Factors Affecting the Quality of Design and Contractual Documents in Gaza Strip

Abstract

The quality of the design and contractual documents has a major influence on the overall performance and efficiency of construction projects implementation. Declining standard of design quality has contributed significantly to a similar decline in construction efficiency. This thesis discusses the main factors affecting design and contractual documents quality in construction industry in Gaza Strip. The aim of this research is to assist all stakeholders to plan effectively before starting a project beginning with the design phase by creating awareness and paying enough attention to minimize the problems and eliminate extra costs incurred to make corrective actions to amend the defective design. Forty different factors affecting design quality were extracted from the literature review and interviews with experts were assessed by 6 consultants and 14 clients according to their severity and occurrence, and then were analyzed and ranked according to their frequency for consultants, owners and a combination of all respondents. A test for correlation agreement on the ranking of the factors between different project participants “consultants and owners” was also calculated using Mann-Whitney Test. It was found that there is no significant difference among the respondents on the ranking of severe and frequent factors. It was concluded that, the designer related factors are the most severe factors on design quality while the client related factors are the most occurred factors. With regard to the ranking of the individual factors it has been found that the most severe factors were: Lack of qualified consultant's staff, Lack of time available for checking and correlating all the information on all design documents, Lack of experience on similar projects, Designer’s unfamiliarity with construction materials and techniques that will be used in the project and Absence of an experienced overall design manager. On the other hand it has been found that the most occurred factors-causes of design deficiency were: Reduced design fees levels, Selection of designers on the basis of lowest price selection strategy, Allocation of staff to more than one project in the same time, Unstable client’s requirements, Last minute changes by the client and Unwillingness of clients to pay fees commensurate with the design of high-quality services. Similarly, the results of the case studies have revealed the same occurred factors (causes of the design deficiency). The questionnaire and case studies results proved that public construction projects suffer delays and cost overruns because of design deficiencies, but not significantly, because of the design staff experience and sufficient cooperation between the client and consultant. Finally, set of recommendations and actions through the framework were developed in order to improve the design and contractual documents quality in the construction industry.