Ambo university, IoT

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT STREAM

ASSESSMENT ON MATERIALS QUALITY CONTROL IMPLEMENTATION OF BUILDING

PROJECTS AND WORKMANSHIP:
A CASE STUDY OF AMBO UNIVERSITY

BY: BEKELE SITOTA

Advisor: Dr. Emer T. Quezon

JUNE, 2020
AMBO, ETHIOPIA
 Contents
 INTRODUCTION  Data collection process
 Background  Data Processing and analysis
 Statement of the problem
 Research Questions
 Objective of the Study
 Significance of the Study
 Justification of the study
 Limitation of the study

 MATERIALS AND RESEARCH  DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

METHODOLOGY
 Study Area
 Study Period
 Research Design
 Population  CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 Study variables  Conclusions
 Recommendations
 Background of the Study

 Quality issues have been of great concern throughout the recorded history
of humans.
 Quality of building materials have an important role and should be done
with great quality since it covers around 60% of the project cost as studies
show.
 Quality control is the use of preset techniques and activities that compare
actual quality performance with goals and define appropriate action in
response to a shortfall.
 Building construction utilizes resources like building materials, labor,
equipment, and machineries.
 Relative to other building project resources, materials have greater cost.
 Statement of the problem

 Nowadays, in Ethiopia, construction materials quality control are an

important issue in building construction projects.
 However, most of governmental university buildings are constructed with
poor quality materials and poor workmanship because of low-cost policy
with little quality requirements. ……………………….
 Cont.…
 Ambo University is one of higher education institutes having four
campuses namely, Main Campus, Awaro Campus, Guder Campus, and
Woliso Campus.
 Buildings in Ambo University are facing a lot of defects and the
university is losing money for maintenance from time to time.
 The functional quality of some buildings is also unsatisfactory.
 Research Questions

This study answered and explained the following

questions:

1. What are the factors affecting building construction materials quality

and building workmanship in Ambo University building projects?
2. What is the status of Ambo University buildings on the basis of their
construction materials and workmanship?
3. What are the possible mitigations for the problems on the buildings and
what recommendations are required for the present and future building
project work in Ambo University?
 Objectives

General objective

 The main objective of research is to assess materials quality

control implementation and workmanship of selected Ambo
University's buildings and to recommend certain proactive and
corrective measures.
Specific Objectives

 To identify factors affecting building construction materials quality

and building workmanship in Ambo University building projects.
 To assess the status of Ambo University buildings on the basis of
their construction materials and workmanship by using observations,
desk studies, and interviews.
 To suggest possible mitigations for the observed problems and
recommend basic requirements for the present and future building
project works.
 Significance of the Study
 The study provided information on the importance of materials
quality control implementation and proper workmanship to
university buildings.
 Proactive measures to implement materials quality control and
workmanship in university buildings have been identified and can be
set as pre-determined quality requirements for new public building
constructions.
 Corrective maintenance for defective materials and poor
workmanship has been suggested for those assessed projects and
related public buildings.
 Justification of the study
 Most of university buildings are constructed with poor materials
quality and poor workmanship because of low-cost policy with little
quality requirements.
 Poor material quality and workmanship of work lead to loss of
money, time, strength, durability, and appearance.
 Conducting this study would prevent such problems, and materials
quality control and proper workmanship should be conducted to
comply with the required standards and there should be clear
drawings and specifications having pre-set requirements.
 Limitations of the study
 On existing buildings, it was very difficult to inspect all materials
and works because it was not accessible.
 Foundations, HCB, general concrete works, truss are some of
inaccessible works and materials.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

 Overview of quality and building materials

 Properties of building materials
 Factors affecting quality of building construction materials and
workmanship
 Materials Quality Control in Building Projects
 Total quality management (TQM) in construction industry
 Cost of quality
 Implementation of a Quality Control Program
 Workmanship in Building Construction
 Quality Control Inspection Program (QCIP) Checklists
 Cont.…
 Quality assurance and quality control are two
aspects of quality management.
 While some quality assurance and quality Quality Management
control activities are interrelated, the two are System
defined differently.
 Quality assurance consists of that “part of
quality management focused on providing Quality Assurance
confidence that quality requirements will be
fulfilled.”
 Quality control is that “part of quality Quality
management focused on fulfilling quality Control
requirements.” While quality assurance
relates to how a process is performed or how
a product is made, quality control is more the
inspection aspect of quality management.
Alphas perception of quality
 Cont.…
QC prevents undesirable deviations from the
planned quality of the product being
supplied. Deming W. E. divides quality
control into four activities (Agency, 2011):
 Plan (establish goals, standardize working
procedures and train employees)
 Do (carry out the work according to plan i.e.
implement the process)
 Check (verify compliance with plans)
Deming PDCA cycle
 Act (in case of non-compliance; finding and
(source: Wikimedia.org) removing its root causes)
 Cost of quality
 Quality costs are made up of two different sides; the losses due to poor
quality and the cost to achieve high quality.
 There is often one act of balancing, to ensure that one of the components
do not cost more than it is worth to control the other.
 The American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) divides the cost of
quality into four separate categories (Evans and Lindsay, 1992): -
1) Prevention costs: costs incurred to prevent the occurrence of nonconformance in future.
2) Appraisal costs: costs incurred in measuring and controlling current production to
assure conformance to requirements.
3) Internal failure costs: costs generated before a product is shipped as a result of
nonconformance to requirements.
4) External failure costs: costs generated after a product is shipped as a result of
nonconformance to requirements.
Cont.…

