Factors affecting the construction quality in Bangladesh
Md. Ikramul Hoque
Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Gambang, Malaysia and
Department of Building Engineering and Construction Management, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh, and
Muzamir Hasan
Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Gambang, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose–Quality is a sensitive and high-priority issue in the global construction including in Bangladesh.
This research is intended to provide necessary information to stakeholders and authorities for better management of the construction quality in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study seeks to find and prioritize the factors affecting the construction quality in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach–In total 65 factors were extracted and categorized from the literature and expert panel discussion. Subsequently, these factors were designed in a questionnaire under 13 major groups for a survey where 176 construction professionals participated and returned their completed survey form.
Collected data were tested by the Cronbach Alpha to check the reliability before proceeding to the Relative Importance Index (RII) analysis for determining the relative ranks of identified factors.
Findings–Statistical analysis of survey data represents that the most significant factors are: lack of management commitment, lack of technical skill and experience of the consultant, delays in progress investigation, political interference and contractor’s desire for unrealistic profit. The most crucial major groups of factors influencing the construction quality are management, material, consultant, cost and time and contract-related major groups.
Originality/value–It will contribute to the body of knowledge, as it points out the impact of factors affecting quality in Bangladeshi construction. Authorities and stakeholders can be helped by the overview of the high and low ranks factors, understanding the diverse characteristics of factors and making more aware the industry about the quality issues which need to be a top concern to solve. Other developing countries that share the same socio-economic context as Bangladesh can be benefit from the results of this study to control quality issues in construction.
KeywordsQuality, Construction industry, Factors affecting quality, Questionnaire survey, Bangladesh Paper typeResearch paper
1. Introduction
Bangladesh has recently been considered a developing country by the United Nations (UN) and the nation was showing significant growth with an average of 7.4% GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for a couple of years (Hossain and Wadood, 2020). IMF’s World Economic Outlook and World Development Indicators Database of World Bank reported that Bangladesh has been promoted to the 44th biggest economic position from the 58th in the last two years. Along with this economic growth, the country shows that infrastructure development has remarkably increased with thousands of construction projects across the country. Now the construction industry plays a significant role in the national economy and development. Consequently, it has become one of the biggest economic sectors in Bangladesh.
Construction quality in Bangladesh
The authors would like to acknowledge the Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) for financing this research through the Graduate Research Scheme, Project Number RDU223309. The cooperation given by all parties involved in this research is greatly acknowledged by the authors.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The manuscript has no potential conflict of interest with any person, institute, state or country. The authors have declared no potential conflict of interest.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-4708.htm
Received 3 March 2022 Revised 30 March 2022 25 August 2022 Accepted 18 October 2022
International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation
© Emerald Publishing Limited 2398-4708 DOI10.1108/IJBPA-03-2022-0037
According to TradingEconomics (2020)“GDP From Construction in Bangladesh increased to 8849.20 BDT Million in 2020 from 8113.90 BDT Million in 2019”and this sector involves around 4 million workforces in direct and indirect ways. But it is always true that the construction sector and its’environment are very complex and unpredictable. And Bangladesh is not an exception.
In recent times the construction business has continuously changed its’pattern with respect to the customer’s desires, modern technologies, contemporary designs and changes in economic position. All these factors make the construction and real estate market more competitive than before. Two studies (Ahmed, 2019a;Ahmed and Sobuz, 2019) revealed that the clients are now more interested in the quality of construction and it has become the most disputed event between stakeholders in both private and public sectors in Bangladesh. Many construction firms fail to adopt modern methods and technologies to assist in quality management and eventually do not meet the desired quality (Shenget al., 2020;Ahmed, 2018). On the other hand, people and governments become stricter about sustainability, so there is pressure to meet the desired quality in sustainable ways (Dattaet al., 2022). So, quality management is becoming harder. It could be harder but the company must ensure the best quality as the success of projects depends on the customer’s satisfaction. Customer satisfaction depends on the quality andTanget al.(2005)emphasized that quality failure has meant the project fails. Now, the question is what this study means by the term quality?
The term “Quality” represents the measuring scale of a project’s output against the standard manner or client requirements. In the definition of quality, it does not mean the specific standard of work rather it depends on the perspective of the people defining it.
According to the Oxford dictionary, quality is “A distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something”. Some define it according to the standard regulations or specifications. Some view it as “performance to standards or value paid for the price” (Sanders, 2011). For the construction, quality is nothing but the customer’s satisfaction with project’s outcomes and meeting of their requirements within a scheduled time and specified budget (Ambika, 2016). Now the quality of construction projects is the most crucial issue to be met and there should not be any construction project existing without a quality policy (Joy, 2014). In the construction industry, quality is strongly involved in each process and every aspect of the construction project (Ahzaharet al., 2011). So, quality management is the most important thing among all other operations of a construction project.
