Early stakeholder engagement practice in managing change orders.

Abstract

In the construction of buildings usually, problems occur because of the causes of change orders. The main causer of change orders is the owners, consultants, and contractors. These changes lead to conflicts among them which result in influencing building projects. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the causes of change orders to reduce them and facilitate management. This paper determines the most critical factors that cause change orders, a study of the reality of the management of change orders when undertaking projects. The method employed in this research is a field survey questionnaire which was sent to experts working in the construction industry. Furthermore, the questionnaire was distributed manually and electronically. In findings, it would appear that the major source of change orders is the client and he does so through change of scope. The analysis leaded to the following conclusions: the major source of change orders is the client that this is done through change of scope and instructing a change in design. Current engagement practice suggest that the architect is the most engaged stakeholder followed by the client followed by the structural engineer. The Mechanical / electrical engineer take on the fifth position. Suppliers were least engaged followed by building contractors and then government bodies. In addition, 65% were of the view that not all relevant stakeholders are engaged in the design and planning while 33% agreed that all relevant stakeholders are engaged in the design and planning of a project. The most important hinderance was identified to be limited project planning time. Next was inadequate stakeholder engagement guidelines. Followed by Procurement methods tying with costs involved. Next was Complexity of the construction projects and unpredictability. Then Government policies and lastly shortage of professionals at. Relative importance index (RII) was used to rank the factors.