Identification and Categorization of Building Defects

Abstract

The problem of building defects is one of the common problems that occur throughout the lifecycle of the building. The construction stakeholders consider it a critical issue that led to costs and time implications of reworks. Mostly, repairing construction defects requires a cost approximately ranging from 2.4% to 3.15% of the total cost of building. Therefore, the current study looks forward to discovering and classifying the common factors contributing to construction defects. To achieve this objective, the researcher adopted a qualitative method to collect and analyze the needed data through deep review of several previous studies that focused on the causes of building defects. Accordingly, this study identified 57 common contributing factors of building defects, which are classified into five groups according to their sources. These groups are Factors related to design, Factors related to construction, Factors related to materials, Factors related to human and External factors. Understanding the contributing factors of the building defects can help construction stakeholders take and develop various strategies to reduce the existence of defects in newly constructed buildings. Positively, the findings of this study could upgrade the management efficiency of the building defects assessment process in the future, which will help to avoid them as much as possible.