Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, P.O. Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK
s.laryea@reading.ac.uk
The purpose of this research was to ascertain the reliability of project estimates prepared by construction consultants in Ghana vis-à-vis project estimates prepared by contractors. This was done by analyzing and examining ten construction projects constructed in Ghana between 2000 and 2010. Five of the projects were priced by consultants and five priced by contractors. For each project, the final cost and time were examined and analyzed. The results indicate that projects estimated by contractors performed better than projects estimated by consultants in terms of reliability of estimates. Projects estimated by consultants experienced an average cost overrun of 40% and time overrun of 62% whereas projects priced by contractors experienced an average cost overrun of 6% and time overrun of 41%. It seemed that contractors had a better understanding of the actual construction processes involved in delivering the job and a clearer expectation of the needs of the client hence an ability to produce estimates that were closer to reality. On the basis or results here, clients of the construction sector in Ghana are advised to rely on contractors for project estimates. Quantities of work estimates provided by consulting QSs are rather inaccurate and final outcomes could exceed projected estimates up to 40%. Hence, clients would be wise to use contractors to estimate the quantities and price of work, or add an allowance of 40% on top of consultant estimates as a contingency for errors and inaccuracies.
Keywords: consultant, contractor, Ghana, project estimate, project performance, quantity surveyor.
About Me
- Samuel Laryea
- Johannesburg, Guateng, South Africa
- I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Construction Economics and Management at University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. In the past, I have been a Lecturer in the School of Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Reading, UK (2010-12); and also a Post-Doctoral Academic Fellow (2009) and Graduate Teaching Assistant (2008). I completed my PhD at University of Reading in Dec 2008 on the relationship between risk and price in tendering. Prior to transferring to Reading in Jan 2008, I was an MPhil/PhD student at KNUST, Ghana (2004-07). I gained my undergraduate degree in Building Technology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana in 1998-2002. During school days, my peers elected me to serve in several leadership positions including SRC President at KNUST. From 1994-96, I attended Suhum Sec. Tech. School after basic education at schools in Ghana and Nigeria. I did my National Service with the Fanteakwa District Assembly in 2002-03. After that, I worked at the Development Office of KNUST until I started my PhD in 2004. I am a co-organiser for the WABER Conference and an author of 30+ research publications.
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