In Bangladesh, every year thousands of construction projects are started but the outcome product is very poor-quality resulting in disputes between stakeholders (Ahmedet al., 2020a, b). And sub-standard construction is one of the main reasons for accidents during construction and post-construction periods (Ahmed, 2019a,b). Sub-standard construction is responsible for rework, schedule delay, cost overrun and many consequences (Rumane, 2017;
Ahmed, 2020). Because of these consequences, a billion dollars are wasted in Bangladesh, which can be turned into a profit instead of waste. This study also stated that a billion dollars are wasted by adopting proper management and monitoring systems. Considering the effects of poor quality and its’consequences, it is inevitable to stop the poor-quality construction by implementing appropriate measures to enhance the project success rate. All these discussions clearly indicate that the quality issue must be dealt with in an effective way so that construction in Bangladesh grows more smoothly. And standard quality can ensure the sustainable development of our national economy and infrastructure as well as the overall welfare of the construction industry. Before starting any treatment for quality issues in construction, it is necessary to identify factors affecting the quality of construction in Bangladesh. As all the factors are not capable of influence quality at the same magnitude, therefore this study quantifies and prioritizes the factors based on their significance. The findings of the study will help to prepare an effective policy and successful implementation to ensure the quality of construction.
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2. Literature review
Quality is one of the most crucial things which are mostly responsible for the success of any project. Quality of construction can lead a project successfully to satisfy the expectations of the project participants. When a construction project fails due to quality issues, there are many factors behind this failure. And finding these factors are very important before implementing any policy to deal with the quality issue. Different researchers determined different factors that affect the quality of construction in the context of different countries.
Rumane (2017) described that poor quality of construction projects leads to construction delays, cost overruns and accidents. He suggested stakeholders emphasize quality more as there is nothing more than important quality.Sheikhet al.(2019)conducted a study in Pakistan to find the reason behind poor construction works. The study revealed that the high price of construction material, high inflation rate, selection of material, procurement method, lack of communication, improper site supervision and ineffective quality policy are the important factors behind sub- standard construction in Pakistan. Zidan (2013) identified and analyzed that poor design, insufficient design time, designer selection system, lowest price offer, lack of documentation, variation of owner’s expectation and unstable material price are the main causes of hampering quality in the construction projects in Syria.Khodeir and El Ghandour (2019)studied the quality issues in construction in Egypt and concluded that the factors affecting the quality of building construction are design issues, sub-standard material, contract, labor, equipment, subcontractors, site layout, systems, site staff and execution.Sunet al.(2021)analyzed the main factors affecting the quality of construction in China. And they found that material prices, availability of resources, average delay because of materials shortage, lack of personnel with high experience and skill, poor quality of equipment and raw materials and unskilled project managers are the significant factors affecting quality. The factors that negatively influence the quality of projects in India are conflict among project participants, lack of expertise and knowledge of project managers, adverse socio- economic environment, bad weathering conditions, faulty manner of work procedures and corruption during tendering (Jha and Iyer, 2006).
A study byShobana and Ambika (2016)determined the major factors responsible for the quality challenges in construction and grouped them into seven major categories. These factors are related to resources, interaction, communication, inventory and payment, standards and experience, labor, inspection and monitoring.Enshassiet al.(2009)conducted a study to find out the factors which affect the quality of construction in Gaza. The study divided all the factors into ten groups under the title of cost factors, time factors that affect quality, quality factors, productivity factors that affect construction quality, client satisfaction factors, regular and community satisfaction factors affecting construction quality, people factors, health and safety factors affecting quality, innovation and learning factors and at last environmental factors.Sohu et al. (2018) explored the crucial factors affecting the quality of construction and they are substandard materials, lack of personnel with high experience and skill, non-strict contractual agreement, inadequate quality management system and unskilled project managers.Rustom and Amer (2006)investigated the factors affecting the quality of construction. The study found that the significant factors are lack of skill and experience, cooperation between supervision, adherence to specifications, using labor with high experience and amount of contractor’s cash flow.
3. Research objectives
The primary objectives of this study are as follows:
RO1. To identify the factor affecting construction quality; and
RO2. To establish and prioritize the concerning factors based on their significance.
