can

P R O B L E M S F A C E D B Y C O N T R A C T O R S I N S P E E D Y

C O N S T R U C T I O N O F

P R E - E N G I N E E R E D S T E E L B U I L D I N G S

B y

E n g . P r i y a n i J a y a s e n a

S u p e r v i s e d b y

E n g . P r o f . A n a n d a J a y a w a r d a n e

UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA THESES & DISSERTATIONS

3

U N I V E R S I t ^ l M j M O R A T U W A

D e p t . o f C i v i l E n g i n e e r i n g , M o r a t u w a , Sr i L a n k a .

LB/$ON/O4-/O2-

THESIS ON PROBLEMS FACED BY CONTRACTORS IN SPEEDY CONSTRUCTION OF PRE - ENGINEERED

STEEL BUILDINGS

By

Eng. Priyani Jayasena

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment Of

The requirement for MSc. in Construction Project Management

•ftOQO Srs5© 8<y3)@a. § & & &

The Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Civil Engineering

Supervised by Eng. Prof. Ananda Jayawardane

074330

I l n i \ c rs i l y o f M o r a t u w a w * —

ABSTRACT

The concept of Pre engineered building systems, although comparatively new to the Sri Lankan construction industry, has been accepted favorably and successfully in the more developed nations for a variety of reasons. While the PEB systems is rich with features designed to overcome some of the inherent problems attached to the orthodox "brick and mortar" construction method, it invariably has it's own unique peculiarities and drawbacks as is to be expected.

A demand for "speed" was created, in the local construction industry, especially as a result of the booming garment industry, which has become one of the prominent contributors to the Sri Lankan economy. This in turn has facilitated an enormous number of new employment opportunities, also in turn demanding expedited completion of factories, in order to begin generating profits in the shortest possible time. While a successful alternative has been found in resorting to PEB systems, this trend has exposed the parties involved in the processes to new and hitherto un-addressed problems.

This research strives to ascertain some of the problems and identify their probable causes, especially from the contractor's point of view.

An introduction to emphasize the peculiarities inherent in the orthodox, and the PEB systems has been included, for the ease of comprehension and comparison.

A literature survey was carried out to identify the general view, and to give an overview of some similar research that has been carried out in the past.

An "Interviewed questionnaire survey", was carried out with the contractors, who specialized in this field for the last 1 0 - 1 5 years, in order to gather first hand information on prevailing practical problematic situations.

In addition to the questionnaire, personal interviews were carried out to gather more important information from experienced personnel in the industry.

Collected data was tabulated and analyzed statistically to identify the problems and the effects of these problems in the performance of the projects.

Among other aspects contributing to the success of a project, project delays, labour problems, short comings in steel supplier and defects in the pre- engineered building components itself, were felt by many to be more important.

It is felt that the authorities should be more committed to ease some of the difficulties faced by the contractors involved in this type of construction work, by considering pre- engineered building industry as a special category of projects, which have short project duration with a large contract sum, thereby creating unique peculiarities and requirements.

iii

It is observed that in this type of speedy construction of pre- engineered steel building projects, many problems are created due to irregular, impracticable cash flow, unsuitable bill payment methods, out of proportion extra work, improper project contractual methods etc.

It is proposed to enhance the financial stability of the contractor by facilitating low interest loans, subsidized rates for machinery, tools etc, and by initiating a responsible controlling body which could intervene in discrepancies between the client & the contractor to reduce the instances of unethical and unacceptable pressures on the contractor.

To increase the productivity and the performance of the project crew, training of personnel and a proper salary payment scheme like fortnight payment, should be introduced. To ensure success of the industry, the PEB structure and accessories should meet the SL standards. Timely delivery of same & a binding agreement between the supplier and the client will pave the way for trouble free progress of the project.

The above mentioned factors are presented in detailed manner in the coming chapters.

iv

A CKNO WLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my most sincere gratitude to Eng. Professor A.K.W. Jayawardane,

Associate professor Department of Civil Engineering,

for his fervent support and guidance to complete this report successfully.

I also acknowledge the assistance of librarian IESL (Mrs. Yapa), Librarian American Centre (Mrs.

Rajaratnam), Chief Editor ASCE Civil Engineering Magazine (Mrs. Virginia Fairweather, U.S.A)

and all the contractors who assisted during literature survey and data collection.

Finally thanks are extended to all those who assisted me in varying ways, specially to my husband for his

assistance in the preparation of this report.

Eng. Priyani Jayasena University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka February 2001

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION Page

1.1 Background 1 1.2 Objectives 2 1.3 Methodology 2

CHAPTER 2

2.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE PEB SYSTEM 2.1 Introduction 3 2.2 Innovation in building construction 3

2.2.1 Fast build as an extra value 4 2.2.2 Speed the buzz ward of marketing 4 2.2.3 Speedy construction within the cost and quality 6

2.3 Technical aspects of pre engineered steel buildings7 2.3.1 Structural steel design 7 2.3.2 Structural viability of pre engineered buildings 7

2.4 Basic building description 8 2.5 Special features in construction of PEB 14 2.6 Advantages and disadvantages of PEB system

2.6.1 Advantages 16 2.6.2 Disadvantages 17

C H A P T E R 3

3.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ON PROBLEMS FACED BY CONTRACTORS IN SPEEDY CONSTRUCTION OF STEEL BUILDING

3.1 Introduction 19 3.2 The impact of managerial stress in speedy construction

3.2.1 Managerial stress 19

3.3 Delays in construction projects 3.3.1 Delays that influence contractors performance 20 3.3.2 Basic construction delay 20

3.4 Problems in contractors cash flow 3.4.1 Cash flow of a construction company 21 3.4.2 Management of cash problems in practice 21

3.5 Short term construction planning 3.5.1 The need for short term planning 22 3.5.2 Planning and contract management 22

3.6 Short comings in contract agreement 3.6.1 Types of contract agreement 23 3.6.2 Advantages/Disadvantages of design & build

Contract method 23

3.7 Potential pit falls of pre engineered structure 3.7.1 Troublesome gray areas 24

3.8 Literature survey on past researches 26

Vll

C H A P T E R 4

4.0 Development of the investigating program and data collection

4.1 Introduction 4.2 Selection of data collection method 4.3 Formulation of the questionnaire 4.4 Data collection

27 27 28 30

C H A P T E R 5

5.0Data analysis

5.1 Methods of data analysis 5.2 Data analysis on organizational information 5.3 Data analysis on project details 5.4 Data analysis on financial aspects

5.4.1 Total project duration 5.4.2 Advance payment 5.4.3 Billing interval 5.4.4 Extra work 5.4.5 Retention money

32 33 34 36 37 42 43 44 44

5.5 Data analysis on labour related problems 5.5.1 The impact of high work load 5.5.2 Problems related to monthly remuneration 5.5.3 Working hours and productivity 5.5.4 Personnel employed in projects

45 45 47 49

V l l l

5.6 Data analysis on construction delay 5.6.1 Types of delay 50 5.6.2 Delay on an investor 51 5.6.3 Delay and reputation 51

5.7 Drawbacks of Pre engineered structures 5.7.1 Claims for Pre engineered building errors 52 5.7.2 Delay in Pre engineered building on site 53 5.7.3 Structural incompatibilities 54 5.7.4 Lack of technical / design details awareness 54

5.8 Project procurement methods 5.8.1 Suitability of a method of procurement 56 5.8.2 Short comings of ICTAD condition

of contract 57

CHAPTER 6

6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations 60

6.1 Conclusion 60 6.2 Recommendations 63 6.3 References 66

Appendices

IX

LIST OF T A B L E S

Table 4.1 - Surveyed Organizations.

Table 5.1 - Organizational details of companies in PEB Construction.

Table 5.2 - Data collection on project details.

Table 5.3 - Correlation analysis.

Table 5.4 - Data collection on financial aspect.

Table 5.5 - Correlation analysis.

Table 5.6 - Projects which have same project duration

Table 5.7 - Descriptive statistics.

Table 5.8 - Descriptive statistics.

Table 5.9 - Data collected on labor related problems.

Table 5.10 - Variation of related problems with the time of salary payments.

Table 5.11 - Descriptive statistics.

Table 5.12 - Data collected on assessing delays.

Table 5.13 - Data collected on Pre engineered structures.

Table 5.14 - Descriptive statistics.

Table 5.15 - Differences in methods of procurement.

Table 5.16 - Cash flow charts.

X

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 - The finished Pre engineered building

Figure 2.2 - Sundry Items

Figure 2.3 - Basic Building Components

Figure 2.4 - Basic Building Components

Figure 2.5 - Specimen Anchor bolt foundation detail

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix A - A blank questionnaire

Appendix Bl -Collected data on Organizational Details

Appendix B3 - Collected data on Financial Aspects

Appendix B4 - Collected data on Assessing Delays

Appendix B5 - Collected data on Problems of PEB Structure

Appendix B6 - Collected data on Labour Related Problems

Appendix C - Tables of Descriptive Statistics

xi

CHAPTER (1)

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The Garment industry has evolved into a leading contributory sector in the Sri Lankan economy today. The implementation of the 200 Garment factory scheme by the previous government, incorporated into their accelerated development program, has become a major supplier of employment and a source of foreign currency income, surpassing even our traditional trades.

The government has moved to attract the private sector to this field by offering investors various facilities such as duty free concessions, lands, low interest loans etc., thereby creating a conducive environment for investors.

Since the government scheduled to complete this program within the span of one year, they declared an effective time frame for the enhanced facility levels. Hence the private sector was encouraged to complete their buildings and infrastructure works, in the shortest possible time, in-order to enjoy the facilities and concessions, offered by the government. Due to this requirement, the entrepreneurs were compelled to explore new ways and means of expediting the construction of their factory buildings. One outcome of this trend has been the introduction of Pre-Engineered Steel Buildings by the Sri Lankan construction contractors, aimed at the garment factory investors.

Although the concept of pre-engineered steel structures has been present in Sri Lanka since late eighties, it became an instant success due to the above factors, namely the 'fast build' concept.

One significant feature in these industrial sector projects, is that the investors take an unnecessarily long period of time during the pre-construction stage, to line-up finance, finalize designs and other logistics, appoint project managers and other contractors etc. Understandably, investors expect returns on their investments in the minimum possible time, therefore, satisfying these demands even when resorting to pre-engineered buildings, remain a difficult task for the contractor, especially with the prevailing practices in the construction industry.

Having practical, hands-on experience on the above practices, and the degree of difficulty experienced in achieving the targeted goals of completing construction with these types of precise building works in the allocated time, were the factors that created the interest on this research. With the utilization of new techniques, enhanced methods & management strategies, perpetually conscious of the value of time, and the mutual need of profit generation, problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre -engineered steel buildings in Sri Lanka were investigated and the details are presented in the coming chapters. It is hoped that this analysis features to the benefit of the construction industry.

1

1.2 OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this project is to investigate problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre - engineered steel buildings. Special emphasis is paid:

1. To identify pressing problems faced by the contractors in carrying out construction of pre-engineered buildings, and their causes, categorizing them into suitable areas such as financial, labor, technical etc.

2. To measure the effect of these problems, on performance and productivity, in order to establish the seriousness of the problem.

3. To develop & recommend suitable solutions for these problems with a view to improving the plight of civil contractors who specialize in pre-engineered building systems.

1.3 METHODOLOGY

1. Reviewed articles, magazines, journals, special issues and text books etc,, which explain or contain information on related problems on speedy construction of pre - engineered steel buildings, addressing the problems faced by clients, contractors and manufacturers.

2. Personal interviews and an "interview questionnaire survey" were carried out with selected contractors, who specialized in pre engineered building system for the last 10-15 years. Statistical analysis was done using the SPSS statistical analysis software, on the data which was collected to identify pressing problems faced by contractors. This helped to establish the seriousness of the problems in project execution, based on the analyzed & observed data.

3. Recommendations were arrived at, based on the findings of the research to help overcome these pressing problems faced by pre-engineered contractors.

C H A P T E R (2)

Introduction to the PEB system

C H A P T E R 2 _ INTRODUCTION TO THE PRE -ENGINEERED BUILDING SYSTEM

2.1 I N T R O D U C T I O N

This chapter explains the pre- engineered building system, including basic building components, the innovations and the resulting boost in the construction industry with the introduction of speedy construction methods. Also explained is how speed affected the marketing, limits and conditions applied in the design of structures and advantages and disadvantages of this system.

2.2 I N N O V A T I O N I N B U I L D I N G C O N S T R U C T I O N

The importance of the economics of building in relation to the form of construction cannot easily be overstressed. The relationship between economics and innovation in building construction can be examined most easily by looking at the relative prices of different materials and at the relationship between the prices of labour and the prices of materials.

The influence of builders on the development of construction methods depends on their degree of freedom in determining the materials and methods of building. This freedom is severely limited when they are forced to build to the detailed design and specifications of a professional designer. However, an important part of the building activity is carried out by contractors responsible both for the design and construction. With the American type of contract (design and build), the contractor has some freedom in deciding the materials used and form of construction. Many contracts are obtained on the basis of design and build.

Stone (1990) says in " Building Economics" - the development of new materials and new ways of using old materials are usually actuated by shortage of traditional materials or of specialized labour, or by the hope that the newer alternative will be directly or indirectly cheaper. In Britain, brick replaced such local material as cob, pise and clay lump, not because it was cheaper as a material but because less labour was needed with it. The concrete block has replaced brick for some uses partly because of savings in labour. Steel components have come into use where the overall cost was lower, than for, in situ work. A shortage of material in the traditional form or of the labour for carrying out the work stimulates the use of new methods. Sometimes pre-engineered materials have been favored because they materially assist in shortening the period needed to carry out construction.

The most dramatic change in building methods has probably occurred in this form of buildings, in which the contractor produces a standard building for sale off the peg. This has occurred particularly in the housing field and to some extent for school and for shed type factory buildings, where the builder either builds speculatively for sale, or contracts with private or public bodies for the supply and erection of standard building units. Non

3

traditional methods have been developed under these conditions in many countries, particularly since 1945. (Stone 1990)

2.2.1 Fast build as an extra value

A new world order is taking shape right before our eyes. Power is shifting from place to people, from the nation-state to the global market, and especially from producers to consumers. These changes are overpowering institutions, procedures, and assumptions rooted in an earlier, slower moving era. (Barru 1997)

Two things, speed and availability characterize an economy driven by information. Speed is something we now take for granted. We expect packages delivered overnight, photos developed in an hour, and financial transactions performed in nanoseconds. (Muneer Muhamed 1998)

The key to business success in an age of abundance will be coming to grips with the two edged sword of availability. There will be more customers, more purchasing power, more options, and more opportunities, but also more competition. The only way out of this conundrum will be to add more value to the customers (Barru 1997).

2.2.2 "Speed" the buzzword of marketing

Estimates of expected future revenue and costs are no longer sufficient to measure the probable success of a candidate. Experience has verified that a factor which academic researchers previously identified: -bringing a product to the market fast, can be critical to future profitability and market share.

There are numerous advantages to shortening the time between, "new idea generation", and commercialization.

