ABSTRACT
Quality Control plays a fundamental role into works and services. It deals with working systematically, taking step by step procedures to prevent or eliminate errors from occurring. Quality Control deals with a body reviewing the quality of all factors involved in production, in this case in construction organization. It is about ensuring that the finished product meets the standards set in the specifications and by various construction bodies. Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release. It is a set of procedure intended to ensure that a material used meets up with the requirement of the client.
The research design employed in this study was the descriptive survey, which was used to achieve the outlined objectives .Population of the study were the prospective respondents who are the architects, builders, quantity surveyors and structural / civil and service engineers that possessed the characteristics & knowledge through appropriate training before practicing, and this makes them most suitable for the particular study in question for the sample selected. A questionnaire was designed and randomly distributed to the contracting organizations which are the organizations where these professionals listed above. The selection was done using stratified random sampling. The data gathering procedure was done by administering the questionnaires to the respondents who are project participants in these organizations. In total a sample of fifty (50) questionnaires were distributed and forty (40) questionnaires were retrieved. The analyses of data generated were carried out with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (IBM SPSS data collection) in which mean, frequencies and percentages were used.
It was concluded that the study shows that the factors; human and material control, are very important when it comes quality control in a construction firm.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER
PAGE i
DECLARATION ii
CERTIFICATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v
TABLE OF
CONTENTS vi
LIST
OF TABLES ix
ABSTRACT
x
CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION…..………………………………...1
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY………………………………..…..1
1.2
STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM………………..…...2
1.3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................……………………….........3
1.4 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY........……………………...3
1.5
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY…………………………...….……4
1.6 SCOPE &
DELIMITATION....................................................................5
1.7
DEFINITION OF TERMS…………………..…………...........5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………...6
2.1
QUALITY CONTROL..…………………………………………………6
2.2 QUALITY CONTROL IN
CONSTRCTION FIRMS IN NIGERIA...……7
2.2.1 QUALITY CONTROL HISTORY....……………………………......9
2.2.1.1
QUALITY CONTROL DEFINITION...............…………….…...11
2.2.2
FACTORS THAT AFFECT QUALITY........…….....……………...16
2.2.2.1
MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT AND LEADERSHIP.………..17
2.2.2.2
TRAINING............................................…………..….……………...18
2.2.2.3
COST OF QUALITY...............................…....………………...18
2.3
CONSTRUCTION QUALITY CONTROL PLAN & PRACTICES……...19
2.3.1
INSPECTION..............................................................................................21
2.3.2
PLANNING.................................................................................................22
2.3.3
TAKING ACTION.................................................................................….23
2.4
FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITY CONTROL...............................……..23
2.4.1
HUMAN.......................................................................................................23
2.4.2
MATERIAL CONTROL..............................................................................24
2.4.2.1
MATERIAL PROCUREMENT................................................................25
2.4.2.2
MATERIAL TESTING..................................…….………………..........25
2.4.2.3
STORAGE.......................................................................................……....26
2.4.3
CONTROL OF CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY.......................................26
2.4.4
CONSTRUCTION METHOD..........................................................................27
2.4.5 ENVIRONMENTAL
CONTROL.....................................................................27
2.5 CHALLENGES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF QUALITY
CONTROL.....29
2.5.1 LACK OF
KNOWLEDGE.........................................................…………29
2.5.2 INDIRECT
COSTS.....................................................................................29
2.5.3
NEED OF QUALIFIED TEAM................................................................29
2.5.4
REDUCTION IN PROFIT........................................................................29
2.5.5
PRODUCT PROBLEMS...........................................................................29
2.5.6
LACK OF SUPERVISION........................................................................30
2.5.7
UNREALISTIC DEADLINE.....................................................................30
2.6
QUALITY CONTROL REGULATION.......................................................30
2.7
EFFECTS OF QUALITY CONTROL IN CONSTRUCTION.....................31
3.0 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY……………......33
3.1
