Construction of residential house a case study of public housing units in Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

The construction of public housing is common in the developing country like Nigeria. The demand of the houses is on the rise as people need shelter. Due to the high demand of residential houses has caused many problems to arise. One of the problems is the quality of residential houses. The quality is poor and it is presumed that the root of the problems started from the approval process to the poor monitoring by the authorities. The aim of this study is to explore the factors that cause lack of conformity to construction standards, poor finishing quality of residential houses and occupant dissatisfaction. The objectives of this study are to examine and compare the differences between the Nigerian and Malaysian building plan approval process for the construction of residential houses, to evaluate factors that contributed to the poor quality of residential houses in Nigeria, to examine and compare the differences in the Nigerian and Malaysian sales and purchase agreement clauses and to determine the level of satisfaction of the occupants regarding the quality of the residential house in Nigeria. The study is conducted in Gombe, Nigeria. This study is conducted through questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were distributed to the consultants, contractors and also the house occupants. The data are analysed using Average Index. From the study, it was found that the building approval process in Nigeria is not comprehensive as compared to the Malaysian building approval process. The factors that contributed to the poor quality of the public residential houses are inadequate personal, corruption and poor monitoring and inspection. The occupant level of satisfaction regarding the finishing quality of the houses in Nigeria is “Dissatisfied”.