The earlier a product is brought to market, the greater the chance that revenue will be high. Delays only lead to lost sales. During the time that lengthy managerial evaluations and tests are being conducted, the new offering could be in the distribution pipelines, moving towards target customers. Efforts toward making the process as scientific as possible often result in delays that can span years of effort. It is expensive to introduce new offerings. Expenses are high, as the company strives to inform consumers about the product and its benefits.

Fast product development is an important way to beat out rivals. When a firm brings a new product to market rapidly, it is one jump ahead of its rivals. "Nestle" practices this frequently with their product offering ranging from macaroni snacks to chocolates and

4

soups. The pioneer always has an advantage in acquiring customers. Many will become attached to the brand and resist efforts by late comers to make them change.

The company that is first to market its brand may develop a reputation for leadership that customers can't resist. "Sony" does this consistently. First came the Walkman, then came personal TV (Watchman), and now they have the "personal movie system" complete with portable DVD player. They also have their Trinitron technology.

The firm that's first to the market can target the most attractive consumers and direct its marketing activities to the segments with the most purchasing power and desire for the product. It can select the most promising regions of the country (or the world, in the case of multinationals) in which to operate, and the best retail locations within a region. It may be in a position to attract the better wholesalers.

The first company into a market will establish behavioral patterns with its customers that can make it difficult for them to switch to competitors who enter the market later. Buyers may sign contracts with the first entrant, making it impossible for them to switch until the contract period has ended.

Companies that get their products rapidly to the market can create "barriers to entry", obstacles that make it difficult for other firms to compete successfully. One way is to keep prices only slightly above costs so, there's no strong profit incentive for possible new comers into that segment as "Akai" has done. Another barrier is to conduct large-scale advertisement campaigns that win over a large number of customers as was done by "Pepsi".

Fast product development can help companies reduce risk by giving them first access to scarce resources. A pioneering company may be able to affiliate with the best retail stores, acquire the best raw materials for production, hire the most gifted employees, etc. Other companies which fall in the wake of the pioneer may have to choose from whatever resources are left over.

Time saving can be achieved and can be of considerable value to the company in terms of generating revenue, reducing costs, outpacing competitors and reducing risk. No wonder even sleeping Goliaths are waking up today to bring out arsenals quickly in order that the fast - paced Davids are kept at bay (Muneer Muhamed 1998).

5

2.2.3 Speedy construction within cost and quality

Fast build is not "program chasing" where cost and control is lost in the pursuit of time achievement. Quite often program chasing will fail because the key components to building fast are just not there. What is worse is that the people involved do not realize that these vital ingredients are missing. Fast build is the achieving of the quickest possible construction time without any sacrifice in quality and cost.

The building industry has been doing things in much the same way for a long time. Time and cost overruns are endemic and clients are dissatisfied with the performance of the industry. They do not want the initial estimate to be half the final cost and the completion date to be missed.

Fast build demands a raising of standard from all those involved in the industry. It breaks down cultural barriers, which stand in the way of progress and establishes a more professional and competent industry. Clients have seen shining examples in the gloom of mediocrity and are asking why it is that the best examples are not normal practice.

The modern day clients demand a quality project, to time and cost parameters which, were outside the usual industry achievement rates. In other words they were looking for "fast build". These clients set about achieving their goals with different forms of contract: two stage tender, design and build, lump sum and construction management. However, it appears that whatever the contract, providing it is not actually obstructive, it is not a major factor in fast build. What is essential, is for the will, skill and intent applied to achieving a common objective to be present in the building team.

There is no one simple way to speedy construction. It is an attitude and an ethos. It needs to be believed in, and made to work by every one involved in the building industry (Stacey 1991).

The most important feature in speedy construction is teamwork. The client, professional and construction team join together to follow an agreed path to a common objective. The ability to do the job well and to be flexible in the approach to constructional matters helped to avoid sources of conflict between all parties involved. Their talents and efficiency definitely matters on this time struggling effort to be a success. (Kraiem 1998)

6

2.3 TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF PRE - ENGINEERED STEEL BUILDINGS

Due to economic and weight restrictions the use of slender structures in civil engineering has increased rapidly during the last decades (Rhodes & Walker 1975).

Instead of the traditional heavy (H) iron sections, lately low priced lightweight steel frames have come into use. They use individual sections, which are assembled on site with bolts. Once the self-supporting steel frame and roof members are assembled, all other coverings and finishes can be done quickly. These "speed frames" are claimed to cut construction time and cost. (Ian Cammeron 1997).

2.3.1 Structural steel design

Steel-framed buildings consist of a skeletal framework, which carries all the loads to which the building is subjected. The structural engineer's duty is to find the most economical framing arrangement to cater to the client's requirements. Thus the structural design consists of:

~ Estimation of loading;

~ Analysis of main frames, trusses and lattice girders, floor systems, bracing and connections to determine arrival loads, shears and movements at critical points in all elements; and

~ Design of the elements and connections using design data. (Milton 1985).

2.3.2 Structural viability of pre- engineered buildings

Most engineering metals such as steel and aluminum are ductile and can withstand strain much greater than the elastic limit state. As the structure is loaded beyond this value, plastic straining occurs to a redistribution of stress. Linear, small deflection analysis may in such cases overestimate stresses and deflections leading to an over conservative design. Thus it is felt that modern, rational designs consider the non-linear behavior of the structure (Rhodes & Walker 1975).

7

Elastic design is kept within the (Linear portion) elastic region and based on elastic theory, which is a very good traditional method. In the stress/strain curve, there is a small plateau beyond the elastic limit and then an increase in strength due to strain hardening. Plastic design is based on the horizontal part (non-linear) of the stress strain curve.

This theory develops to take account of behavior past the yield point, and is based on finding the load that causes the structure to collapse. Then the working load is the collapse load divided by a load factor. This is permitted under BS 449 (Milton 1985).

The typical steel building consists of a steel structural frame, that carries roof purlins and roof covering. Moment resisting frame action, and wall cross - bracings, provide stability. Wall portal frames can be used if large wall opennings make bracing impractical or to allow for expansion. Horizontal roof bracings are normally used since steel roofing has little diaphragm rigidity. The roof purlin capacities govern frame and column spacing. Cold form C or Z purlin sections span upto 9.5 meters. Typical arrangement of a building is explained in Figure 2.1 - Figure 2.4.

There are a number of global pre-engineered steel building companies all over the world. In Sri Lanka most of the sellers are from Saudi Arabia and other parties from USA, UK, Singapore, Indonesia and Italy etc, Other companies trading in upright steel buildings are Zamil Steel Building Co. Ltd., International Building System Factory Co., Butller Ltd., Sherits Pte. Ltd., and Kurby Building Systems.

2.4 BASIC BUILDING DESCRIPTION

0

8

Typical Arrangement of Clear Span Buildings

Panel

Blank*! Insulation

Ridge Ventilator

^ T f c ^ ^ O j S ^ ^ ^ - v ^ - ^ - Translucent Bool Panel

M a m Frame C o l u m n

Sidewall Girt

V Roll-up Door

Wall Panel

Single Door

Endwall Column

Base Channel Angle

Building

:

I I

Building Description:

This is an example of a typical building description. Depending on the client's requirements, the size and type of the building description is given in this format. Based on their description the supplier opens letter of credit with other legal documents and shipment is generally received within 8 weeks.

Quantity :One(l)

Usage :Factory extension

Factory type :Rigid frame ( Clear Span)

Width : 1 Om outer/outer (o/o) of steel lines

Length :42m o/o of steel lines

Eave height :6m

Bay spacing :7 @ 6m

Main end frame :Post and beam at both ends

Roof slope : 10 degrees

Roof covering :(0.50mm tk.) rib zinc aluminium panels (optional) ( 0.50mm tk.) rib pre painted panels

Wall covering :None

Roof and wall bracing :X-rod bracing is allowed wherever required b design

Wall condition :A11 walls are fully open for block walls by others.

[Tender Document- ISIN Lanka (Pte) Ltd.]

13

2.5 SPECIAL FEATURES IN CONSTRUCTION OF PRE-ENGINEERED STEEL BUILDINGS

The most important issue in this part of the report is the construction of foundations for these buildings, since the foundation takes the whole responsibility of the stability of the structure.

Design of foundations depends on: ~ Roof span ~ Total load of the building ~ Column spacing ~ Type of soil and bearing capacity

Figure 2.5 shows a specimen of foundation detail, consisting of base concrete, tie beam, strut column, reinforcements and anchor bolts etc.

While setting out the building, either the center line or steel line of the building has to be fixed permanently. Then excavation, concreting, reinforcing, part concreting and stub column construct can be carried out. Next, the anchor bolts which play the most effective roll in this process should be placed, referring to the column reference line, both in parallel and longitudinal directions.

Factors considered when placing anchor bolts:

~ Distances from center lines to center of holes. ~ Vertical alignment of anchor bolts ~ Rotation of anchor bolts and correct direction ~ Precision in finished floor level (Top level of stub columns) of stub column in all foundations and keeping required projection of anchor bolts above the finished floor level. -Covering with gum tape or polythene over the threads of anchor to give required protection. -Correct diameter size at particular column position.

The maximum error allowed in anchor bolt positioning is 3mm. When the deviation exceeds this allowance, failures in individual columns, or collapsing of structures can occur.

14

Figure 2.5 - Specimen anchor bolt foundation detail

TIE BEAM-

o o

r— TIE BEAM STARTER BARS. F.F.L.

G.L.

—B-

T 1 2 - 4 0 - 2 5 0 T 1 2 - 4 1 - 2 5 0

2000

SEC. A - A .

5 0 m m SCREED

|300 |

) 5 t

»—«—*

1T16-43

—3T16-42

-1T16-43

— R 1 0 - 4 5 - 2 0 0

- - 3T16-42

2000

SFC. B - B .

"" I 9 A *

15

Erection of steel buildings

Erection drawings (those issued for construction) are provided for the assembly of the building. They consist of anchor bolt setting plan, a frame cross section, a roof framing plan, wall framing details and roof and wall sheeting details.

Most steel buildings are erected using 13 ton - 60 ton mobile cranes, depending on the size of the structure. The erection sequence should flow uninterrupted until roof covering commences. Then wall cladding, doors, windows etc, are fixed as per requirements. All other work, such as floor back filling, partitioning, finishing etc, are carried out following normal methods and procedures.

Building applications

Some of the benefits of pre-engineered steel buildings are, a shorter erection period, minimized job-site labor cost, and earlier return of construction capital (Technical Manual IBSF)

There are several building applications all over the world. Some of them are:

Industrial buildings, Warehouses, Office buildings, Commercial buildings, Aircraft hangers, Showrooms, Schools, Labour camps, Stadiums, Gas stations, Work shops, Fire stations, Car parks, Dairy farms, Agricultural sheds etc. (Technical Manual IBSF)

2.6 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE PRE -EGINEERED SYSTEM

2.6.1 Advantages:

~ Wide, clear span between columns allow multiple use of interior space;

-Steel permits greater accuracy of dimensions and uniformity of quality, which in turn reduces the necessity of skilled man hours at the site;

-These systems are efficient and construction is fast;

- No workmanship on welding work since it consists of machine welded sections;

16

~ Cost of construction with pre-engineered steel is more economical than reinforced concrete;

- Long life colour finishes reduce the exterior maintenance cost over the life of the building;

~ The systems are improving in design and quality;

~ Better resale value;

~ It is possible to dismantle and relocate these buildings;

-Since the total structure is light weight, foundations required are comparatively small;

- Greater flexibility is offered as the size of the building could be reduced or enlarged, by reducing or adding a bay of portal frame

- It has single source responsibility for the whole building structure.

2.6.2 D i s a d v a n t a g e s :

- Once the building is completed, it can't accommodate any changes to the structure. Eg; eave side roof extensions, change of internal arrangements due to wind bracings etc;

- These buildings have a shorter life span; (Approx. 25 years)

- Frequent delays occur in delivering Structures, due to shipment delays or documentary errors;

- Problems arising from poor coordination between local suppliers and manufacturers create a massive burden on contractors and the clients alike;

- "Safety implications" is an important aspect in the project; Workers have to walk on thin purlins and beams, to fix nuts and bolts. Difficulty experienced in handling thin roofing sheets.

- Quality of pre-engineered structures is poorer than pre-fabricated structures. Eg: There are connections without continuous welding running throughout the joint;

NOTE: * Pre - engineered building (PEB) is a building comprising plate welded sections.

* Pre -fabricated buildings(PFB) is a building comprising mill rolled universal beam sections.

17

~ The skills of Sri Lankan labourers are not upto standard in this building system;

~ Imported systems, create a negative foreign currency flow in the Sri Lankan economy;

~ Failure at one column or a bracing may lead to the collapse of the entire building;

~ These buildings do not have any provision to hang or weld any additional external parts to the existing building. Eg: Not allowed to hang any lighting or Air conditioning systems to the building without prior notice;

~ Manufacturers design the structure without considering the local ( Sri Lankan) load factors. Eg: Provided roof slopes are not sufficient for Sri Lankan tropical weather conditions;

~ There maybe hidden costs present in the suppliers bid.

Eg: The contract document indicates size, location, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, but does not specifically require the metal building supplier to provide steel frame supports for it. These are not included in the bid and is considered as "extra work".

18

CHAPTER (3)

Literature review on problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre-

engineered steel buildings

<»®)ogQ.

CHAPTER 3 LITERA TURE REVIEW ON PROBLEMS PACED BY CONTRACTORS IN SPEED Y CONSTRUCTION OF PRE - ENGINEERED STEEL BUILDINGS

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The main objective of this chapter is to present a literature review related to problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre- engineered steel buildings including details of investigation programs carried out for this purpose. The literature review also strives to support the research work and to categorize the different problem areas identified.

3.2 THE IMPACT OF MANAGERIAL STRESS IN SPEEDY CONSTRUCTION

3.2.1 Managerial stress

According to parkinson's law "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". However, to many it appears that the time available is inadequate to accommodate the workload, which invariably results in stress. Apart from having to accomplish certain tasks within a given period, the complex nature of the tasks to be carried out raises further anxieties with regard to the possibility of a quality product. (Rodriguez 1998).

Site managers carry out one of the toughest and hardest jobs in the construction process. Site management is characterized by a high work load due to short duration, and speedy constructions, long working hours and many conflicting parties to deal with including the management, the sub contractors, the sub-ordinates and the client etc. This trait of the job makes it prone to stress.

Sources of stress among construction site managers:

(i) Time variables (ii) Social and organizational properties of work and its setting (iii) Physical properties of the working environment (iv) Changes in the job (v) Role related problems (vi) Off job problems

Each and every source of stress related to either time constraint or over load of work causes obstacles in pre engineered steel building construction.

Further reference - Djebarni Ramdane (1995).

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74330

3.3 DELAYS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

3.3.1 Delays that influence contractor's performance

During the past three decades records show that delays and cost overruns are common in construction projects. Various factors affect the duration of construction of pre-engineered steel buildings to varying degrees (Magid and Caffer 1998).

Construction time can be regarded as the elapsed period from the commencement of site work to the completion and handing over of a building to the client. Construction time can be calculated from the clients brief or derived by the construction planner from available project information.

