Examining the Causes and Effects of Project Change Orders on Government’s Construction Projects: Insights from the Perspectives of Construction Professionals in Ghana

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20082667

Christopher Dick-Sagoe (Department of Development Studies, University of South Africa, South Africa)

Project change orders increase the duration, cost and quality of projects, usually leading to disputes among project stakeholders. In this study, the major causes of project change orders and their influence on project performance (by comparing actual time, cost and quality to the initially agreed project estimates. It further assesses the views of construction project professionals on the effects that project change orders have on government’s project. With the use of quantitative methods and a sample of 180 respondents, the study identified the major causes of project change orders to scope and changes to plan, changes to specification, omission of designs, errors and defective workmanship. Additional causes of project change orders were defective workmanship, lack of judgement and experience of the consultants, insufficient project objectives, insufficient working drawings, lack of adequate coordination among the experts and specification changes. Measures employed to reduce the occurrence of change orders were proper supervision of works on site, making sure that specifications are within budget, making sure that site investigations are done properly, adequate and intensive communication among the parties, recruiting competent staff to handle the engineering and design section, and coordinated and proper planning among the parties. Finally, the effects of change orders were identified as an increase in overhead expenses, delayed payment, project cost increases, delay in project completion schedule, and demolition and rework. The recommendations raised include the intensification of coordination and communication among the project professionals. In addition, well-scrutinized recruitment of project professionals was also recommended.