CHAPTER 4

DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

1. Introduction
This chapter analyses, presents and discusses the responses gathered from the study via the

questionnaires and interviews. Project managers, procurement managers, site supervisors, project

engineers, consultants and clients from various institutions were interviewed and questionnaires

were sent to them to get their responses in relation to the research being conducted.

1.1. Background to Sample Size

Thirty (30) companies were considered to solicit information from them which then consisted of

the total population. These were made up of twenty (20) construction firms and (10) construction

consulting companies and fifteen (15) clients or companies who have awarded construction

contract were selected via purposive sampling method. There were fifty (50) workers from the

construction companies availing themselves to answer the questionnaires and interview whiles

the consulting companies had fifteen (15) respondents from the consulting firms.

1.1.1.1. Table for respondents for the companies.

Respondent Study population Sample size Percentage

Construction companies. 20 15 75

Consulting firms. 10 8 80

Clients. 15 10 66.66
1.1.2. Table for respondents for the workers
Respondent Study population Sample size Percentage

Construction companies. 70 50 75

Consulting firms. 20 15 80

Clients. 15 10 66.66

1.1. Professional background

The portion seeks to make enquiries of the respondent area of profession, the number of years

the person has been working with the company. His level of specialization and the role is playing

on the project. Also, the position he plays on the organizational ladder in relation to the company

he is working for.

1.2. Level of Education

This section of the study depicts the educational level of the respondents. This will help

determine their level of training towards the work they are doing especially formal academic

training. Also, it will help the researcher to know how best they will understand the purpose of

the research and what they seek to find. Out of the fifty (50) respondents from the construction

companies 35 of them had Tertiary education whiles the 15 had secondary education. Six of the

clients were corporate bodies whiles four (4) were private individual who had tertiary education.

1.3. Area of Specialization

In order to be sure that the respondents have the requisite knowledge and expertise in relation to

the answers provided, there was the need for the researcher to know the area of specialization for

the respondent. Since the research is about the construction industry and the various players in

there, most of the respondents were Civil Engineers, Procurement Professionals, Project

Managers, Site Managers, Architect, Quantity Surveyors and Health Safety and Environmental
officers. These were mostly from the construction companies and consulting firms, however,

most of the client had little or no background in construction since some of them were corporate

bodies The table below represent the various professions and the numbers that contributed to the

research.

S/N Profession Number Percentage

1 Civil Engineering 13 19%
2 Quantity Surveyors 12 17%
3 Building construction (Formen) 8 11%
4 Procurement Officers 8 11%
5 Architecture 14 20%
6 Health And Safety 7 10%
7 Corporate Institutions 8 11%
  Total 70  

Most of the respondents were Civil Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Architect, with foremen,

procurement officers forming the minority of the respondents. Most of the clients where

corporate bodies which made the question not applicable to them.

Years of experience

The years of experience for the various respondents were established to know the requisite

practical and on the field skill they bring to the work. This will inform us as to how best they will

deal with the pandemic and solutions they will provide in resolving the issues that confronted the

industry and the project they were on during the pandemic area.

S/N Number of years Number Percentage

      1-5 years
1 24 36.92
       6-10 years
2 16 24.62
      11-15 years
3 20 30.77
      Above 15 years
4 5 7.69
Total
  65  

From the table above, it is evident that majority of the respondents had one to five years of

experience in their respective fields. This is followed by eleven (11) to fifteen (15) years of

experience which makes up the largest number of people with experience. This makes us to

understand that most of the people who respondent to the questionnaires and availed themselves

have requisite experience to provide credible and trustworthy solutions.

Number of years with the company

The number of years an employee has worked with the company will help to determine the

influence he has in the company and the psychology behind the decisions they make. Since most

of the decision made during the covid-19 pandemic area was made by mostly top management

and implemented by the managers at site.

Number of years with the

  company Number Percentage
1 0-3 33 51%
2 4-7 18 28%
3 7-10 14 22%
  Above 10 0 0%

  Total 65  
From the table above most of the workers have been with their company for the three years,

which indicate that most them were either recruited for the project or joined the company not too
long ago. Also, there are many people who have been with the company for an appreciable

number of years and provided information from an experienced point of view.