Construction time, although only a part of the building process, is increasingly important for several reasons. The construction period demands the focus and attention of all the key participants in the construction process. It is during this period that the greatest part of the resources for a scheme is irreversibly committed. Furthermore, construction time is a basis for evaluating the success of a project and the efficiency of the project organization. Indeed completing a project on time is symbolic of an efficient construction industry. In contrast severe criticism of the industry arises when buildings take much longer that planned to erect (Nkado 1995).

3.3.2 Basic construction delays

Delays that can be classified according to liabilities by three major types are: a. Compensable delays b. Excusable delays c. Non-excusable delays.

Causes of non excusable delays are:

-Material related delays -Labour related delays. -Equipment related delays -Poor co-ordination -Financial delays -Improper planning -Lack of control -Sub contractor delays -Inadequate supervision -Improper construction methods. -Shortage of competent technical personnel -Poor communication

Further reference - Majid and MC Caffer (1998)

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3.4 PROBLEMS IN CONTRACTORS' CASH FLOW

3.4.1 Cash-flow of a construction company

Cash-flow is the transfer of money into, or out of the company accounts for transactions. Cash-flow forecasting means estimation of the cash position of the project by considering the

* Net effect of each in flow and out flow of cash. * Timing of the transactions.

A company's net cash flow during a period is the difference between "cash in" and "cash out", during that period. Therefore the cumulative cash flow is the net cash flows during the applicable periods. The overall cash flow of a construction company is the aggregate of the cash flows of all projects and of the head office.

The main source of inflow of cash for a construction company is the payments by clients at regular intervals. The regular payments received will be the value of the work executed during the period, less any retention money deducted by the client. There is always a delay between submitting a bill by the contractor and the actual payment by the clients (Gunesekera 1987).

3.4.2 Management of cash problems in practice.

How do the contractors manage their cash problems? The usual methods are;

-Requesting client to increase advance/mobilization payments as required. -Requesting clients make payments immediately after submitting interim bills -Requesting clients to pay material suppliers directly. -Using bank overdrafts. -Delaying payments to creditors. -Investing more capitol. -Selling fixed asstes. -Transferring profits or income from one project to cover the expenditure of a another project -Delaying payments to their own staff (Gunesekera 1987). Even though the above methods are used to avoid cash problems in a company, there are many situations that contractors cannot overcome.

21

3.5 SHORT TERM CONSTRUCTION PLANNING

Short term construction planning requires more than simple interpretation of the project schedule: it rests on the ability of the organization to collect information, identify and solve problems and implement changes. In general, the given period for a construction of a factory building is 3-5 months. Given this, planning of work is very important for the project to be a success (Laufer 1992).

3.5.1 The need for short term planning

Crew level plans cannot be prepared in advance of the actual operation because of numerous unknown elements which are resolved only as the planned event approaches, such as:

-Scattered and evolving information, ie; physical environment, underground conditions and weather; -Availability and supply of resources; -Unexpected coordination problems with other crews and -Unknown technical conflicts.

3.5.2 Planning and contract management.

Overall project planning is the key issue in maintaining momentum of the tight design and construction program. Control is maintained by:

-Close control of sub-contractors performance; -Weekly progress meetings between consultants and sub-contractors and resident site manangement; -Fortnightly meetings between the project manager and the contract management of sub-contractors with their respective teams, attended when necessary by the design consultants to provide for immediate design query information requirements; -Regular meetings of the design teams, held at least every four weeks and, held prior to client review meetings to identify the matters for immediate client classification or approval; -Client progress meetings, which includes the project design team, the project team and professional consultant, to review all aspects of the project; -Regular review of quality, safety, and cost goals.

22

Since the allocated time in this type of speedy construction of pre-engineered steel buildings is highly restricted, planning is more important than when using orthodox methods. Planning work does not limit to the higher management, but applies to the lower grades too. There is a strong objective in the process to hand-over the job in time.

Approach to the construction challenge is governed by site circumstances, such as:

-The roads to and within the site have to be kept open and clear at all times; -The restrictions of working in high security environments. (Free trade zones) -All construction work has to be carried out with a minimum disturbance to other personnel. (Extension of factory building while the production line is functioning) (Laufer 1992)

3.6 SHORTCOMINGS IN CONTRACT AGREEMENTS

3.6.1 Types of contract agreements

Pre-engineered building systems was introduced to Sri Lanka in the late eighties. It gained popularity mainly because of the garment factory and warehouse constructions under the "2000 garment factories program" introduced at the time. Most of these constructions were on the design and build basis. Other types are lump sum basis with contract management according to the ICTAD conditions of contract. These systems are used mainly due to the short time span allowed for execution of these projects. It is much easier for both client and the contractor, if the contract is awarded as a total package to an individual contractor (Gunesekera 1998).

3.6.2 Advantages and disadvantages of design & build contracts

Advantages:

-Minimize legal complexities. -Reduce the administrative tasks for owners. -Provide greater assurance of completion on schedule, and achieve more competitive prices -Provide early construction inputs to the design.

Disadvantages:

-Absence of independent architecht/enginner. -More attention required for quality control. -consultant and contractors loose their individual identity and become part of the joint effort. -Tendering is very expensive. -Project designing is an ongoing procedure starting with tendering, and finishing with the completion of the project. -Disparities of ICTAD conditions of contract. Detailed amount of advantages and disadvantages of design & build type of

contract. (Gunesekera 1998)

3.7 POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF PRE - ENGINEERED STRUCTURES

The pre-engineered building industry now offers sophisticated wall treatments and plans. Design team of architects and consulting engineers conceive the pre-engineered buildings before a manufacturer becomes involved. These designers, especially structural engineers, need to be aware of some potential pit falls in this " simple" arrangement.

3.7.1 Troublesome gray areas

In theory, a pre-engineered building manufacturer can supply everything required for the buildings. Most manufacturers follow the industry practices stipulated by "metal building manufacturer's association", which includes concrete work, anchor bolts, grouting under base plates, field paintings, doors, cranes etc, unless additional items are clearly required by the contract documents.

"Clarity" is the key word here. Grey areas of responsibility often lead to conflicts. There are plenty of pitfalls in specifying pre-engineered buildings. Success depends on communication between the designers and the manufacturers. (Newman 1992)

How contractors are affected by drawbacks in structural designing

* The designers assume pin connected column bases are needed in the foundation design, but do not clearly indicate this. A manufacturer awarded the job, uses fixed bottom columns that offers some cost savings for him. The column foundations become subjected to large additional bending moments and need to be re-designed after the concrete contractor starts work. A large change order follows to prevent failures of foundations.

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* Tie rods are usually reserved for major horizontal forces that cannot be readily resisted by other means, such as connecting opposite ends of a frame in a direct and positive load transfer method that does not rely on slab or soil continuity. This is relatively expensive and troublesome, since there are tie rod bracing across that particular bay. Such an area should be a blind wall. If a window or a door is placed, the sash will be immovable. These bracings are either restricted factory arrangements, or architectural requirements.

* Most manufacturers consider adequate roof slope to be 10-12 degrees, with the long span. Since Sri Lanka is a tropical country with high monsoonal rainfalls, there are situations where this roof slopes are inadequate.

* Since pre-engineered steel sections undergo ultimate limit state designs, attaching or hanging any additional objects is prohibited. Future expansions and changes like fixing cupboards, roof extensions etc, are refused by the manufacturers of these structures. (Newman 1992)

Troublesome extra work

* Unless otherwise specified by the contract, the dealer only provides the items described in the basic building formats, essentially, the metal building shell, that excludes insulation and doors etc.

* The contract document indicates size, location and weight of the roof top heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, but do not specifically require the metal building supplier to provide steel frame supports for it. They do not include the said components in the bid and consider this work as "extra work".

* A manufacturer does not feel obliged to provide frames and beams for wide openings. These are not generally mentioned in the contract documents, nor in the associations. Again it is "considered extra work". There are situations when the cost of these "extra work" items may fall into the contractor's account.

Problems in installation work:

~ Erection of roof and wall cladding is highly susceptible to wind. ~ Attention has to be paid to proper technical methods and tools required. ~ High importance is given to safety implication.

Further reference (Gibb & Nealel997)

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3.8 Literature survey on past researches

I gathered valuable information on the basic categorization of prevailing problems of pre engineered contractors from the literature survey of past researches. Even though I could not find any research under the same topic, there are researches somewhat similar to problems faced by a pre engineered contractor, such as:

* Problems faced by small scale contractors.

Further reference - (Silva 1994)

* Development of an appropriate condition of contract for major civil engineering projects.

Further reference (Piyadasa 1994)

* Delays in civil engineering projects.

Further reference (Fernando 1994)

* Technological capability development of construction contractors.

Further reference (Ralapanawa 1992)

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C H A P T E R (4)

Development of the investigating program and

data collection

CHAPTER 4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE INVESTIGATION PROGRAM AND DATA COLLECTION

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter concentrates on the importance of the selected data collection method, and how it was formulated. Having formed a rudimentary understanding of the problems faced by contractors in executing speedy construction of Pre-engineered steel buildings through the literature review, I proceeded to categorize the available subject material.

As mediocre, distant data gathering techniques was thought to be inadequate, and would result in some elusive facts remaining unidentified, selected specialized organizations were interviewed carefully to unearth their real situation with the prepared questionnaire. My own experience in Pre-engineered buildings for the past six years helped us to share our ideas and to discuss certain less apparent areas empathetically. Observations and issues encountered during data collection is be discussed.

4.2 SELECTION OF A DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Methods of data collection

a. Questionnaire survey

This method of data collection is widely used and is regarded as a flexible method.

Further reference (Moor 1984,Chapanisl962, Robinsonl992)

b. Interview survey

Similar to (a), specific personal discussions were done with the relevant parties on the subject matter, abstaining from mass gathering of data.

Further reference - (Moor 1984,Chapanisl962, Robinson1992)

c. Experimental research

This method is used to obtain data in a more controlled environment, and not in real life situations.

Further reference - (Moor 1984,Chapanisl962) 27

d. Case studies

This method can be used to reduce the scale of the research by focussing it on a smaller number of units or to increase the range of different units in the study.

Further reference - (Moor 1984).

It was possible to gather first-hand information with genuine and reliable answers with the interviewed questionnaire survey. Therefore in this research work, specialized selected interviewees are interviewed with a prior notice and a brief introduction.

Referred past researches on similar studies were also carried out in the same method of interviewed questionnaire survey. (Silva 1992, Fernando 1994)

It was decided to give the questionnaire in the English medium. The questionnaire was designed to ask direct and closed questions to get the shortest answers with several options. Therefore it gave clear information within a relatively short duration.

At present, there are a limited number of contractors in Sri Lanka who specialize in Pre -engineered building construction. Some organizations specialize only in the erection of the building and do not undertake civil construction work.

I selected contractors involved in the entire construction process as the main contractor, from project proposal stage to the hand over stage. This sector acts with more responsibility for the whole project.

4.3 FORMULATION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

It was identified that, for the formulation of a questionnaire, careful planning and considerable experience in pre-engineered structures are required. To obtain all relevant and important information, a pilot study was executed using the following methods:

(i) Literature survey It was helpful to identify the general view on problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre-engineered steel buildings and their basic categorization on pressing problems.

(ii) Discussions with specialized contractors to identify the prevailing situation

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According to the initially prepared basic questionnaire, discussions were done with the several specialized contractors. Subsequently the questionnaire was improved to obtain more relevant and important information.

Based on these findings, the following major areas were identified and subsequently included in the questionnaire.

1 . General organizational information. Identification of the company was noted with the name, address, nature of the company and experience in Pre-engineered building industry. At the same time information of the interviewee was taken to obtain any missing information & for further clarifications.

2. General details about the project. General details about the project which varies from project to project was considered, such as: nature of the project, site location, size of the building, project duration, type of the contract , personnel involved in the execution of the project and the client's area of emphasis and knowledge about the project.

3. Financial aspects Financial situation & the liquidity of funds is of the greatest importance in order to ensure steady progress of a planned construction project. The investment of funds in a particular project is governed by several factors such as contract sum, advance payment, billing interval, receiving of bill payment, retention money and extra work etc.

4. Assessing delays. Various factors affect the construction duration of a pre-engineered steel building to varying degrees. To assess the delays in the construction projects, considered factors were: number of days in delay, arrival of material on expected date, difficulties in technical details, variations made to the proposed building etc,

5. Other problems in the pre engineered structure. This section was design to identify steel suppliers efficiency, and the problems encountered with the steel members / sections and shortage of materials.

6. Structural viability. This is to identify and measure the steel suppliers' attitude towards the steel structure which is requested by the client. It covers the shortcomings of structural design and the steel building itself.

7. Labour related problems Pre engineered building projects which involves speedy construction work in a short duration may lead to conflicts among the parties involved in the project. Some of the factors considered in identifying the labour related problems were; skills of the steel building erectors, number of people employed, method of salary payment, recruiting policy, shift work, over time work and high work load etc.

A blank questionnaire is provided in Appendix A.

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4.4 D A T A C O L L E C T I O N

Collected raw data is tabulated in Tables Bl to B6 in Appendix B.

Table 4.1 - Organizations surveyed.

ORGANIZATION EXPERIENCE IN PEB- IN YEARS

REFERECE NO.

1 .Isuru Engineering (Pte) Ltd. 6 A/01 - A/16

2.Project Engineering Pte. Ltd 15 B/17

3.J A T G Engineering Pte. Ltd. 5 C/18

4.Built Mart Lanka Pte. Ltd.. 10 D/19-D/22

5.Elemech Engineering Pte. Ltd. 6 E/23 - E/25

6.Ambanco Construction PteLtd. 6 F/26 - F/28

7.K D Lewis & Co. 5 G/29 - G/30

8.Sanken Lanka Nil H/31 - H / 3 2

9.Samuel & Sons Nil -

10.Associated Auto industries Nil -

11 .Conmix Pte Ltd. Nil -

12.Amano Construction Nil -

Data collection was carried out with some specialized contractors in pre-engineered steel industry as listed above. The interviewees were given prior notice and a brief introduction. This brief introduction proved to be very important in inducing interviewees to discuss certain problematic areas more openly in many situations. I had to earn the interviewee's confidence in these situations, as some of these issues involved aspects which may have affected their reputation.

All selected organizations being leading professional bodies in this industry, their reputation was an assurance for reliable, truthful information. An effort was made to interview a responsible person from each company approached. Selected interviewees were the managing directors, directors or the project coordinators of the companies. The

3 0

availability of their addresses, contact numbers and personal rapport, made it easier to re-interview and obtain clarifications and to gather missing information.

All selected organizations were private limited liability companies, involved in speedy construction work. It clearly shows, that this need for speed, made huge demands on their output and efficiency, and busy work schedules. This was a constraint to me, as it was difficult to persuade them to spare their valuable time for my interviews.

During the interviews, we were constantly disturbed by telephone calls etc. My past working experience under similar conditions allowed me to tolerate these instances with empathy and patience.

Companies listed from 9 to 12 are highly reputed in steelwork. These organizations have been active in the field of pre-fabricated steel buildings for quite a long period of time. They offered valuable information about the steel building construction industry, the incompatibilities of Pre-engineered systems, and prevailing problems faced by contractors in short duration projects.