Cost of quality (source: www.quality-one.com)

 MATERIALS AND
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Study Area
 Study Period
 Research Design
 Population
 Study variables
 Data collection process
 Data Processing and analysis
 Study Area

 The study conducted in Ethiopia for all Ambo University Buildings.

Africa Ethiopia

West Shoa Zone Oromia

 Study Period

This research was carried out within the prescribed time frame as per
schedule/plan from April to March, 2020.
 Research Design

The research outlines and

RESEARCH FLOW
the stages conducted in
this study
 Population
A. All contractors, and consultants performed in Ambo University and the
client
B. Buildings in Ambo University which are G+2 and above in height

Sample Size and Selection Techniques

 Both convenience sampling and quota sampling techniques were used
to select the required sample size .
 A total of 31 contractors and 5 consultants have participated in Ambo
University buildings construction and only 26 contractors and 3
consultants were available as a respondent during this thesis period.
 On the other hand, a total of 30 dormitory buildings, 16 Classrooms and
Seminar, 5 libraries, and 8 laboratories, 9 others (mixed purpose
buildings) were investigated.
 Study Variables

Independent variables
 Factors affecting materials quality and workmanship
 Inspection and verification of materials
 Codes and specifications

Dependent variable
 Materials quality compliance
 Workmanship compliance
 Construction deficiencies
 Data collection process

 A number of approaches were used for data collection.

 These were survey questionnaires, key informant interview, and case
studies by taking the selected projects.
 Data were gathered from site surveys, contractors, consultants, clients,
observations, and desk studies.
 After analyzing all collected information, conclusions and
recommendations are drawn based on the findings.
 Data Processing and analysis

Reliability Test
 Reliability is concerned with whether the procedures of data
collection and analysis will generate the same results on all
occasions.
 Cronbach’s Alpha (α) was developed by Lee Cronbach in 1951 was
used in this study to provide a measure of the internal consistency of
a test.
……………….. [Eq. source: Nicola L. Ritter ]
Where: = Number of Items
= variant items
= total score variant
 Cont.…
Validity Test
 Validity refers to the extent to which the instrument measures what
the researcher(s) actually wish to measure.
 In order to ensure the quality of this research, the content validity
has been verified by the advisor, who looked into the
appropriateness of the questions and the scales of measurement.
 Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to some respondents as
a pilot test.
 This was done to decide whether the developed instruments measure
what it was meant to measure, and also to check the clarity, length,
structure and wording of the questions.
 Cont.…
Data analysis
 The collected data by questionnaires were analyzed using the
Relative Index methods.
 Based on the frequency analysis the relative index was then
calculated to determine the ranking of each performance measure
importance and practicability.

RII = ............… [Eq. sources: Hedaoo, 2016 ]

Where: RII = Relative Importance Index
n5, n4, n3… = Number of responding indices

 On the other hand, data gathered from site survey and desk studies
were analyzed qualitatively using literature review and researcher
observation and interpretations.
 DATA ANALYSIS , RESULTS
AND DISCUSSIONS

 Analysis and discussion of data from questionnaire

 Analysis and discussion of data from case studies and desk studies
 Possible mitigations for the observed problems and basic
recommendations for the present and future building projects
 Cont.…
 The validity of the questionnaire is determined based on the
adequacy of the responses given. i.e., questionnaires with no
responses and partial responses are considered invalid.
 Accordingly, from the 77 retrieved questionnaires, 71 of them were
considered valid which shows a 78.9% response rate.
  Respondents
Contractors Consultants Client Total

Questionnaires distributed, (A) 78 9 3 90

Questionnaires retrieved 69 7 1 77
Valid responses, (B) 63 7 1 71
Response rate (valid), (C) = (B/A)*100 80.8% 77.8% 33.3% 78.9%
Questionnaire response rate
 Cont.…
Respondents Working Position