The quantitative methodology of this research which contains a survey for collecting data and the exercise of statistical techniques to analyze the data was used to achieve the
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objectives. This study will contribute to the respected stakeholders in Bangladeshi construction to make effective policies and strategies to overcome the quality issue. In addition, this study will provide a platform that would encourage future researchers to perform further contributions related to quality management in the construction industry in Bangladesh. AsRumane (2017) stated that developing countries experience almost similar types of challenges in management of construction quality. So, this study will also help the construction industries of developing countries that share the same socio-economic context as Bangladesh.
4. Methods
The purpose of this study is to find the crucial factors affecting the quality of construction in Bangladesh and quantify their significance based on the professional’s perspective. For this, a wide literature review was conducted to find the potential factors that affect the quality of construction which are contextual to Bangladesh. Later, a questionnaire was designed to conduct a survey to quantify the significance of each factor. And then collected the perspective of construction professionals through the questionnaire. This research method was used because of its ability to collect an extensive range of attitudes from individuals, deal with a large number of respondents, have better generalizability of the results, as well as its cost-efficacy (Bernard, 2017).
There are many previous studies (Amoahet al., 2020;Hassanainet al., 2019;Simpeh and Adisa, 2020) that adopted the questionnaire survey to achieve the objectives of their research. The research method is presented inFigure 1.
4.1 Questionnaire design
In the 1st step, a comprehensive literature review took place to find the potential factors affecting construction quality considering the socio-economic context of Bangladesh.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of the research process
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Then 13 experts from the construction sector verified the pertinence and comprehensiveness of the factors in the Bangladeshi context and finalized them in a total number of 65. Following the process, the final questionnaire was designed in two parts to distribute to the professionals and collect responses. One is for the background information of the respondent who filled up the survey form. Another part is for collecting responses against the 65 factors which affect the quality of construction. The response of the respondent against each factor was weighted in the five-point Likert Scale to measure the disagreement and agreement level.
This scaling method was adopted in this study because of its effectiveness and appropriateness in previous studies in the same context (Ahmedet al., 2020a, b; Sheng et al., 2020).
The five-point Likert Scale has been designed the way it means as below:
(1) 1–not important (2) 2–slightly important (3) 3–moderately important (4) 4–very important and (5) 5–extremely important 4.2 Collection of data
A wide range of stakeholder’s perspectives are very important in this survey. So, for this study, to deal with the verities of stakeholder’s opinions within the defined limit, verities of construction professionals and organizations were considered. For distribution of the questionnaire, potential respondents were targeted across the country involved in construction by any of these professional associations namely the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB), Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB) and Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB). This study shorted 317 potential respondents in collaboration with these three professional organizations.
For screening and selection of respondents to send questionnaire, authors have followed a set of parameters which are given below:
(1) The construction company must be based in Bangladesh
(2) The respondent has to be worked as an owner, a consultant, a worker/labor or a contractor
(3) The person should have valid contact information
After screening out against the parameters, 218 potential respondents were finalized. A mixed method (Google Form, Email and hand on delivery) was used to distribute the questionnaire and collect the data. Among 218 distributed questionnaires, 176 were completed and returned indicating an acceptable response rate of 80% (Baruch and Holtom, 2008). The background information of respondents is presented inTable 1.
4.3 Analysis of data
The collected response data were analyzed by the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software with version 23 for the reliability check (Cronbach’s Alpha test) and Relative Importance Index (RII) for ranks. Graphs, flowchart and tables are used for representing the results of analyzed data. Percentage and frequency distribution were used to represent the general information about respondents, while the Relative Important Index (RII) is used to prioritize the factors.
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4.3.1 Relative importance index (RII).Many researchers have used the relative importance index (RII) method in their study sharing the same context to prioritize factors or causes (Khodeir and El Ghandour, 2019;Shobana and Ambika, 2016). The RII method helps to determine the impact of factors affecting quality by establishing a ranking system. The five- point Likert Scale which ranges from 5 (extremely important) to 1 (not important) was used to determine the ranks by converting the responses by the RII method in SPSS for each factor as follows:
Relative Importance IndexðRIIÞ ¼ PW
A3N (1)
In the above equation,“W”is represented by the given weight by the respondents to the factor which is 1–5 on the Likert Scale.“N”is for the total number of respondents and“A”is
Demographic characteristics Frequency Percentage
Sex
Male 144 81
Female 32 19
Age
≤20 years old 29 17
21–30 years old 53 30
31–40 years old 51 29
≥40 years old 43 24
Education
Lower higher secondary school 48 27
Pre-university 32 18
Graduate 69 39
Post-graduate 27 16
Location
Dhaka division 41 23
Rajshahi and Rangpur division 32 18
Chittagong division 29 17
Sylhet division 25 14
Khulna and Barishal division 49 28
Type of respondents
Owners 44 25
Consultants 51 29
Contractors 47 27
Workers 34 19
Working experience
≤3 years 31 18
4–7 years 26 15
8–12 years 55 31
13–17 years 37 21
≥18 years 27 15
Fields of specializations
Building 89 51
Infrastructure 48 27
Electrical and mechanical 22 13
Others 17 09
Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of respondents
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for the height weight on a particular factor among all respondents (that could be a maximum of 5 and a minimum of 1, as a five point scale is used).