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Data analysis

CHAPTER 5 DATA ANALYSIS

5.1 METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS

Having collected data through the questionnaire and interviews, the next step was to analyze the raw data to achieve the objectives set out in Chapter 1. The following analysis is carried out under the same sections (topics) as in the questionnaire for ease of understanding. Information provided by contractors for each question has been tabulated in separate tables to visualize each item of information more realistically.

There are several ways to summarize large amounts of data. One way is by using histograms. Often a summary analysis is carried out, giving just the center of the histogram and measuring the spread around the center. To make statistical use of these ideas and to be given a definite interpretation, the center is usually indicated by the average or by the median. The corresponding way to measure, spread around the center are the standard deviation.

Standard deviation, median etc, are useful when dealing with one variable at a time. Other methods are needed for studying the relationship between two variables. The statistical method currently used for studying such relationships is correlation analysis.

When a strong association exists between two variables, knowing one helps a lot in predicting the other. But when there is a weak association, information about one variable does not help much in guessing the other.

Correlation are always between -1 and +1, but any value can be taken in between. A positive correlation means that the clouds slope up; as one variable increases, so does the other. A negative correlation means that the clouds slope down; as one variable increases, the other decreases.

I used the statistical package "SPSS" for these calculations for quantitative data analysis, developed by Microsoft Inc. Other important information given is included in the report in summary form to explain various situations.

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5.2 DATA ANALYSIS ON ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

It was identified that all selected organizations who specialized in pre-engineered building systems are companies registered as "private limited liability" companies. The comparative period of time that the companies have been in business is relatively short, being between five to fifteen years. (Table 5.1)

Table 5.1 - Organizational details of companies in pre-engineered building construction

Organizational Information

Name Address Mature of organization

Experience in PEB

Isuru Engineering )Pte) Ltd. 16 A , Ward Place Colombo 7

Pvt. Ltd. 6 years

Project Engineering (Pte) Ltd. No.23 , Alfread PI. Colombo 3.

Pvt. Ltd. 15 years

JAT G Engineering (Pte) Ltd. No. 169 , Kynsey Rd. Colombo8.

, Pvt. Ltd. 5 years

Built Mart Lanka (Pte) Ltd. No.439,Elvitigala Mw Colombo 5.

Pvt. Ltd. 10 years

Elemech Engineering (Pte) Ltd. No. 158 , Walukarama Rd.

Colombo 3. Pvt. Ltd. 6 years

Ambanco Construction pvt. Ltd, No.83 , Dharmapala Mw.

Colombo 7. Pvt. Ltd. 6 years

KD Lewis & Com. No. 103/1 , Piliyandala Rd. Katuwawela , Boralesgamuwa

Pvt. Ltd. 5years

Sanken Lanka Pvt. Ltd. No. 295 , Madampitiya Rd, Colombo 14

Pvt Ltd. 2 years

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There was a similarity in the responses from all the personnel interviewed from all eight companies regarding one issue, namely the minimal attention and consideration given to middle scale young private companies, from the responsible governing bodies of the construction industry. They were left with the obstacle of having to overcome these problems on their own. At present, even veteran companies involved in pre-engineered buildings for a long period, prefer pre-fabricated buildings due to this reason.

Table 5.2 shows the general details of all projects. When considering the nature of the projects, it was observed that the majority of the buildings were Garment factory buildings (63%). It is clearly indicated that this industry has a high capacity of supplying employment opportunities to the country, as an average size Garment factory employs approximately 300 to 800 employees.

75% of these projects are located out of Colombo ( see table 5.2 ). Mostly, in the new Free Trade Zones, which were introduced in rural areas with the aim of developing these areas. Therefore, the proposed lands do not have even basic needs, such as accessible roads, electricity, water etc. The contractor's party is the first to be mobilized at some of these sites. The project duration is counted from the date of mobilization. There are grave difficulties to be faced by contractors in such conditions, beginning from construction material, right down to food for the employees. All materials have to be transported to the site from Colombo or the nearest town. The contractor has to proceed with his work, despite these obstacles.

The table 5.3 shows a faint relationship between the project location and the total project delay. It comparatively increases with the increase of distance between the Capital Colombo, and the location of the site by giving correlation value as 0.5.

In addition to the prepared questionnaire, I gathered a lot of valuable information by discussions with organizational representatives. Many of them revealed some of their more frustrating aspects of this system during casual conversation. They felt deeply about the injustices meted out to the contractors, which included, injustices occuring at the bidding stage, where there are many undisclosed factors like the exact location of the building, the site elevation etc. The consultant and the Project Managers get involved in this project from the time of setting out. Sometimes the contractor has to do the setting out several times, since the exact location may not be confirmed at this stage.

The next disadvantage is, the faults in the earth work. No contour survey is carried out by any party. Therefore rough visual estimates on cut & fill earth work has to be resorted to. This risk factor may hold the balance between profit and total losses made on a particular contract. /•'[ lT^.

5.3 DATA ANALYSIS ON PROJECT DETAILS

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Table (5.2) - Data collection on Project Details

I tem Characteristics No of projects % from total

Nature of project Garment factory 20 63% Ware house 5 16% Other factories 7 21%

Location of project Colombo limits 8 25% Out of Colombo 24 75%

Size of the building Up to 60 Sqrs 4 12% Up to 150 Sqrs 8 25% Up to 250 Sqrs 11 35% More 9 28%

Project duration Up to 4 months 18 57% Up to 6 months 10 31% Up to 8 months 3 9% More 1 3%

Procurement methoc Design & build 21 66% Turn key 5 16% Lump sum 3 9% Measure & pay 3 9%

Total contract sum Up to 5 Million 6 19% Up to 10 Million 5 16% Up to 18 Million 7 21% More 14 44%

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Table (5 .3) - Correlation analysis between project location and project delay

Correlation;

Project Delay

Site location Pearson correlation Sig.(2 - Tailed) N

0.500 0.009 26

Note: Project delay in days Project location in miles from Colombo

5.4 DATA ANALYSIS ON FINANCIAL ASPECTS

The financial situation and the liquidity of funds, is of the greatest importance, for both the client and the contractor, in order to ensure steady progress of planned construction in any given project. The investment of funds in a particular project is governed by several factors.

In this type of speedy construction of pre-engineered buildings, the project duration too is of vital importance. Let us consider the factors affecting the estimating of the project duration.

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5.4.1 Total project duration

Perusing table ( 5.5 ), project duration does not have a correlation wi th any variable.

Table (5.5) - Correlation between payment delay, Project delay, Contract sum, Percentage of advance payment, Payment for extra work, Site location, Client's work variation and project duration and timely delivery of PEB on time. 32 projects were considered.

Correlation:

Payment Project Building Contract delay delay Size sum

Payment delay -Pearson correlation 0.303 0.271 0.152 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.124 0.134 0.406 - N 27 32 32

Project delay - Pearson correlation 0.303 -0.025 0.102 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.124 0.903 0.613 - N 27 27 27

Building size - Pearson correlation 0.271 -0.025 0.791 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.134 0.903 0.000 - N 32 27 32

Contract sum - Pearson correlation 0.152 0.102 0.791 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.406 0.613 0.000 - N 32 27 32

% of advance - Pearson correlation -0.360 -0.001 -0.135 0.036 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.043 0.996 0.460 0.843 - N 32 27 32 32

Payment for - Pearson correlation -0.064 0.166 -0.043 -0.019 Extra Wk. - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.734 0.418 0.817 0.921

- N 31 26 31 31 Site location - Pearson correlation -0.219 0.500 0.025 0.025

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.246 0.009 0.894 0.894 - N 30 26 30 30

Client's wk. - Pearson correlation 0.132 -0.122 -0.079 0.003 Variations - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.471 0.545 0.668 0.986

- N 32 27 32 32 Payment - Pearson correlation -0.140 0.069 0.122 0.245

Received - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.445 0.732 0.505 0.176 - N 32 27 32 32

Project - Pearson correlation 0.252 0.42 0.506 0.677 Duration - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.164 0.027 0.003 0.000

- N 32 27 32 32 PEB on time - Pearson correlation -0.089 0.140 0.308 0.215

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.634 0.495 0.092 0.244 - N 31 26 31 31

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Table (5.5) - Correlation between payment delay, project delay, contract sum, percentage o f advance payment, payment for extra works, site location, client's work variation, project duration and delivery o f PEB on time. 32 projects were considered.

Correlation;

% of Payment for Site Client's wk. advance extra wk. location Variations

Payment delay -Pearson correlation -0.360 0.064 -0.219 0.132 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.043 0.734 0.246 0.471 - N 32 31 30 32

Project delay - Pearson correlation -0.001 0.166 0.500 -0.122 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.996 0.418 0.009 0.545 - N 27 26 26 27

Building size - Pearson correlation -0.135 -0.043 0.025 -0.079 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.460 0.817 0.894 0.668 - N 32 31 30 32

Contract sum - Pearson correlation 0.036 -0.019 0.025 0.003 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.894 0.921 0.894 0.986 - N 32 31 30 32

% of advance - Pearson correlation 0.447 0.059 -0.186 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.012 0.757 0.307 - N 31 30 32

Payment for - Pearson correlation 0.447 -0.076 -0.264 extra work. - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.012 0.695 0.151

- N 31 29 31 Site location - Pearson correlation 0.059 -0.076 -0.159

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.757 0.695 0.402 - N 30 29 30

Client's work. - Pearson correlation -0.186 -0.264 -0.159 Variations - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.307 0.151 0.402

- N 32 31 30 Payment - Pearson correlation 0.089 0.447 0.080 -0.498

Received - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.628 0.012 0.675 0.004 - N 32 31 30 32

Project - Pearson correlation -0.091 -0.117 0.298 0.100 Duration - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.619 0.531 0.110 0.585

- N 32 31 30 32 PEB on time - Pearson correlation 0.077 0.082 0.367 0.189

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.680 0.667 0.050 0.309 - N 31 30 29 31

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Table (5.5) - Correlation between payment delay, project delay, contract sum, percentage o f advance payment, payment for extra work, site location, client's work variation, project duration, PEB on time. 32 projects were considered.

Correlation:

Payment Project PEB on received duration time

Payment delay -Pearson correlation -0.140 0.252 -0.089 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.445 0.164 0.634 - N 32 32 31

Project delay - Pearson correlation 0.069 0.424 0.140 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.732 0.027 0.495 - N 27 27 26

Building size - Pearson correlation 0.122 0.506 0.308 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.505 0.003 0.092 - N 32 32 31

Contract sum - Pearson correlation 0.245 0.677 0.215 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.176 0.000 0.244 - N 32 32 31

% of advance - Pearson correlation -0.089 -0.091 0.077 - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.628 0.619 0.680 - N 32 32 31

Payment for - Pearson correlation 0.477 -0.117 0.082 extra work. - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.007 0.531 0.667

- N 31 31 30 Site location - Pearson correlation 0.080 0.298 0.367

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.675 0.110 0.050 - N 30 30 29

Client's work. - Pearson correlation 0.498 0.100 -0.189 Variations - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.004 0.585 0.309

- N 32 32 31 Payment - Pearson correlation 0.084 0.042

Received - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.649 0.822 - N 32 31

Project - Pearson correlation 0.084 0.429 Duration - Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.649 0.016

- N 32 31 PEB on time - Pearson Correlation 0.042 0.429

- Sig. ( 2 - tailed) 0.822 0.016 - N 31 31

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The raw data and the analyzed data, show that the duration of the project is not considerably influenced by any other deciding factors like, the size of the building or contract sum. However personal discussions revealed that the projected completion date of construction is specified by the client or clients' demand which in turn may be influenced by pressure from other investors or on the urgency of third party commitments.

There is a relationship between the project duration and contract sum when the full sample is considered. Careful observation reveal that there are situations where the project cost can have vast variations for the same or similar duration. For example: The amount of funds necessary on a monthly basis for the construction work may vary from 1 million, 2 million upto 9 million rupees.(Reference no. A/05 , A/11, A/12 - See Table 5.6 . Even for a high profile contractor, a cash flow of Rs. 9 million per project per month might be unduly demanding.

To generalize the situation, I considered the mean value of all 32 projects which gives the project duration as 4.75 months (with the standard deviation of 2.09) and contract sum as 24.5 Million (with the standard deviation of 29.6) averaging the construction cost per month as 5.2 Million, (table 5.6 and 5.8)

T a b l e 5 . 6 - Projects which have similar project duration

Project Duration Construction sum Construction cost per month

A/05 3 Months 28.0 Million 9.3 Million A/11 3 Months 3.0 Million 1.0 Million A/12 3 Months 7.0 Million 2.3 Million

Mean 4.75 Months 24.5 Million 5.2 Million (from 32 nos.)

Considering the nature of his business, a contractor might face grave difficulties if required to contribute towards maintaining the said cash-flow out of his coffers. It is worthy to concentrate on some of the avenues of income for the contractor.

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Table (5 .4) - Data collection on Financial Aspects

Item Characteristics No of projects % from total

Advance payment Up to 10% 3 9% Up to 20% 26 82% Up to 25% 2 6% More than 25 1 3%

Billing interval Monthly 32 100%

Payment delay Up to 7 days 2 6% Up to 14 days 11 34% Up to 30 days 12 38% More than 30 days 7 22%

Bill payment In installments 15 47% Full payment 1' 53%

Receiving retention Yes 15 47% money Not relevant 11 35%

Client has no funds 3 9% No, due to small defects 2 6% No, due to unfinished extra work 1 3%

Payment for extra Fully paid 18 56% work Partially paid 14 44%

Compensation for PEB None 31 97% received 1 3%

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5.4.2 Advance payment

Table 5.4 shows most of the clients paid 20% of the contract sum as the advance payment. In certain instances 10% to 30% was paid up-front.

Furthermore, table 5.5 shows that there is no correlation between the percentage of advance payment and any variables concerned.

Table (5.7) - Descriptive statistics for project duration and contract sum. Projects which had 20% advance payment were considered.

Descriptive Statistics:

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. devi.

% of advance 26 20 20 20 0.0000 Project duration (days) 26 2.50 12 5.096 2.0929 Contract sum (Rs.million) 26 2.50 130 28.2692 31.6608 Valid N 26

Table 5.7, contains analysis of some selected data pertaining to projects which had a percentage of advance of 20%. Here the size of the sample considered is 26, which is an acceptable value for analysis of a sample. It shows the standard deviation of project duration and contract sum as 2.093 months and Rs. 31.66 million respectively. Therefore payment of a similar percentage of advance payment does not proportionately affect either the project duration or the contract sum. It is noted that a norm based proportionately on either the contract sum, or the contract period is not adhered to in the construction industry at present.

Pre-engineered building industry is mostly involved with the private sector. Though the conditions of contract according to the ICTAD conditions is 20%, the advance payment given may vary from 10% - 30%. Utilization of the advance payment is different with this type of short duration pre engineered building construction work, as the contractor has to order the building materials at the beginning by opening a letter of credit or giving an advance payment. Therefore the advance payment is used not only for the project mobilization, but also for the purchase of most of the bulk material for the project which might be used at a later stage of the construction work.

Considering that the currently adhered proportion of 20% of advance payment is deemed to be insufficient, and leads to capital lock up in the cash flow of the company, the feasibility of reducing this figure down to 10% is highly questionable.

