World Journal of Engineering Research and Technology

Mbakwe, Chinwendu Christopher, *Ugochukwu, Stanley Chukwudi, Ajator, Uche

ABSTRACT

Most public building projects in Nigeria have a difference between their tender/initial contract sums and final construction costs, and this difference is often caused by claims. Where not properly handled, these claims lead to delays, disputes and sometimes project abandonment. The effects of claims cost on the delivery of public building projects in Nigeria have long been a source of concern to stakeholders. In view of this, the study sought to analyze the impact of claims on final cost of public building projects in Nigeria via ascertaining the percentage contribution of claims in the final cost of public building projects, identifying the most common type of claims and their cost implications and finally, determining the relationship between claims and final cost of public building projects. Data on ten public building projects of varying characteristics were collected, five from Delta State and five from Anambra States, while simple percentage index and the Pearson correlation co-efficient (r) were used to analyze the data. Results/findings obtained, indicates that claims account for about 25% of the increase in costs of the surveyed public building projects, the most frequent type of claims experienced on these projects are variation claims (53.84%) and a strong positive relationship(r = 0.98) exists between claims and final construction costs, indicating that claims impact significantly on the final cost of the building projects. It was thus advanced that, there should be proper planning (and estimating) by stakeholders, prior to building construction, in order to reduce cost overruns and restore confidence in the Nigerian construction industry.

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