4.3.2 Data reliability test.There is a need to test the reliability of the collected data where input data is collected randomly from independent respondents from different organizations and different designations. For this, Cronbach Alpha is known as the validation test of reliability where multiple Likert Scale is used in the questionnaire. This test also reveals the internal consistency of factors. The output of this test is represented in the number ranging from 0 to 1. The higher value means the higher consistency among the factors and vice versa (Cronbach and Warrington, 1951). Usually, a value more than 0.70 is acceptable for any scientific research, test, or study (Cortina, 1993). For this study, the Alpha coefficient is 0.890 which indicates a higher internal contingency among the factors. It also ensures that collected data is reliable for further analysis. Tables 2 and 3show the reliability test results of this study.
5. Results: RII based ranking analysis
Table 4 shows the RII analysis of the factors affecting the quality of construction in Bangladesh. F8 (Lack of Management commitment) is determined as the highest-ranked factor with an RII value of 0.8448. F22 (Lack of technical skill and experience of consultants) and F24 (Delays in progress investigation) are ranked in the 2nd and 3rd positions with the RII value of 0.8363 and 0.8320, respectively. F63, F32, F23, F21, F9, F19 and F35 factors are in the top-10 list which are the most critical factors affecting construction quality. Their RII value is ranging from 0.8201 to 0.8199. Also, F53, F37, F39, F18, F61, F11, F7, F62, F3 and F54 factors are in the top 20 list of factors and they have a strong influence on construction quality.Table 4represents the middle-ranking factors with the RII value ranging from 0.768 to 0.5801 and there are 30 factors in this range. Stakeholder relation and communication (F16, F31, F52 and F33), organization structure (F55), skills and training (F30), equipment and resource (F15, F45, F46, F47 and F48), management (F2 and F57), the owner (F40, F41 and F43), material price (F14), technology (F59) and contract-document (F10 and F13) related factors are determined as a moderate level influencer in this study. On the other hand, F65 (Bad weather), F64 (Nature of construction) F4 (Nature of project), F26 (Design errors by the consultant), F44 (Owner’s late decision) and F36 (Worker empowerment to make the decision) are presented as the least critical factors. Other low-ranked factors (ranked between 50th to 60th) inTable 4are F9, F1, F58, F20, F38, F34, F25, F56 and F5 and their RII value is ranging from 0.5777 to 0.5291. Additionally,Table 5shows the most crucial and significant 10 factors affecting construction quality in Bangladesh.
Cronbach alpha,α Internal consistency
α≥0.9 Excellent (high stakes testing)
0.7≤α< 0.9 Good (low stakes testing)
0.6≤α< 0.7 Acceptable
0.5≤α< 0.6 Poor
α< 0.5 Unacceptable
Cronbach’s alpha Cronbach’s alpha based on standardized items N of items
0.890 ≥0.80 176
Table 2.
Internal consistency of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient
Table 3.
