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Def ect w a st e p ro b le m i n t he co nst ruct io n I nd ust ry ! ! !

Collapse of buildings

Source Aljazeera News, 2019

Student Number: W19042969

Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering

Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE18ST, United

Kingdom

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onstruction defect can be defined as a fault in design, the worship and material system which leads to project failure.

Collapse of buildings

Source: (Aljazeera News, 2019))

C

Generally, defects occur as a result of failure to follow required guidelines resulting to

financial, property and personal damages as argued by Robson, (2015). Construction defects

are usually hard to identify since only experts can analyze when a procedure is not correctly

followed (Waziri, 2016).

Types of construction defects

Design defects

Errors in designing

Source:(Katume, 2017))

Design defects occurs when engineers and architects make errors when

planning on how facilities are going to be constructed. The most likely losses

errors that might occur includes the water penetration plan, poor draining

system design and inadequate structural support leading to occurrence of

(Cogurcu2015).

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Material defects

Material defects in projects

Source: (Hazem, 2017)

Workmanship

Source:(Levelset,2018)

Material defects occurs when inferiorproducts are

used during the construction. The material used in

construction projects is based on the requirement of

the end products. the higher the quality of the end

product, the higher the material quality that should

be used. The use of inferior products means that the

buildings and infrastructures cannot last for long

period ((Tayeh, et, al, 2017)

The interpretation of designs is important for the safety of the

occupants and users of buildings. Workmanship is a scenario

where construction is not undertaken as per the directions of the

designers. It results from misinterpretation of designs and pans

leasing to poor quality of buildings (Bagdiya&Wadalkar,2015)

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How defects lead to wastages in the construction industry

Effects of defects in construction

Source:(LMT,2018)

In construction works, defects must be corrected otherwise, they might lead to greater losses in

future. The wastage in defects comes as a result of additional work that needs to be performed to

correct defects that are noted.

Financial wastages

Financially, organizations are forced to use more funds to undertake repairs as a result of additional

work to mend the effects of defects. Since projects are run under strict budgets, there is need for

project managers to ensure that the actual expenses do not exceed the budget. However, it is

difficult for project managers in construction project to ensure that budget is actualized since more

resources will be allocated in order to amend the defects.

Human resource wastage

In terms of human resources, organizations are made to committee more employees for repairs as

opposed to using the employees in undertaking other important stages of the projects. In presence of

defects in construction projects hence means that employees will be used to undertake repeat tasks

rather than undertaking progress tasks and advancing the projects (Dey, et al., 2017).

Time wastage

Construction projects are undertaking in consideration with a time plan. This means that project

managers are required to follow the project plans in order to deliver each milestone at the right

time. However, the presence of defects in the projects is likely to lead to delays in the process of

project management (Gulghane&Khandve, 2015). Since defects have to be solved immediately,

they are realized, time is used when trying to redo the work. This leads to time wastage and project

delay. Milestones cannot be reached at the required time since employees have to concentrate in

amending the defects to reduce risks of losses and accidents upon completion of the project (Tejale,

et al., 2015).

Material wastages

Before the commencement of projects, engineers and designers guide the

project managers in terms the required material when undertaking the

construction works. The control of material used is important as it ensures

that cost is controlled (Arshad, et al., 2017). However, defects call for

unplanned material to be used when redoing the construction work in order

to fix errors that occurred. This hence might lead to demolition of some

parts as the project managers try to fix problems associated with defects.

This results to the excess use of material than the planned for hence leading

to increase in project cost (Udawatta, et al., 2015)

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Causes of defects in construction industry

Fishbone image of causes of defects in the construction industry

Source:(Ilie&Ciocoiu, 2010)

Generally, the causes of defects can be categorized in to six components as shown in the

above fishbone diagram.

Material

Material challenges that might lead to defects includes poorly stored material. Construction

material needs to be stored in a good manner that will minimize chances of destruction. Such

material includes metal which needs to be stored in places with less moisture to avoid

rusting. Other material such as cements, ballast and stones need to be safely stored in order

to avoid breakages and destruction by water as argued by (Jingmond&Ågren, 2015). The use

of expired material is also a challenge in the construction management and is likely to lead to

defects in the final products. such material includes paints, cements and other manufactured

commodities used in construction work. This is likely to affect the quality of the buildings.

