Cause of Construction Material Wastage on Public Building Project in Western Oromia

Abstract

In the construction industry, construction material is one of the major cost components and it is 50% to 70% of the total construction cost. However, the industry generates 30%-65% of wastage for landfill. Effective use of construction material is profitable in the industry as well as in the economy of any country. However, material wastage management in construction are rarely studied by Ethiopian context. Hence, this research is aimed to investigate cause of construction material wastage and rank highly wasted construction material wastage on public building projects in western Oromia. The Study uses both primary and secondary data by structured questionnaires and case study (interviews and site visits). The research has covered a population of General and Building contractors from level one to three and their supervisor's that are employed in western Oromia on public buildings. The purposive sampling techniques were used to collect the data and Analyzed and presented by mean score by using statistical package for social science (SPSS) and excel worksheets. The result of the study analyses, mostly causes of construction materials are; Changes made to the design while construction is in progress, Lack of attention paid to dimensional coordination of products, Damage during transportation, Improper planning for required quantities, Designer's inexperience in method and sequence of construction. In addition, causes of construction material wastages are presented under seven attributes causes. As well as wastage of material on eight key construction, material are ranked as concrete, wooden formwork, block, and steel are most wasted by asking respondents based on their experience in the construction industry. Generally, wastage of material is highly occurred in every activity i.e. during design, construction and during the production of the material.