Reliability statistics
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Major groups
Factors
ID Factors RII
Rank (Overall)
Rank (within major group)
Project F1 Importance of project 0.5767 52 3
F2 Planning/scheduling process of project
0.5823 48 2
F3 Tight project schedule 0.7765 19 1
F4 Type and nature of project 0.4467 63 5
F5 Social involvement of project 0.5291 59 4
Contract F6 Profit rate between various parties
0.8167 8 2
F7 Coordination between project participants
0.8007 17 3
F8 Lack of management Commitment
0.8448 1 1
F9 Type of awarding contract 0.5777 51 5
F10 Unclear contract conditions 0.5845 47 4
Design F11 Design complexity 0.8011 16 1
F12 Incomplete full drawing 0.7474 25 2
F13 Inconsistency of design document
0.6281 40 3
Material F14 Escalation of materials price 0.7253 30 3
F15 Unavailability of resources 0.6289 39 4
F16 Supplier and contractor relationship
0.7680 21 1
F17 Quality hazard during transportation
0.7529 23 2
Cost and Time F18 Cost overrun in project 0.8021 14 2
F19 Schedule delays in project 0.8137 9 1
F20 Short time assign to WBS 0.5575 54 3
Consultant F21 Lack of management/leadership skills
0.8177 7 4
F22 Lack of skill and experience 0.8363 2 1
F23 Dishonesty 0.8192 6 3
F24 Delays in progress investigation
0.8320 3 2
F25 Flexible to contractor 0.5376 57 6
F26 Design error by consultant 0.4608 62 5
Contractor F27 Inaccurate or incomplete estimate
0.7509 24 2
F28 Irregular payment to contractor 0.5803 49 6
F29 Lack of cooperation between sub and contractor
0.5973 46 5
F30 Lack of skill and experience of site staff
0.6571 36 4
F31 Sub-contractor selecting method
0.6912 33 3
F32 Desire to unrealistic profit 0.8199 5 1
Labour F33 Lack of teamwork 0.6259 42 4
F34 Irregular payment to labor 0.5461 56 6
F35 Unskilled worker 0.8109 10 1
F36 Worker empowerment to make decision
0.5035 60 7
F37 Lack of Expertise, knowledge or training
0.8055 12 2
F38 Interference with others role 0.5547 55 5
(continued) Table 4.
Summary of RII and RII based ranking of the factors
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Table 6shows the different perspectives on significant factors from different stakeholders.
F8 is determined as the most crucial factor but contractor and owner groups rated it as the 2nd and 3rd most significant. On the other hand, F22 is considered as the 1st for contractors and 3rd for consultants. The desire for unrealistic profit is ranked 3rd by the contractor, 2nd by the consultant group and 1st by the owner group. Table 6 represents how different stakeholders think differently on the question of quality influencers but their attitudes do not show significant deviation.
InTable 7, the management-related factors group is determined as the most critical with RII50.7434. Material-related and consultant-related factors groups are ranked 2nd and 3rd with RII50.7388 and RII50.7224, respectively. The lowest-ranked major groups are the design-related (13th) and the project-related group (12th).
Also, inTable 8, the contractors and owners’group express that the management-related group as the 2nd and 3rd respectively while others think it should be in 1st position. The cost and time related group is ranked 1st for the contractor and material related group is ranked 1st for the owner.
Major groups
Factors
ID Factors RII
Rank (Overall)
Rank (within major group)
F39 Overtime work 0.8044 13 3
Owner F40 Delay in regular payment by
owner
0.5801 50 4
F41 Owner’s interference 0.6272 41 3
F42 Owner’s expectations variation 0.7640 22 1
F43 Lack of owner’s emphasis on quality
0.7083 32 2
F44 Owner’s late response (decision making)
0.4949 61 5
Equipment and Tools
F45 Unavailability of equipment 0.6485 37 5
F46 Poor equipment maintenance 0.6741 35 4
F47 Unused of modern equipment 0.6827 34 3
F48 High cost of advanced equipment and tools
0.6229 43 6
F49 Improper use of equipment 0.7322 29 2
F50 Lack of knowledge and training 0.7407 27 1
Management F51 Lack of effective project supervision
0.7424 26 3
F52 Lack of effective communication
0.6315 38 4
F53 Inadequate quality policy 0.8099 11 1
F54 Improper auditing system 0.7725 20 2
F55 Poor organization structure 0.6212 44 5
F56 Lack of information flow 0.5306 58 6
Technology F57 Unused of cost control system 0.6144 45 4
F58 Unused of schedule system 0.5717 53 5
F59 Unaware to advanced technology
0.7153 31 3
F60 Lack of implementation of BIM 0.7339 28 2
F61 Lack of implement QA/QC technology
0.8013 15 1
External F62 Corruption 0.8002 18 2
F63 Political interference 0.8201 4 1
F64 Nature of construction 0.4267 64 3
F65 Bad weather 0.3995 65 4 Table 4.