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5.4.3 Billing interval

All the projects studied had a billing interval of one month. However there were projects experiencing payment delays up to 49 days. Table 5.4 shows how many projects have faced delays in payments in weeks. Even after experiencing such delays, 47% of the contractors still received the bill value in installment basis.

This delay in receiving money causes a series of problems in the construction sites as well as in the organization in general. Most of the interviewed personnel mentioned the shortage of an organized billing pattern.

According to the analyzed data in table 5.8, delay in bill payment has the mean value of 23.13 days and give a standard deviation of 11.13 which indicates a huge difference from case to case.

Table (5.8) - Descriptive statistics for payment delay, project delay, contract sum, advance payment, payment for extra work, site location, clients work variations, project duration, PEB on time. 32 projects were considered.

Descriptive Statistics:

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Devi.

Payment delay (days) 32 2.0 49 23.1250 11.4321 Project delay (days) 27 3.0 240 34.9259 56.8540 Building size (Sqrs) 32 30.0 1125 273.3125 264.5773 Contract sum (Rs.Million) 32 2.5 130 24.4594 29.6465 % of advance 32 10.0 30 19.6875 3.7968 Payment for extra work 31 0.0 1 0.6129 0.4951 Site location (Miles) 30 12.0 68 25.6667 12.1920 Client's work variation 32 0.0 1 0.4063 0.4990 Payment received 32 1.0 2 1.5313 0.5070 Project duration (months) 32 2.0 12 4.7500 2.0945 PEB on time 31 0.0 1 0.4516 0.5059

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5.4.4 E x t r a w o r k

None of the projects studied were completed within the estimated cost. Extra work is an extremely common phenomenon in the industry. The cost for extra work is a somewhat troublesome sphere, where the clients are often reluctant to settle the full amount for any extra work done. Table 5.4 shows that 41% of projects received partial payment for extra work done. There are several reasons for this. Most often, the extra work is not completed within the pre-scheduled time (previously agreed duration). In addition, extra work exceeds the client's estimated budget. The burden of substantiating the necessity of such work, proving this to banks and investors, rests upon the client, and can be a time consuming and lengthy procedure. This tends to exert undue financial constraints on the clients part, thus inducing him to resort to undesirable practices such as delayed payments to the contractors, and unacceptable complaints on the quality of work etc.

5.4.5 Retent ion money

After the completion of any contract, and after the maintenance period, 50% or 100% of the retention money has to be released to the contractor. Unfortunately there are many instances of payments being ignored by the client. Table 5.4 shows that some projects have been subjected to this problem unreasonably.

In this manner, irregular, unpredictable cash flow creates many problems for the contractor. Each individual cash flow sum taken together, constitutes the company cash flow. The negative cash flow experienced in the early stages of a project, represents locked-up capital. That deficit has to be supplemented from the company cash reserves or borrowed. In Sri Lanka, it is a very difficult task to obtain an over-draft facility, even for a reputed company. The high interest rates applied contribute further to the difficulties.

It is true that the prevailing government has reduced the rate of interest for loans from 28% to 14%. This reduction is applicable only for the loans granted to investors. The time has come to realize that the construction organization fulfills an indispensable role in the development of a country and the need for subsidies to be offered to this sector.

Even for a civil contractor who has specialized in PEB system, the cash flow problems discussed earlier still apply, although they currently practice several remedial actions to avoid this "cash locked up" situation. A very realistic doubt about the future well being of these companies exists, as discussed in the literature survey.

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5.5 DATA ANALYSIS ON LABOUR RELATED PROBLEMS

5.5.1 The impact of high work load

High work load due to short duration, speed of construction and long working hours, are some of the factors that lead to conflicts among the parties concerned, namely the management, the sub contractors, the subordinates and the client.

This was discussed at length, with the causes and consequences in Section 3.2 of the Literature review.

During the personal interviews, some important information was collected with regard to this. Generally in this type of speedy construction, the high workload becomes even more hectic during the last two weeks before the building is handed over to the client.

It is a common factor, that during this period, to observe all types of work being completed, such as electrical work, air conditioning work, Steam piping work, floor finishing, painting, landscaping etc. As all parties are fighting against time, site workers and managers are compelled to work more hours during this time. There are situations of personnel working 48 hours or more continuously.

Most of the minor staff are already burdened with stressful personal situations, especially as Sri Lanka is a poor country, where the struggle for survival for the average wage earner itself is enough of a struggle to cause stress in any individual. This situation commonly results in adverse effects such as conflicts or drug addiction. It is increasingly common to observe the use of narcotics among workers in construction sites, which invariably leads to a deterioration of standards.

5.5.2 Problems related to monthly remuneration

Conflicts among non-skilled and semi-skilled laborers are the most prevalent since their limits of tolerance, and limits of rational thinking power is comparatively lower, and their financial difficulties are generally high. The data collected, is analyzed in table 5.10 to reflect the effect of the payment of salary on time.

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Table 5.10 - Variation of related problems with the frequency of salary payment

Related problem Salary paid

Monthly Fortnightly

No. of % from total No. of % of projects projects project: ; projects

Workers over loaded with work at times 17 68% 1 16%

Holidays for workers ignored 25 100% 3 50%

Working more than 8 hours 11 44% 2 33%

Projects delayed by more than a week 21 83% 0 0%

Table 5.10 shows that project delays of more than one week is non existent when the frequency of payment is increased from monthly payments, to fortnightly payments. Here the considered sample size of the fortnight payment is small since none of the entrepreneurs like to take the risk of fortnightly payments, possibly due to the difficulty of finding money on such a frequency.

Taken as a whole, the performance of a project crew indicated a clearly defined relationship to the frequency of payments. It is worthwhile to note that a well performing crew is a major asset to any construction site, in order to achieve the targeted goals in the allocated time. It clearly proves that the projects adopting the fortnightly payment frequency suffered less delays. In other words, 83% of projects which adopted a monthly salary payment frequency, suffered delays of more than a week. (See table 5.10.) This is evidence to indicate that there is a relationship between the workers and project performance with the frequency of salary payment.

Table (5.11) shows that the projects which paid monthly, has a mean project delay of 39.7 days (with a standard deviation of 60.4) and the projects which paid fortnight payments has a mean project delay as 7.6 days (with a standard deviation of 5.6) showing comparatively less delay in work with a better performance.

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Table (5.11) - Descriptive statistic for monthly / fortnight salary payment and project delay. Project delay in days.

Descriptive statistics:

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Monthly paid projects 23 4.00 240 39.7826 60.4190

Fortnight paid projects 3 3.00 14 7.6667 5.6862

Many entrepreneurs divulged further details about the salary payment in casual conversation, which was not included in the questionnaire. One project was observed where payment was made on a weekly basis (see the project C/18 of table 6B). They claim that this is the most suitable frequency, since workers are satisfied and enthusiastic that they can send money home frequently. It may be a good relief for them to get rid of financial difficulties.

But this entrepreneur also expressed the difficulties he had to face due to the weekly payment basis. He could not draw money every week for all the project sites, since there wasn't a steady supply of funds.

5.5.3 Working hours and Productivity

According to the recommended standards, working hours should be 8 hours per day. An average person works productively for approximately 8 hours a day. More than this specified time, may result in less productivity. Out of 32 projects 41% operated for more than 8 hours a day. Working over time might cause stress for managers too, since the site manager carries out one of the toughest and hardest jobs in the construction process as explained in section 3.2.1 of Chapter 3.

When working overtime, transport facilities, food, extra payments etc. have to be offered. In the construction industry, it is a normal practice to work on holidays. Collected data shows 88% (referring to table 5.9) of projects ignored holidays. Labour management might give cause for concern, when working on holidays. Comparison of worker productivity indicates that performance of workers, working on holidays has resulted comparatively low in productivity than a normal day, probably as workers find it difficult to fully accept working on a day traditionally reserved for rest.

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Table (5 .9) - Data collected on labour related problems

Item Characteristics No of projects % from total

Skills of erectors Good 13 4 1 % Fair 19 5 9 %

Availabili ty of specialized Yes 2 6 % trainer N o 30 9 4 %

Personnel employed Up to c-30, S-15 14 4 4 % U p to c-60, S-15 10 3 1 % U p to c-100, S-15 3 9 % More 5 16%

Work ing hours 8 hrs 18 5 6 % More 14 4 4 %

Holidays Poya 4 12% Ignored 28 8 8 %

Workers overloaded Yes 20 6 3 % N o 12 3 7 %

Salary paid Monthly 25 7 8 % Fortnight 6 19% Weekly 1 3 %

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5.5.4 Personnel employed in pro jects

Going through the above data, workers employed in steelwork have a median value of 15 people employed on a site. (See table 5.9). Steel erection gangs are not utilized throughout a project. They are fruitfully utilized for generally 3/8 of the project duration. For the rest of the time they may have to be shifted to another site, mark time, or occupy themselves in tasks which do not require their specific skills. Therefore, contractors are well advised to maintain a skilled, efficient, as well as the smallest possible erection gang, which is paid high wages.

The importance of training employees is valued today. Out of the 32 projects considered, 60% of entrepreneurs stated that the skills of the working gang is in " fair" standard, (see table 5.9), neither good nor bad. But working with high skilled workers is more effective in this type of accelerated speedy construction projects.

Not only is training of personnel by a specialized trainer much appreciated specially in this type of innovative construction, it motivates them to a great extent. This kind of training programs bring mutual benefit to both the workers and the construction companies. While the workers gain the long term benefit of being properly trained, which helps them further their careers, the companies derive the better output by contented and proactive workers. Yet only 6% (referring to table 5.9) has supplied specialized trainer at projects.

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5.6 DATA ANALYSIS ON CONSTRUCTION DELAY

During the past three decades, records show that delays and cost overruns are common in construction projects. Various factors affect the construction time of pre engineered steel buildings to varying degrees.

Delays can be caused by several parties. Consequently the effects and remedies vary from case to case. Concurrent delays are two or more delays occurring at the same time and have always been difficult to resolve.

Table (5.12) - Data collected on assessing delays

Item Characteristics Number of % from total projects

Completion date delayed No delay 5 15% Up to 7 days 11 35% Up to 14 days 7 22% Up to 30 days 4 13% More 5 15%

Cause of delay Steel erection 16 50% Weather condition 7 21% Foundation/labour 4 13% problems Cash problems 4 13% Consultant/drawing 4 13% problems

PEB on time at site Yes 14 44% No 18 56%

Frequent client variations Yes 13 41% No 19 59%

Technical details on erection Clear 19 59% Easy 12 38% Ambiguous 1 3%

5.6.1 Types of delay

Table 5.12 shows that 85% of the projects got delayed in construction work, and has the median value of 34.9 days, and standard deviation of 56.8 in delayed days, (refer table , 5.8.) Delay can be categorized due to many reasons as shown in Table 5.12.

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5.6.2 Effects of delay on investors

When construction is delayed, it is an accepted fact that the major loss is suffered by the client. This may include the client, and other parties such as foreign partners or local and foreign banks. When a pre-planned and scheduled project is extensively delayed, it may cause a chain reaction which might result in losses of time and money.

For example, lets consider a garment factory. The investor will have planned the arrival the first stock of raw materials at the targeted completion date of an ongoing construction. If the construction is not complete and the premise is not ready to launch operations, the investor is faced with the task of finding alternative storage etc. or pay demurrages to the customs to keep the materials in store. Once an investor invests funds, his intention is to have a building completed, and functioning in the shortest possible duration. As the investors too face constraints on their part, viz loan repayments, escalating interest amounts, salaries of the staff and workers etc, they may be having deadlines to meet with their buyers, and are sometimes faced with withdrawal of further orders. Therefore investors are extremely worried about risking any kind of construction delays, which might result in delaying their own production. Therefore the utmost importance is placed on completing contracted projects on time. The investors invariably pressurize the contractors if the slightest doubt of delays are anticipated.

5.6.3 Delay and reputation

It is indeed, construction time, which is the basis for evaluating the success and the efficiency of the project organization. Completing projects on time symbolizes the efficiency of the construction industry. That includes the contractor and the other involved parties. Habitually, the Construction Company is blamed for any delays, of which the cause may have been shortcomings of any of the concerned parties.

If a company gains disrepute for delays, it might affect the future of such a company as word of mouth spreads the message, and it might not be able to win any more contracts from either that particular client, or other clients known to such affected parties.

The construction industry, with emphasis on the garment factory building spree, is a relationship-based industry. As such, understanding and trust between the concerned parties have gained increased importance. Winning a contract is no longer solely governed by the size of the organization or the lowest bidding price. Under such circumstances, a contractor may seriously reconsider opting for litigation, in order to enjoy even the prevailing rights of the contractors.

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5.7 DRAWBACKS OF PRE- ENGINEERED STRUCTURES

5.7.1 Claims for Pre Engineered Building errors

Most of the projects studied, have faced problems associated with the Pre engineered structure or their supply/after sales service. Only one project out of 32 was successful in claiming compensation for the errors in the steel structure. The rest of the contractors had to bear the cost of correcting the errors of PEB. See Table 5.12 & 5.4.

Table (5.13) - Data collected on problems of pre engineered structure

Item Characteristics Number of % from projects total

Problems faced in erection Shortages of bolts/ sections 10 31% Cutting/ fabrication 7 22% Damaged sections 4 13% No defects 15 47%

Roof leaks Improper nailing 13 65% Lack of the lap length 4 13% Bad connections 1 3% Ponding 2 6% No defects 15 47%

Wall cracks Shrinkage 5 16% Settlements 3 9% Structural movements 10 32% No defects 16 50%

Provided all items as in Yes 29 91% packing list No 3 9%

Provided design Yes 14 44% calculations No 18 56%

Provided roof slop 10 Degrees 8 25% 9.5 Degrees 1 3% 7.5 Degrees 1 3% 5.7 Degrees 22 69%

Even during the construction stage, usually the clients tend to make changes to the original plan. Since most of projects adhere to the 'Design & Build' procurement

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concept, the civil contractor is compelled to provide for such changes. When it is not possible to accommodate such changes in the agreed Pre engineered building, the client generally requests the contractor to resort to locally fabricated options. It should be realized that all these additional expenditure accumulate as cost, and may escalate the final cost of contract, reflected in the bill.

Generally the PEB cost portion is 30% - 50% of the total contract sum. The client at times invests this amount at the initial stages of the project, which might cause financial difficulties in the latter stages. Due to the discrepancies in the sphere of mobilization of funds etc., it is common knowledge that the civil contractors endure extended delays till the clients manage to raise funds.

5.7.2 Delay in receiving pre-engineered building components on site

In this type of speedy construction work, the most important factor is "time" but out of the projects researched, 57% of projects did not receive the PEB at site on time. (See table 5.13)

A loop hole in this process is, that the client has to open the letter of credit (LC) for the cost of the steel structure immediately upon signing of contract agreement. Once the LC has been opened, the steel supplier starts his production work. A delay of 2-3 days in this process, multiplies into a 1 -2 weeks delay in delivery of the structure to the site. This is partly due to the fact that most of the steel suppliers are from Arabic countries, where Thursdays and Fridays are holidays. As the Sri Lankan holidays fall during the weekend, this sometimes causes a frozen period of up to four days.

It is obvious that a delay of 1-2 weeks, can have a tremendous impact in this type of short duration projects. Therefore, clients are apt to open the LC as soon as possible. This makes the client completely bound to the steel supplier, and thereafter is compelled to oblige the supplier.