Role on the project

To be able to understand the perspective of each of the respondents on the various project, their

ole on the project needs to be determine. The role a person plays on the project determines the

authority and influence he yields in relation to decision making and the implementation as well.

S/N Profession Number Percentage

1 Project Managers 10 20

2 Site Managers 10 20

3 Quantity Surveyors 8 16

4 Procurement officers 7 14

5 Project engineers 10 20

6 HSE officers 5 10

With reference to the table above, most of the respondents served as Project Managers, Site

Managers and Project Engineers. From further enquiries, most of the architect are made project

managers who have the ultimate power and control over the project. The project engineers and

quantity surveyors were the next to follow especially that of the consultants. Most of the

consulting companies have engineers and quantity surveyors as their representative on the

project.

Category of staff
In order to know the power and influence the respondents have on the project and in the

company at large, the researcher wanted to know the position the respondents have in either the

construction, the consulting and client’s company. This will help the determine the weight of the

responses they give especially in relation to decision making and implementation of the decision.

Category of staff

   Management
15%
31% Senior Staff

Junior Staff

54%

The pie chart above indicates the categories of staff members that served as respondents for the

research. Majority of the respondents were senior staff whiles junior and management level staff

were followed as second and third highest staff. The data provides a faire balance in the

respondents and the authority they yield in the project.

Types of Construction Project

This section wanted to know the type of construction projects the respondents were doing during

the covid-19 pandemic area. This will bring to light a better understanding of the adverse effect

of the pandemic and the solutions proffered to resolve the problem. Even though the

concentration of the researched was centered on building construction project, respondent that
were not doing building construction project were given the opportunity to indicate the project

they were doing so as to help draw a relation between the various project they are doing.

Types of constructi on companies

14

12
12
10

6
6
4
4
3
2

0
   Building construction     Road construction       Bridge construction      Mining engineering
construction

From the above graph, it is clear that most of the respondents were doing building construction

projects whiles the road construction and the other construction areas followed. Since majority of

the respondents were into building construction project, it will provide a correct representative

for the research.

Baseline Duration

The baseline duration is the planned schedule of the project after its approval by the relevant

stakeholders (Sabestian, 2022). This is set at the beginning of the project which is then followed

to ensure the project complete on time. The researcher wanted to know the baseline duration of

the project the various companies were undertaking.

 Baseline Duration
14

12
48%
10

8
32%
6

4 20%

0
One Two Three Four
0

The graphical representation indicate that majority of the companies were involved with project

with a baseline schedule of two years. Most of them were in their second year of the project

when the pandemic started with about forty percent (40%) of the work left to be done. This

mainly comprises of finishings including installation of HVAC system, tilling, painting,

electrical installation telecommunication lines and plumbing works. This is a good indication

that majority were in the process of hiring specialist in the installation of the above services and

infrastructure and also the purchases of these materials has also commenced whiles some were

also being shipped.

Determination of Project Success

The success of every project is the sole aim of every stakeholder involved in the project. The

criteria for determining project success lies in the project requirement and set by the stakeholders

of the project. In order to determine the what the project stakeholders consider as key to the

success of the project the researcher decided to make enquiries on that. Also, this will help to

know the extent the pandemic will affect the project depending on which aspect of the project the
pandemic really affected. Below represent the what the respondent considers as vital in relation

to determining what will make their project successful.

Project Success crieteria

Satisfying customers 38%

Meeting user requirements 12%

Meeting quality standards set for the project 18%

Completing the project within budget 23%

Completing the project on time 8%

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

In soliciting information from respondents in relation to the success criteria they see to be key in

determining projects success, additional interview was done in addition to the questionnaire.

The criteria most clients and company consider as vital to the success of their construction

project is that, the project satisfy their clients or meet their expectations. Staying within budget is

the next most important criteria due to the capital-intensive nature of construction projects. Most

of the respondents stated that, though quality and completion on schedule is important to them, it

has become difficult trying to get project to be completed within schedule in the country.