Composition of components used in the building process might lead to defects in case

measurements are not done in the required way. A perfect example is the mixture of ballast,

sand and cements. Failure to ensure that material is well balanced is likely to lead to defects

in the buildings the use of expired material is also a challenge in the construction

management and is likely to lead to defects in the final products. such material includes

paints, cements and other manufactured commodities used in construction work. This is

likely to affect the quality of the buildings.

Measurement

Measurement in the building process is determined by the lay out designs. Workmanship is

very important when it comes to putting the layout design in to actuality. There is need to

ensure that scaling and estimations are done well to reduce chances of defects in size and

length (Choudhry, et al., 2017).

Machine

Machines are likely to lead to defects in case there is power failure. Such incidence might

cause delay and destruction. Human error where employees are required to feed the

machines might lead to the wrong results hence defects in the projects. There is also a risk in

wrong feed rate since construction machines depends on the instruction given by the

operators (Bagdiya&Wadalkar, 2015).

Employees

Generally, human aspects in the construction project is important since projects

are realized through the human resource efforts. However, defects might result

from inadequate training of the employees where they take a job without full

knowledge of what is required of them. The risk of human error is also likely to

lead to defects (Gamil& Rahman, 2017).

Environment

Environment in which buildings are established is likely to affect the

construction work.

Subsurface Moisture Incursion might affect the strength of buildings in terms of

its strength. This is likely to lead to defects following cracks as a result of excess

moisture (Ye, et al., 2015). Weaknesses of soil is likely to lead to Foundation

Displacement which might also result to cracks and need to rework. Insufficient

climate control such as the failure to protect building site from excess water from

rain, non-regulated sunshine among other factors might also lead to defects

(Aljassmi, et al., 2016).

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Methods

Poorly design methods are likely to mislead engineers in their construction works. This hence makes it a risky affair as use of such designs might lead to defects. On the other hand,

project plan that does not in to consideration all activities in to place is likely to lead defects since some activities might be skipped (Asgari&Rahimian, 2017).

The case study of Sampoong Department Store, South Korea collapse.

ne other greatest disaster ever seen in the construction industry is the collapse of Sampoong Department Store(Fay, 2019). The main cause of the collapse as per the reports by

investigators was because of poor planning, poor material of construction and poor design. This case led to the death of five hundred pole most of them being workers(Fay,

2019).Human ignorance and greed were the major reasons for the errors that occurred during the construction causing massive losses. This shows how failure to consider important

aspects during construction could lead to, massive losses(Fay, 2019).

Sampoong Department Store, South Korea collapse

Source, Great Disasters

O

From the case study above, it is hence observable that

Financial wastages

Human resource wastage, Time wastage, Material wastages

are experienced since the building caused losses of lives,

time to evacuate the affected and the waste of human

resources who were engaged in building process(Fay, 2019)..

Solutions to the defect wastage problem

Employee training

Through employee training, employees will be able to understand their

roles in the construction. They will also be able to understand the most

important activities and how to undertake them. As a result, there will

be a decline in chances of making errors hence minimizing defects in

construction industry (Hanaysha, 2016).

Employee training

Source: (Andriotis, 2018)

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Expert consultation

There is need to consult experts in every stage of construction. The project managers should work together with the external experts in order to ensure that all activities are undertaken in

accordance with the plan and quality needed. The experts will help in checking gaps that might lead to defects in constructions (Elziny, et al., 2016).

Proper Environmental analysis

Experts consultation Collapse of buildings

Source: (Reporting, 2019) Source:(Pentago,2018)

Proper project management strategies

Project management process

Source:(Kerzner,2018)

In order to reduce chances of defects caused

by environment, the construction engineers

should study environmental factors such as the

surface level of water, the probability of

having earthquakes among other factors before

settling on the site. This will help to reduce the

probability of occurrence of a defect as a result

of occurrence of an environmental risk (Tixier,

et al., 2016).

Project management process

Source: (Kerzner, 2017)

Proper planning of activities is important in ensuring that there is a

good procedure followed. Through strategic project management, the

project managers are going to ensure that there is no omission of

important activities in construction hence reduce chances of defects in

building (Kerzner, 2017).

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References

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