Investigation of Challenging Issues and Effects in the Adoption of Modern Methods of Construction in Public Projects in the Case of Jimma Town

Abstract

Modern method of construction has been acknowledged for it could make important contribution toward addressing the construction industries problem. The industry has been facing common problems such as stagnancy of productivity, shortage of skilled labor, poor and deviation from expected quality, uncertainty in time and cost, inadequate health and safety issues that make it unable to fulfill an increasing housing demand. Even though many researchers were proposed modern method as one of the alternative solutions for those problems in their studies, adoption of this method is still very low. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate challenge that hinder the adoption of this method and its effects in public building constructions in Jimma Town. The study implements quantitative and qualitative research approach by using both the primary and secondary sources of data from construction professionals and previous studies. Along this, the researcher analyze the data through Microsoft Excel based on (RII) to determine the relative severity of barriers, and significance of effects. A total of 38 questioners with a response rate of 84.4% were found to be valid and included in the analysis. Out of the 24 barriers identified in literature and interview, lack of experience and skills in the method has got the first rank with RII of 0.78, followed by higher initial cost with RII of 0.75, and lack of cooperated information system with RII of 0.74. Results of the study revealed that adoption of high level types of modern method of construction such as off site manufactured-volumetric, off-site manufactured-panelized and off-site manufactured hybrid are negligible in Public Building Project of Jimma Town. Although the adoption of low level types of this method are started, those types are limited to small elements and components. The results also revealed the barriers that challenge the adoption of modern method of construction are lack of experience and skills in logistics of chain management, design and on-site/off-site operation of products, higher initial cost, and lack of cooperated information system and unavailability of manufacturer/provider of products. Furthermore, decreased construction time, improved quality, cost effectiveness(increased value) and improved health and safety of workers appear to be the most significant positive effects that adoption of the method have had in the public building projects. The Findings will help construction firms, government and all the concerned bodies to overcome challenging barriers in their adoption of this technique in future works