Effect of covid-19 on the project

To get to the crest of the research which is about the effect of covid-19 on the construction

projects, contractors, clients and consultants were asked whether the pandemic affected the

project they were undertaking. The pie chart is an illustration of the answers respondents

provided for the question.

 Effect of covid-19 pandemic on project

14%
yes

no

86%

The graph above is an illustration the number of respondents who admitted that the covid-19

affected the projects they were on. This is an indication that the covid-19 pandemic had a wide

spread effect on the construction projects being undertaken in the country. The remaining

questions were to solicit further information in relation to how the pandemic affected the

projects.

Effect on Cost
The effect of covid-19 on cost was to be accessed to ascertain the extent it affected the cost of

the project. Respondents were asked if the pandemic affected the cost of the project which they

were to answer in a straight forward answer. It was then followed up the difference it had on the

actual cost of the project.

 Effect of covid-19 on Cost

14%
yes
no

86%

It was categorical that the pandemic had a direct effect on the cost of the projects. There were

several complains as to how the covid-19 pandemic had an escalating effect on the total cost of

the project hence an increase in the final cost of the project. Managers stated that several

negotiations went on during the pandemic to ensure the escalations are contained within limit

and controlled as the project progress.

Difference between plan cost and Actual cost

Since there was direct effect of the pandemic on cost, the researcher wanted to know the

difference between the planned cost and the actual cost of the project. This was to be determine

in percentage wise thus the percentage difference between these cist groups.

Percentage difference Number of companies Percentage of total respondents

1%-10% 5 20%
11%-20% 7 28%
20%-30% 4 16%
  30%-40% 9 36%
Average   25%
The percentage difference the planned cost and the actual cost was very evident and describe the

effect covid had on the project. With majority of the respondents stating a difference of 40%

escalation of actual cost over planned cost meant contractors will have to devise ways of dealing

with the increase in cost during the pandemic. With an average of twenty-five (25%) of

increment in the total cost, contractors had to negotiate with clients to settle an amicable way of

settling the differences.

Reduction In the Availability of Material Resources

Due to the wide effect of the pandemic, construction resources around the world were affected

which resulted in the adverse effect on ongoing projects being undertaking. Respondents were

taken through a series of questions that was to illicit answers on how the resource management

with respect to the pandemic as handled. The first question that was asked is find out if the

pandemic had a direct effect on resources as was experienced by other countries. The graph

below is a representation of the answers provided.

Effect of covid-19 on Project Resources

14%
yes
no

86%
The number of respondents that affirm to the effect of covid-19 on project resources were the

same as those for the cost. There was a direct price escalation effect of resources that affected the

cost of the project especially those that were imported from outside the country.

Difference between budgeted price and actual price of resources

In order to understand the extent of price differential of material resources between budget and

actual cost, the researcher enquire from the respondents the rate of the differences between the

planned cost and actual cost of the project.

Percentage of total
Percentage difference Number of companies respondents
1%-10% 7 27%
11%-20% 4 15%
20%-30% 10 38%
  30%-40% 5 19%
Average   25%

From the table above ten of the respondents which represented the majority confirmed to

experience twenty to thirty percent of price escalation in relation to materials cost. This

eventually affected the rate of supply of materials to site with a rippling effect on schedule.

Human Resources

The human capital at every construction site is pivotal to the success of the project. The various

restrictions that were impose on human movement as a measure to control the spread of the

pandemic, the researcher wanted to know if the respondents had the needed or requisite human

resources for the projects. The table below represent the responses from the sample size.
 Availability of Human Resouces

14%
yes

no

86%

With respect to human resource availability, majority of the respondents affirmed that they had

the needed human resources especially residential construction works around mining areas which

considered as part of the mining projects. Majority of the construction works going on in the

cities experience temporary shortage of labour as managers had to comply with government

policy to ensure availability of resources. It is clear from the table above that, there was quite a

close gab between the shortage and availability of human resources for construction works.

