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With the increase in the cases of construction claims in Nigeria, many projects have remained uncompleted, while many of those completed receive poor client satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how construction claims are managed.

In total, 58 claim factors were identified and addressed to construction professionals through survey to indicate the extent at which the factors contributed to claims. A case study was conducted to illustrate claim management.

In total, 37 factors were the major source of claims. Late payment, delayed approval of change order and delay cost were the extremely influential while the least were storage charges, loss of productivity, and costs of preparing claims. Evidences revealed that all stakeholders should play active roles to deliver “claim free” projects.

The findings will be useful to practitioners in the effort to improve project delivery by providing some guidance on claim minimization. It is hoped that this study will encourage academics to conduct more research on this issue.

There is no known conclusive empirical study on construction claim factors in Nigeria. In light of this, the findings offer greater opportunities for claim minimization/avoidance.

The successive Malaysian government aims to provide housing to households earning the median income and below. However, there has been continuous criticism and complaints from the media and literature on the magnitude of the defects in affordable housing. Therefore, this research has investigated the defects in affordable housing for the users’/occupants' perspectives.

With a response rate of 69%, the research developed a questionnaire instrument that included twenty-one defects in buildings based on literature and observation. These were scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from very common to least common. Twelve causes of defects measured on a five-point scale were included in the survey. Thirteen additional items that had to do with remedial actions to reduce defects were included. These were scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to least agree. The survey forms were administered to all the 152 home occupants in a Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) housing estate through hand delivery in a northern state in Malaysia.

The data revealed that broken doors, damaged roofs, damp walls and broken tiles in rooms were the most common defects in the housing development. It was found that defects in the buildings were caused by poor workmanship, defective materials, poor designs and bad weather. Additionally, to rectify the defects, adequate supervision is required during maintenance, the repairs must be conducted on time and there is a need to have competent maintenance organisations. Through factor analysis, the 21 defects were structured into six factors, the 12 causes were grouped into 5 factors and the 13 remedial actions were grouped into 6 factors.

The information on the nature, degree and kinds of defects from the users' perspectives will dictate when repair work is to be undertaken and allow future work to be programmed and financed as part of a maintenance rolling programme.

This research focused specifically on “Program Perumahan Rakyat” housing development. Furthermore, none of the previous research on defects conducted attempted to categorise the defects in the buildings. The categorisation is very important for systemic decision-making because there are continuous interactions amongst the defects, causes and remedial actions.

The maintenance of hospital buildings is often acknowledged as challenging tasks yet inevitable to ensure effective delivery of health-care functions. This study aims to investigate the rationale behind the execution of maintenance which provides essential input for better prioritization of maintenance tasks.

This study evaluated the determinants of building maintenance of public hospitals in Malaysia from the perspectives of key personnel appointed to monitor, supervise and inspect the activities of the privatised support services in public hospitals. A total of 66 questionnaire survey responses were analysed.

Findings revealed that the maintenance practices in public hospitals are user-centric with high emphasis on user’s expectations and complaints. Comparatively, vandalism and improper use of facilities were less of concerns.

This paper reveals the key determinants that influence decision-making in building maintenance of the Malaysian public hospitals from the perspective of maintenance personnel. It adds value to the under-researched topic of privatised hospital support services, which is currently outsourced to five concession companies nationwide.

Hospital building maintenance management constitutes a pertinent issue of global concern for all healthcare stakeholders. In Malaysia, the maintenance management of hospital buildings is instrumental to the Government’s goal of providing efficient healthcare services to the Government's citizenry. However, there is a paucity of studies that have comprehensively explored all dimensions of hospital building defects in relation to maintenance management. Consequently, this study seeks to evaluate the defects of hospital buildings in Malaysia with the aim of proffering viable solutions for the rectification and prevention of the issue.

The study utilised a quantitative approach for data collection.

The findings indicated that cracked floors, floor tile failures, wall tiles failure, blocked water closets, and damaged windows were some of the flaws that degrade hospital buildings. The study’s outcomes reveal that defects not only deface the aesthetic appearance of hospital buildings but also inhibit the functionality of the buildings and depreciate the overall satisfaction.

