Cost control during post intended completion date of construction projects in Uganda.

Abstract

Contractors earn a relatively larger profit when they manage to complete the construction projects before the expected completion date.In Uganda, most of the building construction projects are completed after the intended completion date and contractors and consultants end up incurring costs that were not initially budgeted for which greatly lowers their profit on the projects undertaken. The sample size comprised of 28 contractors, 10 consultants and 32 project managers.Interviews were conducted with contractors, project managers andconsultants to obtain information relating to the cost incurred and the different ways they use to minimize the costs incurred during post intended completion date.To analyze the data the method used to code and categories interviews data were adapted from approaches to qualitative data analysis.Four themes emerged from the interviews data. From the respondents' point of view, "preliminary costs", "Time-Related costs", "Direct costs", “compensatory costs”, were considered as the costs incurred during post intended completion date. The various techniques mentioned by the respondents included implementing day and night shifts, use of insurance policies, storing building materials in bulky, renting resting rooms close to the site, inspection of works, drawing new project budgets, implementing pay cuts, site meetings and close supervision of works. The effect of the costs on the expected profit was found to be in a way that some costs were “Reimbursable” and others were “Non-Reimbursable”. This research was able to firmly state that, “the problem of contractors incurring extra costs cannot be completely eliminated but can be minimised with adequate knowledge and application of the various techniques that can be used to control these costs.