During the erection of the steel structure, the contractor experiences shortages of bolts, sections etc. After the sale takes place, the supplier is released of all responsibility. Any contingencies that may arise after delivery, will cause so much delay in rectifying same due to this fact. Therefore, civil contractors are in turn compelled to correct them in order to minimize the time and labor wasted. Under these circumstances, the civil contractor must again bear any losses incurred as a result of collective weaknesses in the PEB process.

When considering project delays, it is apparent that about 50% of them are caused by the problems related to steel erection work ( see table 5.12)

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5.7.3.Structural incompatibilities

The existence of a relationship between roof leaks and roof slope, in this type of buildings was clearly evident. It was observed that roofs which leak have a mean roof slope of 7.04 degrees, and a standard deviation of 1.95. (see table 5.14) I was further observed, that with the increase of roof slope, the leaks minimize.

Table (5.14) - Descriptive statistics for degree of roof slopes which had leaks

Descriptive Statistics:

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Roof slopes which had roof leaks

17 5.7 10 7.0412 1.9535

Note : Roof slope in degrees

Most of the projects adopt a roof slope of 5.7 degrees (see table 5.13). Sri Lanka is a tropical country, with a heavy rainfall throughout the year. Therefore this roof slope is not sufficient. Roof leaks due to improper nailing / ponding etc., also escalate due to the lesser slope of roof. Sri Lanka is yet to publish a code for either technical standards or material standards. Non of the steel suppliers give any written warrantees to clients.

5.7.4 Lack of technical / design details awareness

The technical knowledge of the workers involved in PEB systems, is at an intermediate level. We do not have specialized trained erectors. Out of the 32 projects surveyed, only two projects were supplied with a specialized trainer by the steel supplier (see table 5.9). This shortcoming greatly affects the finished building. This situation aggravates the problem of roof leaks that are caused due to improper nailing.

Problems arising from improper nailing were present in 65% of the projects. The main cause can be identified as lack of knowledge and the differences of products. The grove system and type of nails are different from one project to another. Holes left as a result of erroneous drilling, will not be permanently covered, although sealed with something in the nature of silicone sealant which might be damaged due to hot sun and heavy rain etc.

Effects of improper nailing, lack of lap length, ponding, bad connections etc., are further aggravated due to lesser roof slope. If we provide at least 15 degrees roof slope, the problem of roof leak won't be a great issue even with the above mentioned defects such as ponding.

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54% of the projects studied had to face problems while erection was carried out. Problems like shortage of bolts/sections, cutting/fabrication of steel section, warped / damaged sections cause many troublesome situations at a site (see table 5.13).

The second major defect in the pre-engineered building system is the wall cracks. Causes of the wall cracks are stated below.

According to the above table 5.12, most of the cracks are caused by the structural movements of the pre-engineered building. The engineers do consider the structural movements in the design stage, and make provisions for them, like pin joint connections of the column footing. It should be noted that the whole structure is made out of steel which expands and contracts due to changes in temperature. To minimize these types of movements, bracings, tightening of nuts and bolts to specific KN s, floor beams, footing anchors etc are provided.

The location of wind bracings may be changed or completely removed during construction, due to the building's internal arrangements. The required technical expertise is not provided by the steel supplier during the erection process. This carelessness causes problems to the contractor at the latter stages. Visible failures (wall cracks) may appear on civil construction. The blame is generally placed on the contractor, and may result in stopping of payments. The contractor has the additional burden of repairing the damage. This happens mostly at the site clearing stage or during the maintenance period. The client expects completion of these minute details in an unreasonably short time. A small mistake at this stage may have severe repercussions, as the contractor is with the client until the end of the project with pending payments.

Although the supplier is supposed to deliver a complete, ready to install package, they do not submit design calculations with the structure. Due to the lack of necessary figures which should be rightfully provided by the suppliers, the contractor faces a bottleneck when any additions or alterations need to be carried out to the originally planned structure, be it extensions to the floor area or attachment of some other building part.

A further problem that many of the Sri Lankan contractors face is, having to start the laying of the foundations, even before the steel structure arrives at site. This invariably demands that items required in the initial stages, like anchor bolts be locally fabricated. Given the situation, the finished building's strength might be compromised due to ill fitting, locally manufactured parts, which understandably will not be fully compatible with the imported steel structure.

If due to the stated reasons above, any defects were to be detected in the structure subsequently, the contractor has to bear the responsibility, even though he should not be directly held responsible for the structural components.

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5.8 PROJECT PROCUREMENT METHOD

5.8.1 Suitability of methods of procurement

Efficient project procurement methods play a major role in the success rate of a construction company. Of the projects studied, 66% were handled on a "design & build" basis, (see table 5.2). This is the easiest and most flexible method of procurement for a client, as it facilitates precise tender evaluation, and allows further additions to the original planned construction, generally without additional expenditure on his part.

The selected contractors are pressurized into formulating a suitable package for the clients' need at tender evaluation meetings. Approximately 5-6 contractors may participate at such meetings. The contractor might be asked to provide exact details as to the brand names to be used, and make immediate deletions and additions to the said package. Furthermore, the client may demand a percentage discount at the end, which might play a part in either winning or losing a contract, due to the competitive nature of the prevalent bidding process.

With this contract type, the contractor has to submit all detailed drawings including site layout, perspective views, internal arrangements and detailed facility buildings with the first proposal.

Certain clients may at times use the drawings submitted by prospective bidders, solely as a source of procuring ideas. It is common practice to see these drawings being used by a third party, generally a small time contractor, who may be unable to come up with drawings of his own. This in effect, is tantamount to stealing the efforts of the first company. But no regard or a payment is made by the client for utilization of the submitted project proposals, drawings, estimates etc of the previous company.

Only 9% of projects practicing "measure and pay" system, escaped from this injustice (see table 5.2). On the other hand, the "measure & pay" method seems to cause some difficulty in short duration projects. This system requires the contractor to prepare detailed measurement sheets, attachments, and sketches etc, in the bill. Bill preparation, as well as checking the bill by the quantity surveyors take much time. (See table 5.15) Therefore, procurement method of measure & pay may not be suitable for short duration projects.

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To clarify this particular concept further, refer appendix 1C - appendix 3C which contain data summarized and tabulated below;

Table 5.15 - Differences in methods of procurements

Description Mean Standard deviation

D & B M&P L.S/T.K D & B M&P L.S/T.K

Project duration 4.9 6.0 3.7 2.3 0.0 1.3 (Months)

Contract sum 24.0 48.3 16.5 30.0 18.9 29.9 ( Rs. Million)

Delay in payment 23.9 43.0 13.6 9.0 5.1 7.9 (days)

Delay in project 17.3 150.0 43.6 14.5 42.4 81.5 (days)

Changes by clients 0.47 0.33 0.25 0.511 0.577 0.463

D&B - Design and build M&P - Measure and pay L.S./T.K - Lump sum/Turn key

Among the practiced procurement methods, lump sum or turnkey procurement method shows a tendency to be more suitable for short duration projects, (less than 4 months) with contract sums between Rs.15.0 - 18.0 Million, while the "Design and build" method may be considered more suited to medium scale projects with a project duration of about 5 months, and Contract sum between Rs. 20.0 - 40.0 Million. But it shows a high rate of clients' variations on construction work during the contract period.

5.8.2 Short comings of ICTAD conditions of contract for PEB works

The "Institute for Construction Training and Development", has a practicing code for conditions of contract. It gives a list of duties for clients, consultants and engineers and contractors who are engaged in the construction process, and conducting of the advance payment, interim billing, bill payment, project delays & liquidated damages etc.

This condition of contract document is categorized as large-scale contracts and small-scale contracts. This categorization is not based on contract sum. This is an injustice done to the PEB contractors, as although the project sum is a large amount ( more than two Million Rupees), it will not be considered a major project since it has a shorter duration.

As an example, the project bill approval and its payment can be analyzed. According to the ICTAD conditions of contract (No: SCA / l ) " Payment" is described as follows;

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" The engineer who, upon receipt of a contractor's monthly claim, gives in the prescribed form, shall have 20 days in which to certify the amount due and the employer shall pay that amount within a further 10 days. The engineer shall reject any statement not given in the prescribed form and such statement will not qualify for payment until furnished in the prescribed form whereupon the correct version will be certified and paid within the 20 days and 10 days respectively".

Considering above statement of ICTAD conditions of contract, monthly claims (interim bill payment), allow 30 days to certify and pay the amount. When contract period is reduced to around 4 to 5 months, a 30 day period for settlement of bills causes problems, as the contractor depends on the payment to fund his next project.

A fact disclosed in the personal interviews carried out, was that most of the contractors in PEB construction industry, face a capital lock-up, after having completed 2/3 of the project. Table 5.16 shows how different the money consumption is between PEB short duration projects and normal construction projects.

When a project of approximately 4 months duration is considered, the contractor has to order high cost material in the first month itself, such as flooring, ceiling, doors & windows etc. But the payment for that investment may come in the final bill since the work is completed in the last stages of the project.

To explain it further, lets consider doors and windows in factories which are generally made out of powder coated aluminium sections. The aluminium components has to be ordered one month prior to have the particular colour, specific sections and the required amount of aluminium sections. When the materials are at the site, work is started to prepare all the door/ window frames and sashes according to the given drawings. It may take 2-3 weeks to fix and complete the doors and windows. Although the investment for these items is made in the very first month, the actual fixing of the components will be made only at the end of the third month or at the beginning of the fourth month.

Within this practicing code of ethics, the contractor does not have any control over delayed payments, since the rules and regulations do not favor such a situation. There are clients who make advance payment over the interim bills even before the consultant's approval. Most of the clients behave otherwise.

All the interviewees agreed on the point that the contractors are subjected to more stringent laws than the clients. More guarantees and bonds have to be provided by the contractors, such as the advance payment bond, and liquidated damages for the delay in projects etc. It was expressed that these burdens should be more equally shared. The contractors too face difficult situations due to delayed or unpaid bill settlements etc. It is felt that certain measures should be taken to ensure timely and guaranteed payments to the contractor.

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T A B L E 5.16 - C a s h flow charts

Table A - Cash flow of a normal construction site

Note: This is a project which has project duration of 11 months and 20% of advance payment. The total contract value is Rs.37.7 Million.

Cumulative Cash in and cash out vs duration

Table B - Cash flow of a PEB construction site

Note: This is a project which has duration of 4 months and 20% of advance payment. The total contract value is Rs.12.0 Million.

Cumulative cash in and cash out vs duration

Conclusion and recommendations

CHAPTER 6 CONCL US IONS A ND RECOMMEND A TIONS

After researching extensively about the "Problems faced by contractors in speedy construction of pre engineered steel buildings", I wish to state the conclusions and recommendations arrived at, in the next few paragraphs.

6.1 CONCLUSIONS

The key to business success in this fast moving, highly volatile and demanding age, is to be driven by a strong sense of competitiveness and determination towards fulfillment of the basic market driven needs of the clients. There will be more customers, more purchasing power, more options, and more opportunities, but also more competition. The only way out of this conundrum will be to add more value to the orthodox product or service, in order to keep abreast with the modern concept of aiming for customer delight, instead of mere customer satisfaction of old. Speed is a highly desirable value, which might play a major role in determining the success of the pre-engineered steel construction field, as in any other in this age. The study carried out and detailed in this report identified pressing problems of contractors in speedy construction of pre-engineered steel buildings.

Financial

It is felt that in this type of speedy construction projects, many problems are created due to irregular, unpredictable cash flow, which in turn is due to various reasons, such as insufficient advance payment, delayed bill payment methods, overloaded extra work etc. Table 5.16 shows the difference between the cash flow of a PEB short duration project and that of an orthodox project. The problems faced by contractors involved in pre-engineered building trade is far different to the problems faced by contractors involved in other major civil works, since the number of projects handled by the former is comparatively larger and the duration of the projects is shorter. Therefore financial commitment at a given time is higher, resulting in a negative cash flow in the early stages of a project. When this situation occurs frequently, that deficit has to be supplemented by resorting to other sources for the existence of the company.

According to the study, factors causing negative cash flow in a pre-engineered builder include:

~ Insufficient advance payment for the projects which is not dependent on any deciding factors of the project.

~ Unsuitable billing intervals and bill correcting methods which delay payments to contractors by more than a month. (60% of projects - table 5.4).

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~ Extra work within the previously estimated time without proper notice or timely payments.

- Postponing or failure to pay retention money on time.

Project delay

Among the problems addressed, delays in project duration creates a bottleneck in the success of speedy construction of pre engineered buildings. The duration of a project is not generally influenced by any other deciding factors like, the size of the building, contract sum, project location etc. The completion date of the construction is specified by client's demand which may be influenced by pressure from investors. Therefore, lack of time in arranging resources such as funds, men, machinery, materials and methods, create a stressful situation in these projects.

Factors affecting the speed of work leading to delays in project completion date include:

~ Inefficient money supply by the client within the project duration ~ Inefficient money control by the contractor affecting supply of material to the site ~ Delays in supply of material to the site within the limited short time frame. ~ Labour related problems in the site ~ Incorrect soil reports and unforeseen ground conditions ~ Insufficient time to acquire all BOI facilities such as electricity, water etc. ~ Technical and practical difficulties which arise in steel erection work. -Delays in completing projects may happen due to a combination of factors, like adverse weather conditions, if "free floating duration", is not scheduled.

Labour problems

Pre-engineered buildings are a special category of projects, which have short project duration with a large contract sum. The management of a project plays a vital role in manipulating this speedy work without any sacrifice in cost and quality,

According to the study factors that affect the performance of the project crew:

~ Non skilled workers. : Out of surveyed projects, 94% of projects staff have not receive any training on PEB

systems with the introduction of new components of building parts.

-Lack of industrial training. - Heavy workload and ignoring of holidays. 88% of projects (table 5.9) ignored holidays during the construction work and most of the projects were overloaded with work during last two weeks of the project. - Improper salary payment such as monthly payment frequency, does not assist to solve the financial problems of the workers. (78% of surveyed projects - table 5.9 )

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Conditions of contract

Rules and regulations for this type of construction work falls under the ICTAD conditions of contract, which has two categories for small civil works and major civil works, based on the contract sum. But unfortunately there is no specialized categorization for the speedy construction of pre engineered buildings with emphasis on project duration as a criteria.

According to the "Conditions on payment" specified by the "ICTAD conditions of contract", the client or the consulting engineers representing the client, is allowed to retain the contractor's monthly claim up to 30 or 50 days.

Norm based proportionately on either the contract sum or the contract period is not adhered to in the conditions of contract in the construction industry at present. It is apparent when considering the fact that the advance payment for a project, does not depend on the project value and most of the projects practice design and build concept. Therefore loopholes in this type of contract are:

~ Very expensive tendering procedure ~ Extended project designing procedure which begins at the tendering stage and finishes with the project completion ~ Clearly defined roles of the contractor and the consultant become confused. ~ Loss of independent architect /engineer

Pre engineered steel system

Among some of the problems which arise in speedy construction of pre engineered buildings, are structural and technical faults. These include structural incompatibilities such as degree of roof slope, ponding due to lesser thickness of the roofing sheet, non standard size of the roof nails and the grove size of the roof covering, unusable and warped steel sections, weak or unsuitable nuts and bolts for connections etc.