Supply Chain Disruptions

The supply chain management of resources to site is key to a successful resources management

and prevent major delays to the project. As stated by (Keely L Croxton, 2001) the management

of an organization's core business network is included in the supply chain. It behooves on the

construction organization to ensure the right mechanisms are put in place to prevent supply chain

disruption. The bar chart below explains the results from the respondents.
 Projects with Supply Chain
Disruptions
86%

14%

yes no

The bar chart above shows that 86% of the respondents attested to the fact that they experienced

supply chain disruption. The large confirmation of supply chain disruption is an affirmation of

the global effect the pandemic had on construction industry. The supply of material from Asia

and Europe had the greatest impact as container and ship prices increased immensely during the

pandemic. This also had a resulting effect on the prices of the material being bought therefore

increasing the cost of the post.

Which aspect of the project had the highest impact by the pandemic

The major areas where the pandemic had a devastating effect was to be examine by the

researcher. In view of this, the respondents were asked to identify the major areas they had major

impact from the pandemic. This was done in relation to the major areas being considered in the

research that is resources, schedule and cost. The graph below shows the major areas of project

and the level of impact it had from the pandemic.

 Affected Areas by Pandemic

11% 14%
   Resources (Human and material)

Cost of the project

Schedule

74%

From the table above, cost was the largest impacted area of the project being undertaking. Most

respondent attested to the fact that the cost of the project increased significantly and that affected

their profit margins. Also, the delay in the arrival and the increase in prices of the resources also

led to the increase of the cost of the project. Subsequently affecting the schedule for the projects.

Covid-19 interventions and implication on building construction management

Certain interventions were introduced to reduce the spread of covid across many countries that

were suffering from the effect of covid-19. These interventions included ensuring social distance

among construction workers, people not crowding at places, wearing of nose masks and

constantly washing your hands to prevent touching your mouth and or eyes with the infection. To

be able to understand the effect of these interventions on construction workers and how workers

had to cope with observing the covid-19 protocols whiles working, respondents were asked

questions on how they went about these protocols whiles working. This was done with an open-

ended question which they were to provide their own answers. Also, further conversations were
asked some of the respondents especially the health and safety officers who were assign to the

site to ensure workers comply to the covid-19 protocols.

As stated by the respondents, observation of the protocols was initially seriously observed as

contractors bought veronica buckets, personal protective equipment, nose masks etc for workers

to protect themselves against the spread of the virus. However, as time went on the observation

of these protocols went down as workers were complaining of not filling comfortable working in

nose masks. Construction workers working on huge projects were made to work on a twelve (12)

hour shift. This was instituted because less people were being made to work in the morning,

which made the progress of work move slowly. Therefore, workers were made to work at night

to catchup with the loss time. Contractors also complained of the increase in their indirect cost as

they had to buy nose masks, veronica buckets and other gadgets that were bought to prevent the

spread of the virus.

Solutions for effect of covid-19 on cost

Many interventions were implemented by contractors and clients to help manage cost during the

pandemic. Theses ranges from changes in the prices of work packages in the scope of works,

changing of contract types to influence cost of the projects, changing of the terms of the contract

to enable solutions to be implemented to reduce the impact of covid-19 on cost.

To explain this further, several negotiations were done to ensure that cost were managed by

putting in place measures the will help in the regard. For example, for building construction

projects, clients agreed with contractors that they will buy materials themselves whiles the

contractors cost for labour will be reimbursed when invoices are raised. Also, certain escalation

clauses were inserted contracts in a form of an addendum which allowed contractors to submit a
higher amount than what was agreed in the contract when prices exceed certain level due to

covid-19. With less complicated or smaller projects, contractors were paid monies to complete

certain portions of the projects then it is reported on before funds are released to continue with

the projects. Certain solutions which contractors wanted to implement also did not work. Some

of these solutions includes, contractors wanting to agree fixed prices to some of their key

suppliers so as to reduce cost escalation of some of their materials.

One of the challenges faced by contractors was the unwillingness of financial institutions to

provide loans for the commencement of new construction works. This was due to the effect the

covid was having on the economy. Due to this they held on the disbursement of new loans so can

obviate the effect of the covid as a risk to business. These were some of the measures that were

implemented to manage cost of projects during the pandemic.