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6. Discussions 6.1 High ranked factors
Among the identified 65 factors, all are not equally liable for affecting the quality of construction. Some of these factors play a very significant role and some of these factors play a less important role. Table 5 shows the top-ranked factors that affect the quality of
Major group Factors RII Rank
Contract Lack of Management commitment 0.8448 1
Consultant Lack of skill and experience 0.8363 2
Consultant Delays in progress investigation 0.8320 3
External Political interference 0.8201 4
Contractor Desire to unrealistic profit 0.8199 5
Consultant Dishonesty 0.8192 6
Consultant Lack of Management/leadership skills 0.8177 7
Contract Profit rate between various parties 0.8167 8
Cost and Time Schedule delays in project 0.8107 9
Labour Unskilled worker 0.8099 10
Major groups RII Rank
Management 0.7434 1
Material 0.7388 2
Consultant 0.7224 3
Cost and Time 0.7214 4
Contract 0.7150 5
Technology 0.6961 6
Equipment and Tools 0.6835 7
Contractor 0.6828 8
Labour 0.6624 9
External 0.6061 10
Owner 0.6016 11
Project 0.5823 12
Design 0.4333 13
Major group Factors
Contractor’s rank
Consultant’s rank
Owner’s rank
Contract Lack of management commitment 2 1 3
Consultant Lack of skill and experience 1 5 2
External Political interference 3 4 5
Contractor Desire to unrealistic profit 5 2 1
Consultant Dishonesty 8 3 4
Consultant Lack of management/leadership skills
6 11 10
Contract Profit rate between various parties 9 8 11
Labour Unskilled worker 10 10 8
Management Inadequate quality policy 4 9 6
Labour Lack of Expertise, knowledge or training
7 6 9
Cost and Time Cost overrun in project 11 12 7
Table 5.
Overall high ranked factors affecting quality in construction in Bangladesh
Table 7.
RII based ranks of major groups of factors Table 6.
High ranked factors for each respondent group
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construction in Bangladesh. And in this section, these top-ranked factors are discussed below.
The most crucial factor affecting the quality of construction is the lack of management commitment. This factor has influenced the quality in a wide manner and respondents showed the greatest concern about it. Lemak et al. (1997) stated that management commitment could improve the quality of production at a significant rate. Hossain and Ahmed (2018)andShobana and Ambika (2016)identified this factor as the foundation of many challenges like quality, safety and delay in construction, especially in developing countries. The second most important factor is the lack of technical skill and experience. This issue is common in developing and least developed countries in manufacturing industries.
Loveet al.(2018)claimed that technical skills and expertise are highly co-related with good quality in the construction project and suggested a mandatory requirement for companies to provide training and workshops to make their employees skillful. Delay in progress investigation is another top-ranked factor in this study.Sohuet al.(2018)averred that it could be a usual way of hiding or avoiding defects at construction sites. A late report for defect correction is not as effective as real-time control. Zidan (2013) recommended that by eliminating investigation delays, a big portion of quality issues in construction projects could be resolved. Political interference in the construction project is a common issue in Asian and African countries for decades (Bozilovic and Miletic, 2019).Kader and Ullah (2020)stated that the countries like Bangladesh experience heavy misuse of politics in every phase of the construction operation. They also pointed out that tendering, contracting, material purchase and supply, inspections and audits, reporting, approval and management, all are under a pollical corrupt regime. This issue should be addressed with more attention and priority to see a visible quality improvement in Bangladesh.
Ensuring more profit by anyhow is a human tendency in all the economic sectors where the construction sector is prominent among them. Avoiding defective rework, falsified inspection reports and approval, using of sub-standard resources are open secrets in Bangladesh and bribes, political misuse, government power and corruption help to do such events (Sakib, 2019). Dishonesty is another most significant factor affecting quality in construction. Newspapers and TV news frequently show that consultants, contractors, suppliers, owners and government officials get arrested in Bangladesh for construction accidents, structural failure/collapse, quality issues and so on (Jim and Manik, 2013). The stakeholders and government agencies must have to work with transparency, have to ensure the practice of professional ethics and encourage the value of morals to avoid such events.
Major groups
Rank
Contractor Owner Consultant Labour
Management 2 3 1 1
Contract 5 2 5 4
Cost and time 1 4 4 3
Material 4 1 3 6
Consultant 3 5 2 2
Technology 6 7 6 8
Equipment and tools 7 6 7 9
Contractor 10 8 8 5
Labour 8 9 11 10
External 11 10 9 7
Owner 9 11 13 12
Project 13 12 12 11
Design 12 13 10 13
Table 8.