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………...33
3.2
RESEARCH DESIGN …………………………………………….……....33
3.3
RESEARCH AREA.................................................…..………………......33
3.4
POPULATION OF THE STUDY...........................……………………......34
3.5
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE………………………………………………...34
3.6
SAMPLING SIZE...............................………………………………..…...34
3.7
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT AND PROCEDURES……………..34
3.7 TOOLS FOR DATA
ANALYSIS......................................................................35
3.8 DOCUMENT
ANALYSIS................................................................................35
CHAPTER FOUR……………………………………………………………......36
4.0
ANALYSIS OF DATA AND FINDINGS OF THE STUDY..............…..…...36
4.1
INTRODUCTION..…………………….………………………..…….…....36
4.2 DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS......................…………….…...36
4.2.1
RATE OF RESPONSE...............................…………………….…………...36
4.3
ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY DATA......................................................................41
4.3
OBJECTIVE ONE.................................................................................................41
4.4
OBJECTIVE TWO...............................................................................................41
CHAPTER FIVE……………………………………………………….……..43
5.0
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS……………………………………………....43
5.1 CHALLENGES TO QUALITY CONTROL TECHNIQUE....................................43
5.1.1 DETERMINANT OF QUALITY CONTROL PRACTICES.........................…....43
5.2 CONCLUSION...................................................……………………………...43
5.3 RECOMMENDAIONS..........................................................................................44
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………..50
LIST
OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Responses to
questionnaires..............................................…………….…36
Table 4.2: Demography of
Respondents..........................................……………….....37
Table 4.3:
Demography of Organisational profile….....................................................39
Table
4.4: Descriptive statistics to the challenges to quality control techniques…….41
Table 4.5: Descriptive statistics to
the determinants of quality control practices..........46
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Quality issues have been of great
concern throughout the recorded history of humans. During the New Stone Age,
several civilizations emerged, and some 4000-5000 ago, considerable skills in
construction were acquired. In Egypt, the king of Babylonia (1792-1750) BCE
codified law, according to which, during the Mesopotamian era, builders were
responsible for maintaining the quality of buildings and were given death
penalty if any of their construction collapsed and their occupants were killed.
According to Juran, J. M. (1995) China’s recorded quality history can be traced
back to earlier than 200 BCE. During the middle ages, Guilds took the responsibility
for quality control upon themselves. Guilds and government carried out quality
control and their involvement in quality was extensive. The guilds established
specifications for input materials, manufacturing process, and finished
products, also methods of inspection and testing. At the time of First World
War, manufacturing process typically became more complex with larger
numbers of workers being supervised. The systematic approach
to quality started in industrial manufacturing during 1930s, mostly in
the U.S., when some attention was given to the cost of scrap and rework (Walter A. Shewhart). In the 19th
century, the approach to manufacturing in the United States tended to follow
the craftsmanship model used in European countries. The beginning of the 20th
century Walter Shewhart introduced statistical quality control process. His
concept was that quality is not relevant to the finished products but to the
process that created the product. In Europe quality was considered as a
cultural issue first and a technical issue second. In 1950’s and 1970’s
countries like Germany had reputation for superior product quality. According
to Thomas Pyzdek (2001) state that in the last century, quality has moved
through four distinct ‘quality eras’: inspection, statistical quality control,
quality assurance, and strategic quality management.
How history of Quality is applied
today, the value of learning and understanding the history of quality with
respect to construction provides a sound foundation to all current and future
quality programs in construction. Primarily, recognizing the core principles
that have been established through practice over the past millennium enables us
to maintain our focus on the fundamentals, the basics do not change, and they
only get better through application and culture. Quality Control plays a
fundamental role into works and services in construction organizations in
Nigeria. It deals with working systematically, taking step by step procedures
to prevent or eliminate errors from occurring. Quality Control deals with
a body reviewing the quality of all factors involved in production, in this
case in construction organization. It is about ensuring that the finished
product meets the standards set in the specifications and by various construction
bodies. Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and
reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny product release.