Solutions for effect of covid-19 on schedule

There were general delays in almost all of the construction projects that were being undertaking

during the period of the pandemic. Many of the respondents attested to the fact that, they struggle

to comply to timelines as stated in the contract due to the delay in almost everything that were

used as input for construction. The schedule for most of the projects were changed to

accommodate the delay that was occasion by the pandemic. Delay claims were negotiated on to

eighter stop or prevent it from delaying the projects further. Though delay in the schedule of

projects normally leads to increase in the cost of projects, in this case the delays were as a result

of external factors. These cost in relation delays caused by external factors were negotiated on

and managed to a large extent.

Some of the respondents decided to fast track some of the activities in order to meet the timelines

for some critical tasks. When some measures were taken to crash the construction programme,

there was a clear indication that it will astronomically increase the cost of the projects.

Solutions for effect of covid-19 on Resources.

The pandemic had a drastic effect on both human and material resources in the construction

industry. Much of the adverse effect was impacted on the material resources, especially on

supply chain disruptions. In order to prevent this happening, both clients and contractors had to

implement certain measures to prevent and control the effect on the project. The foremost

solution implemented was to agree on different timelines for the arrival of some of the critical

materials needed for the project due to in crease in the cost of shipping and slow of work due to

restrictions impose by government to control the spread of the virus. This however was good as

clients and contractors were on the same page when it comes to resource availability. Many

shops in the country were also complaining of their unavailability of materials due to lack of

shipping containers and high cost of shipping as well.

Cash flow for the purchase of materials also affected the availability of resources for the works

being done. This was in relation to major projects; this was attributed to the slowdown in the

operations of these business and their decisions to slow down disbursement to the construction of

new project. Most of the problems encountered by the contractors led to a revision of the

contract for large project and negotiations were done for smaller companies.
Discussions of major findings

The determination of project success as identified by (Standish Group International, 2015) is one

that meet the satisfaction of the customer. This definition includes the success rate of the project

itself as well as the project management of the project. This was further corroborated by the

responses elicited from the respondents for the research. by. The impact of covid-19 on the main

determinant of project success was at the root of the research. In managing projects, there are

certain aspect of the project that needs to be kept under control to enable the stakeholders to be

satisfied with the end results. These are schedule, cost and resources allocated or needed to

achieve a successful project. From the findings above, all the factors being considered here were

badly affected by the effect of covid-19. Below are the major findings on these main areas and

how they affected construction projects.

Effect of covid-19 on the schedule baseline of the various project was wide spread among all the

projects that were being done by the various respondents. This gives a wide indication of the

delay that was caused by the pandemic. Rescheduling of certain key element of the construction

process had to be done to enable the construction to be completed within a timeframe that did

will not of the on schedule. As stated by Muhammad Sami Ur Rehman (2021) an extension of

the project timelines were paramount as project at different levels were given an option for

extension to accommodate for the effect of covid-19.

The cost of almost all the project had wide difference between the planned cost and actual cost.

This really escalated the cost of most project. This cut across both big and small construction

projects. The baseline cost of most of the project was changed and led to changes in the contract

and it terms. Cost escalation was the factor that actually led the many changes in the construction

contract. The pandemic came with many adverse factors that affected all the factors that affect
the price of construction materials. This actually reduced the profit margins of most contractors

and as clients were not ready to absorb the initial cost increment due to the pandemic. As

discovered by (Yervi Hensa, 2021) when he conducted a study on the factors of pricing that the

pandemic affected which is made up of six components, including labor, material, implementation

time, project financial aspects, predicted cost, and occupational health and safety, had a frequency of

occurrence for each cause of cost overrun. This was done with special emphasis on hotel construction.

The impact of covid-19 on project resources were the worse among the three factors being

considered in the research. This spans from human to material resources and it affected every

material needed for the work that has to be done. Due to the work from home policy, it was

expected that there will be shortage of human capital on site but the situation was different from

that as most of the respondents stated that, they had all the needed human resource for the work

they were doing. Supply disruptions was very critical to the resource management performance

of the contractors. The disruption was worldwide and it affected most market across the world,

Ghana was no exception. The various shops that deal in the sales of building materials had to

eighter close their shops due to lack of materials to import or the increase in prices that is

keeping them out of business. There were job losses as a results of escalating construction cost

with respect to humas resources.