Major delays in pre engineered buildings can generally be traced back to major faults by the steel supplier. Once they receive full payment from the client (at the initial stage by a letter of credit), the client and the contractor are compelled to be obliged to the steel supplier.

Lack of trained personnel in this field creates some labour problems, specially with the introduction of various new products.

In this type of speedy construction work, often, projects start without adequate pre construction planning. Therefore changes may occur while construction is on going. ., i p p 1

Since the contractor is not given the steel design calculations (structural frames a n d / ^ x

foundations), he is unable to make any adjustments or additions to the building. ''

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6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS

Financial

1. The authorities should be more committed to ease some of the difficulties faced by contractors involved in speedy construction of pre engineered buildings, by way of low interest loans, subsidized rates for machinery and other tools of the trade.

2. The government should introduce a comprehensive plan to encourage and motivate those involved in the civil construction field, in order to create a healthy environment for sustainable growth in this sector.

3. To ease the contractors' cash flow, it is recommend that the condition of contract be modified to consider the capital investment required to initialize and maintain the requirements of an on-going project, such as supplies and other necessities, rather than focusing on the finished product.

4. It is also recommended that to ensure the payments to the contractor, the clients should open letters of credit in favor of the contractor.

5. More guarantees and bonds have to be provided by the contractor, such as advance payment, performance bond and liquidated damages for the delay in projects etc. It was expressed by all the interviewees, that these burdens should be more equally shared. The contractors too face difficult situations due to unpaid or delayed bill settlements.

6. As the contractor currently has little opportunity of inducing the client to make timely payments, a guarantee, by way of a bond or other financial tool should be used as insurance against non payment or delayed payment of bills.

7. The payment pattern practiced between client and contractor should be standardized, with a reasonable margin of flexibility allowed, in order to ensure that an acceptable ratio is maintained between the portion of work completed, and the payments made to the contractor.

8. Absence of a responsible controlling body, which could intervene in discrepancies of a financial nature, which arise between the contractor and client is acutely felt.

9. In order to prevent the unethical utilization of the submitted project proposals, drawings, estimates etc., according to the expensive concept of design and build which discussed in section 6.8.1, the client should be forced to pay the contractor for these documents.

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Project delay and labour

Pre-engineered building industry is a special category of projects, which have short project duration with a large contract sum. In manipulating this speedy work without any sacrifice in cost and quality, the management of the project plays a vital role.

Contractors undertaking pre-engineered building projects need to be selective when choosing the key personnel of the project. A dedicated and efficient staff, is a valuable and indispensable asset for this type of projects. In order to ensure a smooth functioning of a project, the following guidelines can be adopted;

To avoid delays and stressful situations on site:

1. Adhere to the project's main work schedule

2. Conduct site meetings with the site staff about work progress & labour problems at end of each working day, and inform relevant parties where necessary.

3. Good coordination within and among the project's function groups.

4. Provide incentives and reward schemes for efficiency and hard work, health schemes, safety and insurance etc., to improve the employee-employer relationship.

5. Train people within and from outside the company to enhance their skills.

6. Train people for team work and make several groups with team leaders.

7. Arrange functions and activities in order to improve loyalty to the company and the management, and to break the monotony of their work schedules.

8. Proper salary payment scheme.

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Conditions of contract

1. It is necessary therefore, to recognize this type of contracts as a special category of "short duration projects". Most of the interviewees recommended that the bill correcting and arranging the payment to the contractor should be within a period of 14 days.

2. In addition, it is recommended that the minimum advance payment percentage of 10% which is not influenced by any other deciding factors such as project size, location, complexity etc., should be increased to 30% to avoid the cash deficit at the 2/3 stage of completion of a project.

3. Among the practiced procurement methods, lump sum or turnkey procurement method shows a tendency to be more suitable for short duration projects, ( less than 4 months ) with contract sums between Rs.15.0 - 18.0 million, while the "design and build" method may be considered more suited to medium scale projects with a project duration of about 5 months, with a contract sum between Rs.20.0-40.0 million.

4. ICTAD conditions are based on measure and pay civil engineering contracts. How ever, during the research it was observed that this document is widely used for pre engineered buildings without essential modifications. Hence it is recommended that the client should use a form of contract based on supply and installation type contracts, for this kind of construction with two stage bidding.

Pre - engineered steel system

1. As the main component of the PEB system is the steel structure, the quality and timely delivery of same is significant. Given this situation, it is considered important for the client, who is the end user of the product, to be more closely associated with the supplier, and preferably have a binding agreement between the two parties, which will pave the way for a comparatively trouble free progress of the project.

2. The pre- engineered structure and associated accessories, should meet the SL Standards. If the said structure and accessories are found to be below acceptable standards, the supplier should be held responsible for compensating same either by replacement of such inferior products, or monetary compensation.

3. To avoid the practical problems faced by the contractor at the site with the introduction of new components over the standard sections, the steel supplier should be pressurised to provide training to the erection staff as this will improve the quality of the final product and maximise the efficiency of the personnel.

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6.3 REFERENCES

B a r r u Sheety, Bracey H . and Fraz ier R. (1997) The age of abundance. World Executive's Digest - December 1997 Page 3 8 - 4 0

Mc Caf fer Ronald & H a r r i s F r a n k Cash flow and interim valuation. Modern Construction Management, 3 r d Edition Page 284 - 307

Chapanis Alphonse (1962) Research Techniques in Human Engineering Johan Hopkins Press

D j e b a r n i R a m d a n e (1995) The impact of stress in site management effectiveness. Construction Management and Economics ( July 1996) Vol.14 Page 281 - 292

Fenando W . M . C . (1994) Pre Construction Delay in Civil Engineering Projects in Sri Lanka Report presented in M.Eng.

G i b b Al istair G .F . and Neale R ichard H . (1997) Management of pre fabrication for complex cladding case study. Journal of'Architectural Engineering 1997, June Page 60 - 69

Gunasekera P. M e r v y n (1998) Managing Design And Build Contracts. Constractor 1998, Sept. Page 5 9 - 6 3

Gunasekera P. M e r y n (1987) Cash flow focussing and its effects on financial management of construction contractors. Paper present at 43rd Annual session of Sri Lanka Association for the advancement of science

Hi l ton Anne , Robinson H u g h , Robinson Kate (1992) Research Awareness Module 13, Distence learning center, South Bank University.

I C T A D Condi t ion of Contract N o : SCA/1

I a in C a m m e r o n (1997) New steel system launched Construction Manager ,April 1997 ,Vol.3 Page 1 1 - 1 3

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Kraiem Z.M. and Diekmann J.E. (1998) Concurrent delays in construction projects Journal of Construction Engineers and Management. ASCE December 1987 Vol. 113N0.4 Page 591 - 6 0 1

Laufer Alexander, Howell Gregory A. Rosenfeld Yehiel (1992) Three modes of short term construction planning. Construction Management and Economics 1992, Vol. 10 Page 249 - 262

Majidi M.Z. and Mc Caffer Ronald (1998) Factors of non excusable delays that influence contractor's performance Management in engineering May/June 1998 Vol.14 No.3 Page 43 - 48

Milton Linford (1985) Structural steel work design to limit state theory Page 1 - 23

Moore Nick(1984) How to do research. The library Association

Muneer Muhamed (1998) Speed. Business Today - 1998 July, Vol.3 , No. 3 Page 89 - 90

Newman Alexander (1992) Engineering Pre engineered building. ASCE Civil engineer 1992 Sept. Page 5 8 - 6 1

Nkado Raymond N. (1995) Construction time influencing factors that contractors perspective Construction Management and Economics 1995, Vol.13 Page 8 1 - 8 9

Piyadasa W.M.S.C. (1994) Development of an Appropriate Condition of Contract for Major Civil Engineering Works Report presented in M.Eng.

Ralapanawa M.K.B.(1992) Role of Construction Industry Support Institution in Technological Capability Development of Sri Lankan Construction Industry Report presented in M.Sc. (Con. Mgt.)

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Rodriguez Dawn - Stress Beat (1998) LMD Sri Lanka Business and Leisure magazine - 1998 October, Vol.5 , No.3 Page 63

Rhodes J. & Walker A.C. (1975) Ultimate load analysis of construction and compression flages in thin walled structures. Thin wall structures Page 561 - 565

Silva A.P.R. (1994) Problems Faced by Small Scale Contractors in Sri Lanka Repot presented in M.Sc. (Construction Management)

Stacey Dennis (1991) Planning and contract management. Fast Build - 1991

Stone P. A. (1990) Building Economics, 3 r d Edition. Innovation in the building Construction Page 51 - 5 7

Technical Manual. International Building Systems Factory

Technical Manual. Zamil Steel Building Co. Ltd.

Tender Document For Isin Lanka Pte Ltd., at Katunayake

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APPENDICES

Appendix A - A blank questionnaire

Questionnaire for Identifying & Assessing the Problems Faced bti Contractors in Doing Speedy Construction of Pre-Engineered Steel Buildings.

One questionnaire is to be completed for each Pre engineered project

REF: NO : / 1. GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

1.1 Name of the Organization

1.2 Registered Address :

1.3 Nature of organization : Sole Proprietorship | | Partnership | |

Public Ltd., Liability Co. [^Jprivate Limited Liability Co.| | s tatutory body | \

1.4 Interviewee - Name : :..

Designation :

1.5 Contact Telephone Nos. :

1.6 How long have you been doing Pre-engineered structures? :

2 . GENERAL DETAILS ABOUT THE PROJECT

Please w r i t e o r t i c k o f f t h e a n s w e r / a n s w e r s f o r t h e f o l l o w i n g q u e s t i o n s b a s e d o n y o u r e x p e r i e n c e .

2.1 Nature of the Project:

2 .2 Location of the project

2 .3 Approximate size of building

Length Width No. of stories No of middle co lumns

2 .4 Approximate project duration :

2.5 T y p e o f c o n t r a c t Des ign & b u i l d | |

M e a s u r e & Pay 1 1

T u r n Key | |

2 .6 H o w i m p o r t a n t t he services o f the f o l l ow ing p e r s o n n e l i n e x e c u t i o n o f t h e p ro j ec t? (Cons ide r i ng speedy wo rk ) .

Very m u c h Average No need

2 .7

Pro jec t M a n a g e r s C o n s u l t a n t S t r u c t u r a l Eng inee r S u b C o n t r a c t o r s L a b o u r s u p p l i e r s

W h a t w a s t he c l i en ts e m p h a s i s w i t h rega rd to t he f o l l ow ing ?

Ve ry m u c h Average No t a p r i o r i t y

Q u a l i t y T i m e Cost

2 .8 C l i e n t s know ledge a n d exper ience a b o u t the c o n s t r u c t i o n p ro jec t was :

Good • Gene ra l

3 F I N A N C I A L ASPECTS

3.1 A p p r o x i m a t e t o ta l c o n t r a c t s u m : R s . M i l l i o n

3.2 W h a t w a s the percentage of advance p a y m e n t for the pro jec t? .

3.3 W h a t w a s the b i l l i n g i n te rva l?

3.4 a] O n average h o w m a n y days d i d i t t a ke to receive the p a y m e n t f r o m the b i l l s u b m i s s i o n date? *

b) O n average h o w m a n y days d id the c o n s u l t a n t keep th i s b i l l be fore c e r t i f y i n g ? . . . ;

3 .5 H o w d i d the c l i en t pay the b i l l ? , f u l l y | | i n s t a l l m e n t s | |

3 .6 Have y o u ever gone for l i t i ga t i on for a n y n o n se t t l emen t of p a y m e n t by t h e c l i en t?

Yes No: A r b i t r a t i o n | | | |

L i t i g a t i o n

3 .7 D i d y o u o b t a i n t he r e t e n t i o n m o n e y a c c o r d i n g to the c o n t r a c t ? I f n o t w h a t a re t he reasons?

Yes No S ince the re w a s several s m a l l defects

S ince the re w a s several sever defects

S ince t he b l dg . w a s n o t h a n d e d over b y t he s c h e d u l e d date

3.8 Whether you are paid for approved extra works (amount other than est imated cost)

No | | Yes fully paid [ | Yes partly paid | |

3 .9 What are the other financial difficulties you face during the execution of the contract?

3 .10 If possible please provide your monthly project cash flow ,in the given form.

ASSESSING DELAYS

4.1 In your opinion the delay is mainly due to ; Civil Work I I S tee lWork •

4.2 Did Civil works overlap with erection work

4 .3 Were there any delays in work schedules?

4.4 If yes , How many days (approximately )?

4 .5 What was the reason? Weather condition Civil drawings not at the time Problem with labour Problem with the steel structure Delay in material supply by client Any other beyond the contractors control

| | Yes N o

• Yes • No

4.6 Were the rigid steel components and accessories at site on expected date?

I | Yes Q No

4.7 Were the instruct ions/erect ion drawings available on time :Yes

4 .8 How difficult were the technical details on erect ion/ installations to understand: Easy to understand | [ Clear enough | | Ambiguous | [Too complex | |

4 .9 Did c l i ent /consul tant make variations frequently during construction, which contribute to work delays ?

Yes No

5. OTHER PROBLEMS IN THE PRE ENGINEERED STEEL STRUCTURE

5.1 While erection, what were the problems encountered with steel?And how ser iousness?

Serious small not a problem Changes in specified purlin length j j [ | | |

M i s m a t c h i n bo l t ho les • • • E x t r a w o r k s l i ke c u t t i n g / f a b r i c a t i o n s • • • D a m a g e d sect ions (warped , c u t s , t i re) • • • Shor tage of bo l t s , b rac i ngs etc. • • •

5.2 D u r i n g m a i n t e n a n c e pe r iods w h a t were cause of r epa i r w o r k s y o u were reques ted to ca r r y o u t i n t he steel s t r u c t u r e i n f o l l ow ing areas :

Roof cove r ing - Leaks to i m p r o p e r n a i l l i n g | |

to p o n d i n g s ince t h i n sheets | |

to p o n d i n g s ince m u c h space be tween p u r l i n | |

to l a c k of lap l e n g t h of sheets | |

Steel m e m b e r s - p a i n t i n g to co r ros ion

A n y d i s o r i e n t a t i o n d u e to weak fas teners | |

5.3 W a s the re any way to compensa te the c o n t r a c t o r for t he e r ro rs of the steel supp l i e r ? . . . .

Yes I | No I | 5.4 Were the i n s t r u c t i o n s g iven :

D i f f i c u l t to i m p l e m e n t 1 | Unnecessa r i l y s t r i c t q u a l i t y c o n t r o l | |

U n r e a l i s t i c s t a n d a r d s to Sr i L a n k a | | Cos t l y m e t h o d s [ |

Precise a n d adequate | |

5.5 D i d t he supp l i e r a c t u a l l y p rov ide a l l t he i t e m s i n t he p a c k i n g l i s t as i t is for t h e comple te b u i l d i n g ? Yes | j No

5.6 D i d steel supp l i e r p rov ide ,

D r i l l i n g m a c h i n e | | Sc rew h o l d i n g sockets 1 | Impac t w r e n c h e s I 1

6 . A B O U T STRUCTURAL V IABIL ITY

6 .1 D i d t he supp l i e r p rov ide des ign C a l c u l a t i o n s a n d loads cons ide red for t he b u i l d i n g s w i t h t he b u i l d i n g c o m p o n e n t s ?

