Assessment Of Construction Material Management System On Public Building Projects In The Case Of Hawassa Town

Abstract

Material management can be defined as a process that coordinates planning, assessing the requirement, sourcing, purchasing, transporting, storing and controlling of materials, minimizing the wastage and optimizing the profitability by reducing cost of material. In construction project operation, often there is a project cost variance in terms of the material, equipment, manpower, subcontractor and overhead cost. The aim of this research was to assess the construction material management system in public building projects in the Hawassa town. This Research has employed descriptive research method and the data for the study were collected using structured questionnaires, interview and observation. The data was analyzed by RII using descriptive statistics in the form of Percent, averages, pie chart, histogram and tabular form. The researcher concludes that the construction material management system of the contractor personnel have lack of technical professionals, lack of waste control management systems and lack of training system for laborers in construction site. Even though the construction material management process were practiced, there were ineffective communication, designer’s unfamiliarity with products, unclear specification, purchasing non waste efficient materials, improper construction material delivery, damage of materials, improper stocking and insufficient storage of materials, lack of security, poor training system related to wastage and negligence practice of workers. And the improper implementation of the construction material management process affects the overall budget, accomplishment time, quality and productivity of the construction project. The researcher recommends that for effective construction material management the contractor personnel should provide specific material department and establish a system to provide appropriate training for workers under the contractor on how to handle the construction materials and the mechanisms for minimization of wastage of materials