Modelling of Cost of Mechanical and Electrical Services in Selected Residential Building Projects in Abuja and Niger State using Selected Design Variables.

Abstract

This research was carried out to study the problem of ineffective cost control technique in the process of formulating predictive models for cost of Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) services due to inadequate information resulting to cost overrun. The need for this research thus focused on the collection of suitable information for the necessary analysis and modeling of M&E services cost. This paper also examined the cost relationship between M&E services and building forms for residential building projects. The relationship between the variables in the data collected was examined by linearity tests and the use of simple and multiple regression analyses, correlation analysis and descriptive Statistics. One of the major findings of the research was that the cost of M&E services of any given residential building project can be assessed from the building form descriptors with 95% confidence limits. This also provided a basis for developing several predictive regression models for M&E services cost of residential building projects. Recommendations from the study included regular review of the models in the light of changing environmental circumstances by any user of the models, for the models to stand a test of time.