required attention in spite of a major developmental projects (Jimoh, 2012). Quality management in Nigerian construction industry is of great importance to achieve overall project cost benefits and effective service delivery, as this has already been tested and used in many countries around the world and proved to be very effective at optimizing the total cost throughout the project life cycle considering these problems faced in construction as a result of inadequate quality management (Aina and Wahab, 2011), it is justified to carry out this research in order to, suggest best practices that improve quality management in building construction firms, which in turn result to improved service delivery.

1.4 Aim and Objectives

1.4.1    Aim

The aim of this research is to analyse quality management practices in construction firms in Abuja, with a view to suggest ways for improved quality control and service delivery.

1.4.2    Objectives

1. To assess factors affecting quality management in building construction firms of Abuja.
2. To assess the conformance of building construction firms in Abuja to quality management practices.
3. To investigate the effect of firm size on conformance to quality management practices of building construction firms in Abuja.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

1.5.1    Scope

The scope of this study covered quality management practices in building construction firms registered with FCDA in Abuja. Only quality management practices of the construction processes were assessed, not the quality of the buildings constructed by the building construction firms.

1.5.2       Limitation

The research was limited to the views of top management of firms, due to the firms reluctance to allow the researcher first hand access to assess the quality management practices on site. Some firms were not cooperative and this in turn affected the response rate.