 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

General Conclusions

The unexpected effect of covid-19 on the global economy was devastating enough to reach all

countries especially the underdeveloped and developing countries. The construction industry had

its fair share of adverse effect which had a dent on the performance of construction works in the

country. In view of this the critical areas of project management was considered to know the

extent to which these factors were affected due to the pandemic. In contrary to situations in other

countries, the contribution of the construction industry to the national economy increased in the

year 2020 as it contribution in other developed countries shrinked.

Building construction resources were the worse affected as the global supply chain was

interrupted which led to the shortages of shipping containers and cost of shipping also increased.

Many factories closed down which affected the supply of manufactured materials for

construction. and those that were working had to run of a shift system due to reduction of

number of people that were suppose to work in a factory at time. These and other governmental

legislations that were meant to regulate the spread of covid affected the supply chain for the

production and distribution of building materials. In Ghana prices of building materials increased

hence affecting the cost of construction however, scarcity of human resources during the

pandemic was not experienced as most of the responses from the respondents where not in

support of that.

Cost of construction was affected as a result of increase in the prices of building materials. There

was a gap between the budgeted cost and actual cost of most of the project. This led to several
negotiations between contractors and clients. The cost of human resources also increased due to

the

Schedule delays were experience during the covid because of the various disruption in the supply

chain and the limited number of people that were expected to be working at construction site.

Some projects were halted whiles others were abrogated at an early. The uncertainties with

pricing led contributed largely to that. In order for contractors to limit their losses various terms

in the contract had to amended to ensure that the adverse effect on cost is limited.

Recommendations

The following are the recommendations being proposed to help the country mitigate the effect of

covid-19 on the construction industry.

Onsite worker accommodation facilities needs to be provided for workers working at site which

will help reduce the cost of accommodation on site. This is very important as ensuring social

distance at construction led to the construction of additional facilities at construction camps. As

practiced by the UAE government when the rules were changed to let contractors to put up on-

site worker accommodations facilities rather than a designated labor camp.

The need to start the production of locally manufactured materials is very critical to the success

of the construction. this is due to the fact that most of the materials that has the highest price

escalation was the ones that were imported. The government should cease the opportunity to

fund or provide a congenial business environment to encourage the production of building

construction materials.

Companies should also change their policy and concentrate on the purchase of raw materials for

the construction of buildings in the country. This will help reduce the over reliance of

construction companies on manufactured goods.

Contractual arrangement between construction companies and clients should be filled with terms

that will make the sourcing of labour and material resources to be based locally that will help

prevent the situation where material cost will increase in the country when there is shortage else

where around the world.

Payment terms in contracts should be made flexible to enable stakeholder in the construction

industry to adopt alternative means of making payment. As adopted by some contractors in the

UAE, some contractors, asked some vendors and suppliers if they will accept early payment

without achieving pre-set milestones then they will have to accept discounts. In that way, the

associated stakeholders received the required payments to effectively conduct their operations

and survive the pandemic, and the main contractor saved funds to cover the additional costs

incurred to curb the impacts of COVID-19.

Contractors and consultants should be timely and accurate cost estimating, use of cost data for

more informed, collaborative decision-making and leverage the advancement of technology. The

use of technology is key to the development of an accurate database for the development and

dissemination of reliable data for pricing. The use of video conferencing technology and building

modeling technology to develop accurate pricing information for the work.

Flexibility in the execution of projects management practices is key to the successful completion

of the projects. Provisions such as the submission of a revised schedule baseline by transferring

the impact of COVID-19 to the end of the project’s lifecycle. Secondly, partially completed and

nearly completed projects should have applied for an extension of time (EoT) to accommodate

the delays caused by the pandemic without modifying the existing schedule’s baseline.

The flexibility or extension needed to complete the appropriate testing, commissioning, and

handover to the end-user should have been granted for finished projects.