Abstract

This study was motivated by long term observations of the construction industry in the Northern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The observations showed that the construction waste is becoming a serious environmental, economical and safety issue that affects the suburbs of the KSA. The study utilizes Likert scaled responses through a two-part questionnaire distributed to 42 contractors located in the Northern region of KSA. The first part of the questionnaire aims at identifying causes of material waste in building construction projects from the contractors’ viewpoint. The second part seeks to rank the considered materials according to their level of importance from the contractors’ viewpoint. The collected data was analyzed through Minitab statistical software. It was found that the most significant factors causing construction waste are: (1) inaccuracy in quantity surveys leading to over- ordering or under-ordering; (2) the selection of low quality products; (3) detail errors in design and construction; (4) the order of supplies in loose form; (5) and the inefficiency in resource management. The results of this study show that construction material handling and managerial decisions have a critical impact on the cause and effect of the level of construction waste. The study findings demonstrate that the most important benefits for considering construction waste are to know the exact required quantities for a construction project and to plan and prepare an accurate schedule for material arriving supply. The study recommends employing Lean Manufacturing principles to eliminate the construction waste and to enhance the decision making process in construction management in the northern part of KSA.

Keywords:

Contractors , construction management , construction materials , materials waste, ranking, waste,

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Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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