EVALUATING CAUSES OF CHANGE IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Purpose: Change in building construction project is inevitable and can occur at any stage, it has different source and reason due to involvement of many participants. Therefore, the study gives insight into causes of these changes and its consequences on building project performance. Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive and survey research method was used to evaluate the perception of construction participants and stakeholders to evaluate significant causes of change and effects of change order on performance of building construction projects. 125 well structured, cross-sectional questionnaires were distributed and data obtained were analysed using descriptive, relative importance index and Kruskal-Walis tests. Findings: Feedback from the respondents revealed the most significant causes of change in building construction projects to include change of plans by owners followed by change in design, poor communication among the construction participants, owners’ financial difficulties and owners’ change of schedule. Further findings on the effect of change order on the performance of building construction projects shows that on the general notes, cost overrun is the most prevalent effect followed by quality standard enhanced, time overrun, additional money for contractor overhead and work-on-hold (in descending order). Research limitation/implications: This study is limited in scope to all such building construction projects in the study area (public buildings, commercial, hospital and others), also restricted to the opinion of 104 participants who duly completed and return their questionnaire. It has found that managing changes at project level is a critical problem faced by the construction industry. An understanding of the causes of change (that leads to change order) would be helpful for building construction professional and participants in managing change/variation orders. Practical implications: Introduction of change management procedure in the contract document will enhance smooth delivery of building projects with less disputes. The change will be managed to maximise the benefit and minimise penalties. It is also recommended that the Ministries (federal and state) in charge of housing should establish or have a well-defined system of managing changes in Government building construction projects rather than abrupt calling for unjustified variation by their contractors or suppliers. Originality/value: The study highlighted and established changes in building construction projects and the effects of change order on performance only in Akwa Ibom state.