Impacts Of Change Orders On Public Building Projects In Debre Birhan

Abstract

Change orders are almost inevitable in construction projects which are a result of the nature of the industry and uniqueness of the projects. Changes play significant role in determining the final cost and time of projects. In Ethiopian construction projects changes are used to occur frequently and in excessive magnitude. Construction projects in Debre Birhan are suffering from change orders in similar fashion with the other regions of Ethiopia. This research assessed the impacts of change orders on public building projects in Debre Birhan, Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were to identify the major causes of changes and their impacts on public building construction projects; and finally to recommend the controlling strategies to reduce changes. To accomplish those objectives literature review, desk study and questionnaire survey were conducted. By using literature review 40 suggested causes and 21 suggested impacts were identified. The questionnaire achieved 80.77% rate of return. The data was analysed by a Microsoft excel software package using Relative Importance Index (RII), and Spearman correlation coefficient as methods. The results were presented in tables. The results suggested that change/modification in design, change in specification, error &omission in design and differing site conditions were chosen as the most common causes of change order. Using RII of the cumulative frequency, the four most significant impacts of change orders were cost overrun, time overrun(delay of completion time), affection of project progress and increase in overhead cost.