Survey Of The Factors That Determine Architects' Preferences For Roofing Materials In Nairobi

Abstract

This study, was conducted with the objective of finding out the factors that determine preference for roofing materials among architects in Nairobi, and also find out the most important attributes of roofing materials. In order to achieve the above objectives, a sample of60 respondents was taken from the list of all registered architects. A questionnaire was administered to each respondent. The questionnaire had unstructured and semi-structured questions. The data collected was analyzed using mainly the percentages, means and standard deviation. Factor analysis was also used in order to reduce the high number of factors under consideration. Analysis of the data indicated that there are some factors that architects consider important in their preference of roofing materials. These included quality, strength, beauty, durability and availability of the material. The intended use of the building as well as capability of the client also came out as major considerations. Recommendations were made based on the results of the analysis. The marketers of roofing materials need to understand their customers as well as the attributes they look for in roofing materials. Further studies could also be done especially on specific roofing material attributes. Such studies would be expected to afford deeper insights about such attributes.