Impact of contractual claims on the performance of public building projects in Nigeria.

Abstract

Building construction projects in Nigerian are characterized by contractual claims, which remain a challenge in terms of time and cost performance, thereby triggering the need for effective contractual claims management in the building construction industry. The study is aimed at assessing the impact of contractual claims on the performance of public building projec ts with the view to devising strategies for effective management of contractual claims in public building construction projects. A pro forma was used to collect data on the impact of contractual claims while a structured questionnaire was used to gather information on the strategies for managing contractual claims. A random sampling of 122 respondents was done in Abuja, with a response rate of 86 percent. The obtained data were analysed using paired sample t-test, mean item score, correlation and explorative factor analysis. The study concluded that contractual claims have impact on cost and time performance, and a significant cost and time difference was experienced. An average cost increase of 16.68% was experienced in all the projects and the time increase was between 31% - 866%. To avert these problems, the study developed that effective communication, coordination and utilization of resources should be observed. It recommends that all the parties to the contract should ensure effective communication, coordination and utilization of resources in order to avert the problems of cost-time performance in public projects.