Assessment of Professional’s Perception on Materials Management Practices on Construction Sites in Selected States in Nigeria
Assessment of Professional’s Perception on Materials Management Practices on Construction Sites in Selected States in Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Construction materials usually constitute a major portion of the total cost in building construction project. An essential factor adversely affecting the performance of construction projects is the improper handling of materials during site activities.
This research studied the Professional’s Perception on Materials Management Practices on Construction Sites in selected states in Nigeria by the use of structured questionnaires administered to senior construction professional personnel of construction firms.
The data generated were analyzed using descriptive statistics. 62% response rate was achieved and used for analysis.
The study showed that the factors militating against materials management contributes to delay in completion time of project such as storage of materials on site with mean value (4.9), incompetence of estimators (4.8), issuing of materials for use (4.7) and procurement for materials (4.6).
Based on the findings, it was concluded that Materials management practices require a transformation to improve the overall in handling of materials for more efficiency and effectiveness on the construction site.
It was also recommended that material management should be practiced on all sites and by all categories of building construction firms whether large, medium or small, adequate site security,
also the provision for material storage in the preliminaries, competent and experienced personnel with basic managerial skills in material management should be engaged on site as store officer to enhance material management practice.
INTRODUCTION
Material management can be defined as a process that coordinates planning, assessing the requirement, sourcing, purchasing, transporting,
storing and controlling of materials, minimizing the wastage and optimizing the profitability by reducing cost of material.
Baldva (1997) noted that Materials management is a process for planning, executing and controlling field and office activities in construction.
While Eduardo (2002) viewed Materials management as the system for planning and controlling all of the efforts necessary to ensure that the correct quality and quantity of materials are properly specified in a timely manner, are obtained at a reasonable cost and most importantly are available at the point of use when required.
According to Khyomesh and Chetna, (2011) Building materials account for 60 to 70 percent of direct cost of a project or a facility, the remaining 30 to 40 percent being the labour cost.
Therefore, efficient procurement and handling of material represent a key role in the successful completion of the work.
It is important for the project manager to consider that there may be significant difference in the date that the material was requested or date when the purchase order was made, and the time at which the material will be delivered.
REFERENCES
Abdul-Rahman, H., Berawi, M. A., Mohamed, O., Othman, M. and Yahya, I. A. (2006): Delay
Mitigation in the Malaysian Construction Industry. Journal of Construction Engineering
and Management, Vol. 132, No. 2, pp. 125-133
Abdul-RahmanH, and Alidrisyi M.N, (1994): “A Perspective of Material Management Practices
in a Fast Developing Economy: the case of Malaysia”, Construction Management and
Economics, vol. 12, pp. 412-422,
Abubakar A.D. (2000): Evaluating Material Application Waste on Building Construction Sites,
A case study of Kaduna state, department of Building, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Adafin, Johnson Kayode et al. (2011): an assessment of factors affecting material stock control
practice on selected construction sites in Nigeria’, Continental J. Environmental
Design and Management 1 (1): 22 – 31, Wilolud Journals, 2011
Ademeso O.S. and Windapo, A.O (2008): “Relationship between Material Management
Approach and Scheduled Project Completion Time”, Construction and Building
Research of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Conference, COBRA, Dublin
Institute of Technology,
Agapiou, A., Clausen, L. E., Flanagan, R., Norman, G. and Notman, D. (1998): The Role of
Logistics in the Materials Flow Control. Construction Management and Economics,
Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 131-137.
