Effective quality management strategies for enhancing the success rate of indigenous construction SMEs in construction project delivery

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop effective quality management modalities that could be adopted by construction SMEs to achieve sustainable construction project success. A questionnaire was distributed to SMEs management team in the general building category registered under CIDB grade 1 - 4. To validate the questionnaire survey, interviews were conducted among purposively selected contractors who took part in the survey. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The findings revealed the most significant effective quality management practices for SMEs to promote sustainable success as clear working drawings, time to time request for quality inspection, effective implementation of total quality management and benchmarking for quality management. It should be noted that the quantitative findings were consistent with the qualitative findings. This paper focuses on SME contractors with CIDB grading between 1 and 4 who are registered in the Eastern Cape province. The results obtained from this paper could be adopted as a quality management tool for construction SMEs to achieve sustainable construction project success. This study is based on SMEs effective quality management strategies and provides more comprehensive effective quality management practices that could be adopted by construction SMEs.