Considering the indispensable role of hospital buildings in the grand scheme of healthcare service provision and ensuring the well-being of people, the issue of defects necessitates an urgent re-evaluation of the maintenance management practices of hospital buildings in Malaysia. Previous studies on the maintenance management of hospital buildings in Malaysia have focused primarily on design, safety, and construction.

This is particularly important because defects in hospital buildings across the country have recently led to incessant ceiling collapses, fire outbreaks, ceiling, roof collapses, and other structural failures. These problems are typically the result of poor maintenance management, exacerbated by poor design and construction. These disasters pose significant risks to the lives of hospital building users.

This study offers invaluable insights for maintenance organisations and maintenance department staff who are genuinely interested in improving hospital buildings’ maintenance management to optimise staff's performance and enhance the user satisfaction of hospital buildings in Malaysia and globally.

Poor quality in building projects is high and increasing. Poor quality can increase the cost of a building by up to more than 50% and can delay a project by up to 50%. This research investigated the poor quality of building elements/components.

The site operatives were requested to rate the frequency of poor quality in 25 building elements/components. The frequencies of the poor quality were scored on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from least often to extremely often. The survey forms were administered to construction site operatives by hand delivery.

The data revealed that poor quality occurred in more than 80% of the building projects completed. Approximately 40% of the cost of a building project is attributed to poor quality. In total, 70% of the respondents measured the poor quality of building elements as being high and frequent. The size and frequency of poor quality are higher in concrete, plaster, brick, foundations and roof trusses.

The research findings would help to reduce claims, disputes, maintenance costs and waste on sites.

This research provides fresh information on poor quality in building projects and provides a systemic process for anticipating poor quality in building projects. The findings also provide an option to increase maintenance span and a means to reduce claims and disputes in the construction sector.

The establishment of design criteria is an important activity in the initial phase of housing development. A lack of adequate information regarding design criteria will result in poor satisfaction of homebuyers, pre-occupancy obsolescence, high maintenance costs, property overhang and the abandonment of houses. In Malaysia, many of these consequences are prevalent. However, while information on homeowners’ requirements is inconclusive, paper aims to investigate the criteria upon which design teams/developers base their decisions in the design of affordable housing.

The present research conducted a cross-sectional survey questionnaire comprising 25 design criteria administered to 200 stakeholders in the housing industry. The design criteria were determined through a weighted mean. The associations between the criteria were analysed through a principal component analysis.

The results found that safety and security of home occupants and property, maintenance costs, noise and nuisance minimisation, extent of future modifications and waste disposal were the five major design criteria. Factor analysis narrowed down the 25 criteria to six factors, which explained 77 per cent of the total variance. The six underlying factors named of significance were operating costs, sustainability, comfort, neighbourhood, transportation and spatial. The findings also indicated that the design teams/developers paid little attention to a few critical design criteria.

Future studies should involve a large sample size and increase the design criteria.

The study is important for improving homebuyers’ satisfactions because it provides information design team and developers decision-making factors.

This study is the first to address design criteria of affordable housing in Malaysia and elsewhere. This research provides fresh information on design management of affordable housing. The findings will be useful to policymakers, urban planners, place managers, design consultants and developers.

Because of the sort of working environment and the nature of construction jobs, a high rate of poor mental health has been recorded in the construction industry. The aim of this study is to compare construction workers' mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

A survey questionnaire was developed and administered online to building environment professionals working on construction sites. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. An independent sample t-test was also conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference in the mean before and during the COVID-19 infection.

The results show that mental health challenges were more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic. The result of the independent sample t-test revealed that there exists a significant difference in all the mean before and during COVID-19 except sleeping too much or too little; having low or no energy and lack of emotion that shows no significant difference.

This study is the first to compare the mental health of construction workers before and during COVID-19 in Nigeria. The significance of this study was that it would provide an insight for construction managers and other decision-makers on the most critical mental health challenges on construction sites, which will help in an attempt to improve the mental well-being of construction workers.

