Modelling the magnitude of contract claims on building construction projects

Abstract

Claims represent extra work resulting in additional cost under the building contract, and have been studied extensively. It however appears to have been generally accepted that project characteristics have no relation to the value of claims made by contractors. This paper provided evidence that relationship, albeit weak ones do exist between seven project characteristics (contract sums, gross floor area, number of subcontractors, planned completion periods of projects, project type, number of floors in building, and experience levels of main contractors) and the value of contractor’s claims. A 3-section questionnaire was served to consulting Quantity Surveying firms in Abuja, and 33 examples of projects that had been completed with claims were obtained. The data were analyzed using scatter plots, correlation and linear regression. The findings revealed that all seven characteristics were collectively responsible for only about 26% of the variations observed in the values of claims. The paper concluded that (i) project characteristics do have a potential for inclusion in models to predict the behavior of contract claims, (ii) costlier projects are more likely to have higher values of claims and (iii) projects with a higher proportion of work subcontracted out are more likely to have higher values of claims. The paper recommended that periodic data surveys could be commissioned by the Universities, polytechnics and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), on other non-linear forms of relationship existing between project characteristics and the value of claims