It is a set of procedure intended to ensure that a material used meets up with
the requirement of the client.
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
During the past decades the
construction company has been criticized for its poor performance and
productivity (Alarcon &Ashley, 1992). Many of the management practises used
to support construction are being challenged where clients demand improved
quality services, faster building and innovations in technology (Carayon &
Smith, 2006). Establishment and achievement of acceptable levels of quality in
construction projects has long been a problem (Arditi & Gunaydin, 1997) but
despite a significant amount of projects are still encountering numerous
quality problems (Heravitorbati, et al., 2011). According to Xiao (2002), poor
quality performance that results in increased rework and has significant
impacts on cost and schedule is among the major defects experienced in
construction projects. There have been instances of building failures in
different parts of Nigeria, cases of abandonment of housing projects mid-way
and projects failing to meet the requirements even after execution. All these
have been attributed to various causes but the success of projects can only be
measured in terms of the achievement of quality, quality control being defined
as the ability of products and processes to conform to established
requirements.
The adoption of quality control
management in construction companies has increasingly helped as an initiative
in solving quality problems and to meet the needs of final clients (Kanji &
Wong 2000). Compliance to quality standards in public housing projects is
therefore a very critical factor if the management and execution of such
projects is to be a success. As such, this research work intends to determine
the effects and roles of quality control standard in the management of projects
in construction firms in Nigeria.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This research intends to provide
adequate answers to the following questions:
1. What quality control practices are adopted in construction
projects?
2. What problems are encountered in the implementation of
these quality control practices?
3. What the level of importance are adopting quality control
practices in construction firms?
1.4 AIM
AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The principal aim of the study is to
discuss the role of quality control in construction organizations, the risks
involved, who it benefits and the steps to take influencing project quality.
Highlighted below are the objectives of the study;
1. To identify quality control practices adopted by
construction firms.
2. To determine the challenges in the implementation of
quality control practices.
3. To determine the level of importance of quality control in
construction firms.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
Quality control is critically important
to a successful construction project and should be adhered to throughout a
project from conception and design to construction and installation. Inspection
during construction will prevent costly repairs after the project is completed.
The inspector, engineer, contractor, funding agency, permit agency, and system
personnel must work together to inspect, document, and correct deficiencies.
The significance of this study is show
how quality controls methods monitor and adjust the cost, schedule and scope of
a project to ensure that it is completed within budget, on time and as planned.
Quality controls check to make sure that corrective actions are carried out
appropriately so that the result of the work meets the requirements and
expectations of the clients.
It is of benefit to the contractor in
terms of better planning, better communication skills, increased profit and
production, improved organization skills and outstanding performance attracting
future contracts. It also benefits the client in terms of work being performed
to plans and specifications, work done on time, within a defined budget (cost).
1.6 SCOPE & DELIMITATION
The scope to the study of quality
control in building construction projects evaluates the project results (output
and delivery) to ensure the process being taken comply with quality standards.
It covers various participants involved
in the construction of buildings generally. These include the client,
consultants, contractors, subcontractors and end-users whose individual and
collective level of compliance to quality standards contribute to public
housing project delivery.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Quality Control: Quality control
is the part of quality management that ensures products and service comply with
requirements. It is a work method that facilitates the measurement of the
quality characteristics of a unit, compares them with the established
standards, and analyses the differences between the results obtained and the
desired results in order to make decisions which will correct any differences.
In the construction industry, quality can be defined as meeting the
requirements of the designer, constructor and regulatory agencies as well as
the owner.
Quality Assurance: This includes
activities in a planned system of review procedures conducted by personal
involved in the inventory compilation process
Practice: The actual application
or the use of an idea, belief or method as opposed to theories relating to it.
Construction Professional: These
are the principal players retained by the client in a construction project.
Project Delivery: This is a
system used by an agency or owner for organizing and financing design.
Login To Comment