RII based ranks of major groups for each respondent groups
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Lack of leadership skills and effective management is the most concerning problem in developing countries including Bangladesh. Previous studies (Bozilovic and Miletic, 2019;Jha and Iyer, 2006;Selleset al., 2008) also found this factor with a devastating role in affecting the quality of construction in India, Palestine, the UK, Nigeria and China. It is often found that the profit share is another concerning issue between stakeholders in construction projects in Bangladesh. To increase the profit rate, sub-contractor, suppliers or other stakeholders provide low-standard materials, equipment and tools which are directly deleterious to construction quality (Wawaket al., 2020). Schedule delay is another common and intensive issue in construction universally. To reduce or cover up the delay, sub-standard works are overlooked intentionally due to hurry and tight schedules (Jha and Iyer, 2006;Rumane, 2017;
Hossain and Ahmed, 2022). So, proper monitoring and controlling timely inspection and schedule might be effective for this case. Most of the construction works are physically done by workers, so quality is directly connected with worker’s health, attitude and skills. That’s why the unskilled worker is determined as one of the most significant factors in this study.
The skilled worker is very much responsible for producing qualitative work, while a huge portion of the construction workers is unskilled and untrained in Bangladesh (Ahmedet al., 2020a,b). Bozilovic and Miletic (2019)recommended that to overcome the quality issue, authorities have to train and turn them into skilled workers.
InTable 6, the top-ranked factors for each respondent group are shown. Most of the top- ranked factors for each group are covered by the above discussion.
6.2 Proposed solutions
To overcome the quality issue in the Bangladeshi construction industry, some universally applicable solutions are discussed in this section considering the Bangladeshi socio-economic context. Although it is for Bangladesh, other developing countries can be benefited from considering these solutions for their construction sectors.
As the most pervasive factors affecting the quality of construction works are management, consultant and contractor-related, so the greatest effort should be given to these factors first.Jha and Iyer (2006)recommended providing proper training and arranging workshop seminars for the admins and managers of companies as management issues are determined the most significant in this study. Also,Ahmedet al. (2020a,b) suggested arranging training for the unskilled workers to make them skilled as there are direct participants in construction work.
Such events focusing on quality management allows supervisors, workers and quality managers to enhance their technical knowledge and skills on quality policies, strategies and technologies (Wawak et al., 2020). Owusu et al. (2019) suggested that to overcome the consultant’s dishonesty and negligence during inspections and reporting, the company should implement strict accountability and transparent policies. There should be some visible punishment in the government bodies and companies for the responsible persons who violate the quality regulations and manipulate quality inspection and reporting.
An automatic and smart inspection system with real-time reporting might be helpful as there are many industries that have already adopted this process effectively. In recent times, the construction industry has adopted BIM, IoT, AR/VR, cloud-based quality and standard code checkers to help authorities to reduce quality issues in construction projects at a significant rate (Mirshokraeiet al., 2019). Modern techniques and technologies can improve the status of many fundamental causes of quality issues such as scheduled delays, late inspections, transparency in reporting, material quality testing, tendering and contracting in construction (Harriset al., 2021;Ahmedet al., 2022). Sub-standard, defective and backdated resources (materials and equipment) are playing a very significant role in influencing the quality of construction. Organizations should adopt a strict policy for selecting materials, methods and equipment and initiate an effective fast inspection system.Rumane (2017)
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suggested to construction organizations to implement ISO 9000 and 14,000 in quality management which ensures an effective and efficient quality control and monitoring system.
On the other hand,Wanget al.(2015)stated that LIDER, AR/VR, integrated cloud-based software, smart IoT and tools help to achieve the desired quality and reduce errors in work.
These will be helpful to increase the quality standard in the Bangladeshi construction industry as well as in other developing countries.
The findings of this study show that communication and mutual relationship play a significant role in quality management. Frequently effective meetings with all stakeholders on project progress and quality inspections, clear and transparent role and share of stakeholders, effective accountability and encouraging moral values can improve the project performances and quality in construction (Ahmedet al., 2020a,b). All the policies, planning and scheduling, estimations, tendering and contracting documents, supply chain status, progress and inspection reports should be shared in a common platform that all project participants can access easily. The government and top management should take strict measures against corruption and political interference in construction projects otherwise the quality issue could not be solved effectively (Larsenet al., 2016).Shobana and Ambika (2016) advised that accountability and transparency in construction organizations and government agencies have to be implemented effectively. Cost overrun and escalation of materials price has a high power to hamper the quality of construction. If any of these happen in a project, the contractor often compromises the quality to avoid any losses and compensation. To deal with the escalation of materials prices, management should analyze the long-term market information by considering uncertainties and factors of safety (Wawaket al., 2020).
