Factors Affecting Project Performance of Building Construction Projects in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria

Aim: This study identifies factors that influence construction project performance, evaluated the factors and examined the impact of these factors with a view to help owners, consultants, and contractors overcome performance problems and improve construction project performance and recommend modalities for enhancing the effective implementation of construction project objectives.

Study Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was adopted in this study.

Place and Duration of Study: Purposive sampling technique was used to elicit 100 copies of questionnaires from contractors, architects, clients, engineers and builders in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria between June 2019 and April 2022.

Results: The data was analysed using frequency, percentile, and relative importance index (RII) to rank factors. The results show that the top three cost-factors affecting project performance are escalation of material prices, design changes, and discrepancies in contract documents; the top three time-factors that affect project performance are: non-availability of resources as planned throughout project, slow decision making and time required to implement variation orders; the top three quality-factors affecting project performance are the availability of experienced and qualified personnel, deficiencies in coordination and lack of managers involvement in decision making. The study also revealed that, the top three factors for “others” category of factors that influence project performance are frequent staff development; good staff motivation and staff attitudes on the project. Finally, the study revealed the top three modalities to ensure effective project performance: frequent progress reviews; comprehensive contract management and dedicated leadership and management.

Conclusion: The paper shows among others that the factors affecting project performance are rising material prices, design changes, discrepancies in contract documents and slow resource availability as planned throughout the project. To ensure effective implementation of construction project objectives in the industry the study recommends among other things that stakeholders need to have a clear mission and vision to formulate, implement and evaluate their performance. Also, regular progress reviews should be carried out to ensure that clear decisions are made timely to ensure construction process proceeds as planned.