The demand for residential units in mixed development is increasing because of a better understanding of the benefits and functions of mixed development. However, there is a lack of study on the performance of the residential buildings in the mixed development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the satisfaction level of the occupants of residential buildings in mixed developments.

The research developed a questionnaire instrument that included 17 factors to measure the expectations and actual satisfaction of the residences in the mixed development. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from five mixed developments in Greater Kuala Lumpur and analysed with service quality and matrix chart models.

The data revealed that while the expectations of the residential building users in mixed developments were not excessive, their satisfaction levels were not high. The price of residential buildings in mixed developments is exorbitant. Many of the occupants have relatively high actual satisfaction, even though some of them are disappointed in some of the services or benefits that are expected in mixed developments. The occupants are not interested in the nearness of the mixed development to public transport facilities, suggesting a high urge for private car ownership and poor public transport facilities.

The findings will be useful to developers, design teams, city planners and policymakers. Implicit in the findings of this research is the lack of a benchmark for the performance of luxury housing. From an ontological standpoint, the main findings of this study are generalisable to other cities in and outside of Malaysia.

Statistics show that the construction sector has the second-highest number of accident cases in Malaysia. A total of 100, 000 construction workers suffer from work-related bad health each year. Scaffolding accidents are the second cause of accidents on construction sites. Therefore, this present research provided answers to the following questions: (1) what are the causes of scaffolding accidents and (2) what are the possible measures to reduce scaffolding accidents?

The research developed a questionnaire instrument that included 24 causes of scaffolding accidents and 21 remedial actions. The research was based on a cross-sectional survey questionnaire administered to 129 members of construction organizations.

Data revealed that scaffolding-related cases caused a total of 70% of the deaths/injuries on sites. Furthermore, scaffolding accidents were mainly caused by a lack of guard rails on scaffoldings, poor inspections, improper assembly, a poor safety culture, poor attitudes towards safety, poor footing of scaffoldings and unsecured planking. To reduce scaffolding accidents, there must be a lifeline on scaffolding, proper guardrails and proper assembling of scaffoldings, and preventing access to incomplete or defective scaffoldings. The 24 causes are structured into six factors through factor analysis and the 21 remedial actions into six factors.

This research serves as the first attempt to conduct broad research on the causes and remedial actions concerning scaffolding accidents on construction sites in Malaysia. Theoretically, the research has provided fresh insights into the impact of scaffolding accidents.

Construction process is complex and traditionally fragmented; thus, it is almost impossible to have a project completed without changes to the original plan or the construction process. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the causes of variation orders, ascertain their effects and establish the cost and time performance implication as a result of variation orders.

This study obtained information from 90 construction stakeholders on 30 completed educational building projects to ascertain the causes and effects of variation orders on project delivery using questionnaire survey. In addition to this, a pro forma document was designed to obtain the project characteristics, cost and time data from these 30 completed educational building projects. Factor analysis was used to categorise the causes of variation orders, while severity index was used to examine their effects on project delivery. The hypothesised statement was tested using paired t-statistics to examine whether a statistically significant difference existed between variation orders, cost and time performance of the projects.

The study identified 13 main factors as causes of variation orders and the results revealed that the most frequent effects of variations were increase in construction costs, time, client dissatisfaction, increase construction project rework and demolition and project abandonment. The results also showed that variation orders had significant effects on both cost and scheduled performance of the educational building projects with average cost and time escalation of 33.95 and 29.45 per cent of the original project cost and time, respectively, for the entire projects studied, while average cost implication of variation orders is 23.79 per cent.

The findings in this study will be of assistance to government agencies and management of public works in higher institutions of learning in managing variations in construction projects. The study will also add to the current literature on the impact of variation orders on educational building projects in developing countries. Finally, it will create the much-needed awareness on the severity and implication of change or variation orders on project delivery.

The study identified and examined the causes of variation orders, ascertained their effects and established the cost and time effects of the causes of variation order on project performance. This will assist project initiators, contractors, consultants and other stakeholders to fully appreciate and understand the significant effects of variation orders on project performance.