7. Implementations
Although the research was conducted in Bangladesh, other developing countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, Iran, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Turkey, Morocco, Jordan and others could benefit from this study as they all share the same socio-economic context with Bangladesh. The findings of this research contribute to the body of knowledge by providing a relevant and comprehensive list of factors affecting quality in construction projects. The authors validated the applicability and appropriateness of the factors before conducting the questionnaire survey. So, the identified factors could be used as a solid foundation for further research on quality in construction or other manufacturing industries in Bangladesh or any other developing country. The significance-based ranks have a vital role for the stakeholders, authorities and academicians in analyzing the quality issue and preparing an effective plan to implement. This study also explores the ranks of factors from the perspective of contractor, consultant, owner and worker. Government regulatory agencies and management of companies could be benefited to explore insight of subjective importance of different project participants and will understand the different attitudes of stakeholders. The authors also explore the relative impacts of major factor groups to influence low-quality products in construction projects.
This will help the management to prioritize which department should be treated first to avoid existing quality issues and which should be later. And all these eventually help the construction sector to minimize quality challenges along with an accident, cost overrun, conflicts and disputes between stakeholders, structural collapsing, rework, worker productivity, transparency and rate of project success. Ultimately, the findings of the study help to develop strategies and implement them effectively to minimize the consequences of quality issues in construction projects in developing countries and all parties will be benefited significantly.
There are some social values too in the findings of this study. There are millions of people involved in construction directly or indirectly (e.g. owners, contractors, workers, consultants,
Construction
quality in
Bangladesh
suppliers and investors) globally. As quality is one of the major contributors to construction accidents, accidents lead the involved person to be injured or even killed. The family of an injured or killed person loses the earning member and falls into several social, economic and moreover emotional challenges. A garment in Bangladesh collapsed in 2011 and more than 1,100 people died. The consequences of this event were (1) many died and injured, so families faced social, economic and moreover emotional challenges losing their loving ones; (2) the factory stopped, so thousands of people lost their job which has direct effects on society in the form of unemployment, crime, conflict and violence in the family and many more; (3) many officials and technicians got arrested, which created conflicts and disputed; and (4) all these influenced national economy, development and peace in society. Like this event, thousands of events (quality related) happen in construction sectors each year in developing countries and the consequences subtly affect the social security, balance and morale of local culture. So, this study will be helpful to protect the social values and benefits to ensure the balance and peace by providing insight into factors affecting quality in construction for implementing proper policies to prevent these factors.
8. Conclusion
The quality issue in the construction industry in Bangladesh has been a very concerning issue for many years. Previous studies (Safayetet al., 2018;Zenget al., 2005) stated that quality issues are at the top of all risks and uncertainties in construction. But before starting treatment and taking action on this issue, it is essential to know and understand the reasons behind this. This study was designed to assess the perception of construction professionals regarding the key factors affecting quality in the Bangladeshi construction industry. By conducting a questionnaire survey among construction professionals and analyzing the collected data, this study identified the key factors affecting construction quality and ranked them using the Relative Importance Index (RII). The questionnaire was designed by extracting factors affecting construction quality from previous existing studies of many countries focusing on the same context followed by an expert panel opinion. The authors finalized 65 factors under 13 major groups considering the socio-economic context of Bangladesh.
The study found that the most significant factors of construction quality issues in Bangladesh are lack of management commitment, lack of technical skill and experience of the consultant, delays in progress investigation, political interference, desire for unrealistic profit, dishonesty, lack of management/leadership skills, profit rate between various parties, schedule delays in the project and unskilled worker. The least important factors are irregular payment to labor, flexibility to the contractor, lack of information flow, social involvement of project, worker empowerment to make a decision, owner’s late response (decision making), design errors by consultant, type and nature of the project, nature of construction and bad weather. Different respondent groups show different attitudes toward selecting high-impact factors. But the most crucial factors for all groups lie within the factors presented inTable 6.
Some universally applicable solutions to overcome the quality issue in construction are discussed in the discussion section of this study. Most of these solutions are suggested or recommended by the previous researchers who conducted their research on the construction sectors sharing a similar socio-economic context with Bangladesh. The authors recommend governments and companies focus on management, materials and equipment, cost and schedule and technology-related factors more than the others. Besides, this study will surely help the body of knowledge to know and understand the reason behind quality issues in construction in Bangladesh. Authorities and stakeholders can categorize factors, shorten high and low ranked factors, understand the effect level of factors and moreover get aware of this quality issue than before to the findings of this study. Also, this study provides a solid outline of factors affecting quality in construction and gives ground to conduct further research on construction quality in Bangladesh to future researchers.
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Corresponding author
Md. Ikramul Hoque can be contacted at:ikramul3300@gmail.com
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