Yes No | |

6.2 D i d t he supp l i e r reques t f r o m y o u the so i l c o n d i t i o n o f t he s i te to des ign t he s teel s t r u c t u r e ? . . . >

Yes | I No I I 6.3 W h a t w a s the a p p r o x i m a t e roo f slope t hey p rov ided?

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6.4 What were the repairs the contractor was requested to carry out in fol lowing areas as defaults:

Yes No

Wall cracks Due to lack of w ind bracing

Due to inadequate stiffener columns 1 1 1 1

Since the walls touches wi th the steel co lumn [~ | |~ |

Since no tie beam is provided [ 1 | 1

Due to foundat ion settlements of failed | | | | Foundat ion designs

Since floor tie beams are not provided | | | |

6.5 Cracks appeared after Months

6.7 As you identif ied, cracks are due to Yes No

Shrinkage Settlement

Structural movements

7. LABOUR RELATED PROBLEMS

7.1 What degree of satisfaction you have wi th the skil ls of the erectors?

Good r j Fair [ _ ] Not Satisfy Q 7.2 What are the differences in labour skills needed on pre-engineered structure comparing pre-fabricate bui ld ing,

Not much Fairly High Very much High

Need more ski l l workers • • •

More r isk to erector/bui lder

• • • High erection cost • • •

7.3 Was specialized trainer for steel erection provided by the steel supplier?

Yes Q No Q 7.4 How many people were employed in (a) civil works?

(b) steel erection work?

What were the work ing hours? : AM to PM.

What were the holidays : 7.5 How was the salary paid?

Month ly [ j Daily | | Twice in month | |

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7.6 Did you use the same working gang throughout the project ? Yes Q No •

7-7 Using shift works : Yes Q No • 7.8 Do they really do over time work : Yes • No • 7.9 Were the workers overloaded with work : Yes • No • 8.0 Any other information you would like to provide in doing speedy

construction of pre- engineered steel buildings.

Appendix Bl -Collected data on Organizational Details

NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION NATURE EXPERIENCE IN PEB REFERENCE NO. (in years)

1 Isuru Engineering (Pte) Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 6 A/01 -A/16

2 Project Engineering (Pte) Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 15 B/17

3 J A T G Engineering (Pte) Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 5 C/18

4 Built Mart Lanka Pvt Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 10 D/19 -D/22

•5 Elemech Engineering Pte Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 6 E/23 -E/25

6 Ambanco Construction Pvt Ltd. Pvt Ltd. 6 F/26 -F/28

7 K D Lewis & Co. Pvt Ltd. 5 G/29 -G/30

8 Sanken Lanka Pvt Ltd. Nill H/31 -H/32

9 Samuel & Sons Pvt Ltd. Nill Nill

10 Associated Auto Industries Pvt Ltd. Nill Nill

11 Conmix (Pvt) Ltd. Pvt Ltd. Nill Nill

12 Amano Construction Pvt Ltd. . Nill Nill

Appendix B2 - Collected data on projects details

Project Nature Location ! Size (Sqrs) Duration(Months) Procument Con.Sum Rs, method

A/01 Garment Ingiriya 340 6 D & B 26

A/02 Garment Nittabuwa 200 5 D & B 16

A/03 Garment Meerigama 201 5 D & B 9

A/04 Garment Horana 170 3 D & B 8

A/05 Garment Pannala 460 3 D & B 28

A/06 Garment Dehiowita 160 4 Turn key 13

A/07 Garment Pannala 660 6 D & B 19

A/08 W . house Beruwela 150 4 D & B 4.5

A/09 Garment Kiridiwela 250 5 D & B 20

A/10 Factory Biyagama 200 3 D & B 5

A/11 Factory Biyagama 100 3 D & B 3

A/12 Factory Biyagama 150 3 D & B 7

A/13 Factory Katunayake 100 2.5 D & B 3

A/14 Factory Katunayake 150 2.5 D & B 3

A/15 Factory Dankotuwa 120 4 D & B 11

A/16 Garment Mahiyavgana 200 4 D & B 17.5

B/17 Garment Negambo 200 4 D & B 12

C/18 Factory Biyagama 60 3.5 Lump sum 3.5

D/19 Garment Pannala 800 8 D & B 130

D/20 Garment Katuwellega 440 7 D & B 49

D/21 Garment Mahiyavgana 270 12 D & B 50

D/22 Garment Ehaliyagoda 120 6 D & B 14

E/23 Garment Biyagama 250 6 M.& pay 35

E/24 W. house Sapugaskan 970 8 D & B 70

E/25 Garment Nittabuwa 210 6 Turn key 90

F/26 W . h o u s e Horana 200 2.5 Turn key 9.8

F/27 Garment Panadura 50 3 Turn key 6.5

F/28 W . house Biyagama 80 2 Turn key 4.4

G/29 Garment Galagedera 30 5 Lump sum 2.5

G/30 Garment Minuwangod 30 4 Lump sum 3

H/31 W.house Muthurajawel 1125 6 M.& pay 70

H/32 ' Garment Katunayake 3000 6 M.& pay 4 0

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Appendix B3 - Collected data on Financial Aspects

Project % Advance Bil l ing interval Payment delay Payment Retension Extra wk. Paid for (days) received received PEB errors

A/01 20 Monthly 30 Installments Y F. Paid N A/02 20 Monthly 45 Installments Client has no money P. Paid N A/03 20 Monthly 30 Installments Client has no money •P. Paid N A/04 20 Monthly 21 Installments Y F. Paid N A/05 20 Monthly 14 Installments Y P. Paid N

A/06 20 Monthly 30 Installments N-dueto small defects P. Paid N

A/07 10- Monthly 14 Installments Y P. Paid N A/08 20 Monthly 13 Full Y F. Paid N A/09 20 Monthly 21 Installments N-dueto unfinished extra wk. P. Paid N A/10 10 Monthly 35 Installments Y P. Paid N

A/11 10 Monthly 35 Installments Y P. Paid N

A/12 20 Monthly 28 Full Y F. Paid N A/13 20 Monthly 28 Full Y F. Paid N A/14 20 Monthly 28 Full Y F. Paid N A/15 20 Monthly 14 Full Y P. Paid N

A/16 20 Monthly 14 Full Y F. Paid N

B/17 20 Monthly 14 Full Y F. Paid N C/18 20 Monthly 14 Full Y P. Paid N D/19 20 Monthly 19 Full Y P. Paid N D/20 20 Monthly 19 Full Y F. Paid

D/21 20 Monthly 25 Installments N-dueto small defects P. Paid N

D/22 20 Monthly 20 Full Y F. Paid N E/23 20 Monthly 49 Installments Client has no money F. Paid N E/24 20 Monthly 35 Full Y F. Paid N E/25 20 Monthly 14 Full - F. Paid N

F/26 30 Monthly 2 Installments N

F/27 25 Monthly 14 Installments Y F. Paid N F/28 25 Monthly 7 Installments Y F. Paid N G/29 20 Monthly 14 Full Y F. Paid N G/30 20 Monthly 14 Full Y F. Paid N

H/31 20 Monthly 40 Full F. Paid N H/32 20 Monthly 40 Full F. Paid Y

Appendix B4 - Collected data on Assessing Delays

Project Project Delay due to PEB on time delayed (days)

A/01 14 Steel errection N A/02 30 Client has no money Y A/03 60 Client has no money Y A/04 7 Labour/Consultant problems N A/05 14 Steel errection N

A/06 60 Incorrect soil report Y A/07 30 , Client has no money Y A/08 14 Steel errection N A/09 14 Steel errec./client's material supply N A/10 7 Steel errection N

A/11 7 Steel erre./Weather N A/12 5 Steel errection N A/13 4 Steel errection N A/14 7 Steel errection N A/15 7 Steel errection N

A/16 14 Steel erre./Weather N B/17 30 Civil/Steel drawing/Steel erre. N C/18 14 Material supply by contractor N D/19 Y D/20 — — Y

D/21 Civil drawing/Weather Y D/22 Y E/23 l i b Civil drawing/ Weather/Steel erre. N E/24 30 Weather Y E/25 14 Weather/Steel errection N

F/26 3 Steel errection N F/27 6 Labour problem Y F/28 5 BOI problem/Weather Y G/29 240 Rocky foundation Y G/30 7 Weather Y H/31 Y H/32 120 Steel errection N

Clients' variations Technical details on errection

Y . Easy Y Easy N Clear Y Clear Y Clear

N Easy Y Clear N Clear Y Clear N Clear

Y Clear Y Clear N Clear N Clear Y Ambiguous

N Clear N Clear N Clear N Easy N Easy

Y Easy N Easy Y Easy N Easy Y Easy

N Clear Y Clear N Clear N Easy N Easy N Clear N Clear

Appendix B5 - Collected data on Problems of P E B Structure

Project Problems while Roof leak Wall cracks Provided Provided Roof errection (due to) all items design slop

calculation A/01 Incorrect hornches Improper nailling Structural movements Y Y 5.7deg A/02 N Ponding/lack of lap length lack of wind bracing Y N 5.7deg A/03 N Ponding/lack of lap length N Y N 10deg. A/04 Weak fastners Improper nailing Structural movements Y N 5.7deg A/05 N N N Y N 5.7deg.

A/06 Weak fastners/cutling/drilling Improper nailing Settlements/Structural move. Y N 5.7deg. A/07 Shortage of bolts Improper nailing N N N 10deg. A/08 N Improper nailing N Y N 5.7deg. A/09 Cutting/fabrication Improper nailing/Ponding N Y N 5.7deg. A/10 N N N Y N 5.7deg.

A/11 N N N Y N 5.7deg. A/12 N Improper nailing/Ponding Structural movements Y N 5.7deg. A/13 Shortage of bolts N Inadequate strffner column Y N 5.7deg. A/14 Shortage of bolts N Inadequate stiffner column Y N 5.7deg. A/15 Shortage of bolts N N N N 5.7deg.

A/16 N N N Y N 5.7deg. B/17 ortage of bolts/cutting/fabricati N N N Y 10deg. C/18 ortage of bolts/dameged secti Improper nailing Structural movements Y Y 10deg. D/19 N Improper nailing Shrinkage Y Y 5.7deg. D/20 N N Shrinkage Y Y 10deg.

D/21 N Lack of lap length Shrinkage Y Y 5.7deg. D/22 N Improper nailing Shrinkage Y Y 10deg. E/23 Shortage of bolts Improper nailing Settlement Y Y 5.7deg. E/24 Shortage of bolts roper nailing/lackof lap len Structural movements Y Y 5.7deg. E/25 Shortage of bolts Improper nailing N Y Y 9.5deg.

F/26 N N N Y Y 5.7deg. F/27 N N N Y Y 5.7deg. F/28 N N N Y N 5.7deg. G/29 Changes in purlin length N Shrinkage/settlement Y N 10deg. G/30 Cutting/fabrication N N Y N 5.7deg. H/31 Shortage of downpipes N Structural movements Y Y 10deg. H/32 ortage of bolts/cutting/fabricati tter/downpipe bad connect N Y Y 7.5deg.

Appendix B6 - Collected data on Labour Related Problems

Project Skills of Was specialized People employed Working hrs. Holidays Workers Salary errectors trainner overloaded paid

A/01 Good - N C-100.S-15 8.5hrs Ignored N Monthly A/02 Fair N C-50, S-15 8.5hrs Ignored N Monthly A/03 Fair N C-60 , S-10 8.5hrs Ignored N Monthly A/04 Fair N C-30 , S-12 8.5hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/05 Fair N C-35.S-18 8.5hrs Ignored Y Monthly

A/06 Fair N C-55 , S-12 8hrs Ignored N Monthly A/07 Fair Y C-40.S-20 8hrs Ignored N Monthly A/08 Fair N C-25.S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/09 Fair N C-40.S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/10. Fair N C-30, S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly

A/11 Fair N C-30, S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/12 Fair N C-30, S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/13 Fair N C-20 , S-8 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly A/14 Fair N C-20 , S-8 8hrs Ignored y Monthly A/15 Fair N C-45 , S-20 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly

A/16 Fair N C-40 , S-15 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly B/17 Fair N C-30, S-18 8.5hrs Ignored Y Monthly C/18 Good N C-30, S-12 8hrs Ignored Y Weekly D/19 Good N C-175 , S-20 9hrs Ignored N Fortnight D/20 Good N C-110 , S-15 8hrs Poya N Fortnight

D/21 Good N C-80.S-15 8hrs Poya N Fortnight D/22 Good N C-60 , S-12 8hrs Poya N Fortnight E/23 Good N C-75 , S-15 8.5hrs Poya Y Monthly E/24 Good Y C-200 , S-30 10hrs Ignored Y Monthly E/25 Good N C-110, S-15 9hrs Ignored Y Monthly

F/26 Fair N . C-30 , S-10 8hrs Ignored Y Fortnight F/27 Good N C-20 , S-10 8hrs Ignored Y Monthly F/28 'Good N C-15.S-9 8.5hrs Ignored N Fortnight G/29 Fair N C-20 , S-8 8hrs Ignored N Monthly G/30 Fair N C-20 , S-8 8hrs Ignored N Monthly H/31 Good N C-175 , S-20 12hrs Ignored Y Monthly H/32 Good N C-100, S-15 12hrs Ignored Y Monthly

Appendix C - Tables of Descriptive Statistics

' Descr ipt ives

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Project Duration 21 2.50 12.00 4.9524 2.3500

Contract Sum 21 3.00 130.00 24.0476 30.0562

Payment Delay 21 13.00 45.00 23.9048 9.0272

Project Delay 17 •4.00 60.00 17.2941 14.5377

Client's Variation 21 .00 1.00 .4762 .5118 Valid N (listwise) 17

Table 5.15 a - Descriptive Statistics for Project duration, Contract sum, Payment delay, Project delay, Client's work variation. It analysed selected projects which were practicing procurement method of Design & Build.

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Project Duration 8 2.00 6.00 3.7500 1.3093 Contract Sum 8 2.50 ' 90.00 16.5875 29.8879 Payment Delay 8 2.00 30.00 13.6250 7.9989 Project Delay 8 3.00 240.00 43.6250 81.4913 Client's Variations 8 .00 1.00 .2500 .4629 Valid N (listwise) 8

.4629

Table 5.15 b - Descriptive Statistics for Project duration, Contract sum, Payment delay, Project delay, Client's work variatic projects which were practicing procurement methoc Key.

Descriptive Statistics * - ' B R A R Y

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Project Duration 3 6.00 6.00 6.0000 .0000 Contract Sum 3 35.00 70.00 48.3333 18.9297 Payment Delay 3 40:00 49.00 43.0000 5.1962 Project Delay 2 120.00 180.00 150.0000 42.4264 Client's Variation 3 .00 1.00 .3333 .5774 Valid N (listwise) 2

Table 5.15c , descriptive Statistics for Project duration , Contract sum , Payment delay , Project delay , Client's work variation. It analysed selected projects which were practicing procurement method of Measure & oav