Improvement measures of cost overruns in residential construction project in Malaysia

Abstract

Cost overrun is the major issue in residential construction project industry worldwide, including Malaysia. These studies therefore aim to achieve three objectives namely: (1) to identify the existing practice for cost control in residential construction project; (2) to investigate the causes of cost overrun in residential construction project in Malaysia; (3) to propose improvement measures on cost overrun in residential construction project in Malaysia. This study was done via of literature review, questionnaire survey and expert focus group for data validation. This study found that: (1) the existing practice shows that the project management team for cost control in residential construction project in Malaysia are the moderate implementation of proper tendering system and bidding process, weak tender committee enforcement on the cost comparison for every contract awarded in a project and no submission of the project cost report to management throughout the project; (2) the cost overrun in residential construction project was causes by improper planning and scheduling, inconsistency in material?s price, incompetent contractor, and poor financial capabilities by contractor; (3) the improvement measures of the cost overrun in residential construction project in Malaysia of which include effective project planning and scheduling, having competent project management teams and using cost-saving construction method in the project. This study could serve as a guideline to the project management team, which involves in Malaysia residential construction project to maximise the cost performance in the project and thus shall support the Construction Industry Transformation Programme Malaysia's national agenda.