Working Position
S. No Position No Percentage

Respondents
1 Site Engineer 19 26.8%
2 Office Engineer 17 23.9%
3 Project Manager 14 19.7%
4 Architect 2 2.8%
5 Resident Engineer 8 11.3%
6 Senior Engineer 11 15.5%
Work Experience of Organizations

Work Experience of
In Ethiopian construction industry (in year) In building construction sector (in year)

Organizations
Experience in year Organizations by Experience in year Organizations by
No percentage No percentage

0 – 5 years 4 13.3% 0 – 5 years 4 13.3%

6 –10 years 9 30.0% 6 –10 years 9 30.0%
11 – 15 years 8 26.7% 11 – 15 years 8 26.7%
More than 15 years 9 30.0% More than 15 years 9 30.0%
 Cont.…
 The reliability of gathered data was first checked for accuracy
using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient formula described under
reliability test in order to measure the internal consistency of the
collected data.
 Accordingly, the analysis was conducted, and the result of the
analysis showed that the Cronbach’s coefficient for the
contractors and consultants was 0.812 and 0.753 respectively.
 Based on this, it is clear that the Cronbach’s coefficient values
for all of the individual parties are above 0.70 which showed
validity.
 Taking this evidence, all the survey data were used for further
analysis.
 No. Main factors affecting materials Degree of Importance

Main factors affecting materials quality and

quality control and workmanship
Total RII Rank
5 4 3 2 1
1 Applicability of Building Regulations 31 19 21 0 0 298 0.84 4
2 Factors related to Design 28 36 7 0 0 305 0.86 2
3 Factors related to Specification 22 41 7 1 0 297 0.84 4
4 Factors related to Management 37 28 6 0 0 315 0.89 1
5 Factors related to Nature of Materials
workmanship

33 29 6 2 1 304 0.86 2
6 Factors related to Labors 28 28 12 3 0 294 0.83 5
7 Factors related to Site Access 9 27 32 2 1 254 0.72 8
8 Factors related to Financial 27 32 11 1 0 302 0.85 3
9 Factors related to Site staffs 36 26 5 4 0 307 0.86 2
10 Factors related to Weather conditions 24 25 16 6 0 280 0.79 6
11 Factors related to Technical issues 6 14 45 2 4 229 0.65 10
12 Factors related to Materials Testing
38 27 5 1 0 315 0.89 1
and Inspection
13 Factors related to Project Nature 21 18 31 0 1 271 0.76 7
14 Factors related to Equipment 9 23 35 3 1 249 0.70 9
15 Factors related to Knowledge of
Implementing Rules & Regulations of 7 14 13 31 6 198 0.56 11
the Government Procurement Law
 It has been observed that there were cracks on all studied buildings in
common areas, such as exterior walls, interior walls at corners of doors
and windows, floors, and ceilings.

blocks, and main

walls, dormitory
Cracks on HCB

campus
structural beam and
slab: class room

Woliso Campus
and dormitory,
Cracks on
 CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. To attain all necessary requirements and improve the quality of building
projects, it is necessary to identify and recognize the primary factors affecting
building construction materials quality and workmanship of the projects.
Hence, this study has identified fifteen primary factors affecting building
construction materials quality and workmanship which have their own sub-
factors
2. Results indicated that there is no defect-free building in Ambo University even
if the degree and type of these defects vary on the studied buildings.
 Cont.…
Moisture leakage, plastering defect, paint peeling, and cracks were the
most frequent defects observed on 94% of the studied buildings.
3. Basic remedial and mitigations are proposed for both existing building
projects and under-construction buildings.

 Repairing cracks and leaks in concrete and walls (use of hydraulic

water-stop cement), affected plasterwork and painting, and other defects
remedial are suggested for existing buildings.
 The involvement and dedication of contractors and consultants have a
significant role to achieve qualified building projects.
 Testing and inspecting all materials based on the general specification
can improve the quality of the project.
 Assigning at least one person who is thoroughly familiar with the
specified work.
 Recommendations
The following recommendations are forwarded:
1. All primary factors and sub-factors affecting building construction
materials quality and workmanship of the building projects should be
identified and recognized by all stakeholders.
2. All buildings in Ambo University should be assessed using this study as a
reference. After identifying all problems, successful repair and
maintenance should be takeover to avoid further damage and cost.
3. All necessary remedial and mitigations should be stated in detail on
existing buildings and fruitful recommendations should be forwarded for
on-progress buildings.
References
THANK YOU!!!