Factors Affecting the Performance of Construction Projects in Mombasa County, Kenya

Abstract

Construction industry contributes significantly in terms of scale and share in the development process for both developed and developing countries. The construction products provide the necessary public infrastructure and private physical structures for many productive activities such as services, commerce, utilities and other industries. The industry is not only important for its finished product, but it also employs a large number of people (directly and indirectly) and therefore has an effect on the economy of a country/region during the actual construction process. The success of a construction project depends on its performance, which is measured based on timely completion, within the budget, required quality standard and customer satisfaction. Construction projects are faced with many challenges before completion causing extensive delays and thereby exceeding initial time and cost estimates. The aim of this research was to identify and evaluate the factors affecting the performance of construction projects in Mombasa County and to identify the severity of these factors. The researcher identified four main factors affecting performance of construction projects which are project manager’s competence, aggressive competition during tendering, time allocated to projects and client’s interference during construction. Comprehensive literature review was done to gather information on the factors that affect performance of construction project from the previous researchers, followed with structured questionnaire distribution and interview as tools to collect data. Random sampling technique was selected as the appropriate sampling method giving equal chances to the population. Data was coded and analyzed using the SPSS 17.0.