BUILDING PROFESSIONALS PERCEPTION OF DETERIORATION OF BUILDINGS DUE TO DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION ERRORS IN MAKURDI METROPOLIS OF BENUE STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigated deterioration of buildings due to design and construction errors in Makurdi metropolis of Benue State. Two research questions guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study was 172 building professionals. A proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to select 111 building professionals. The instrument used for data collection was a 28-item self structured questionnaire titled Building Deterioration (BD) which was validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha was used to ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.82. The data was collected through direct contact. The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that design errors like absence of damp proof courses specifications in building designs, poor specification of damp proof construction materials, defective design of water systems among others leads to deterioration of buildings. It was also found that construction errors like use of sub-standard plumbing fitting leads to deterioration of buildings, low placement of floor gradient, lean mixture of concrete among others causes deterioration of buildings.It was therefore recommended that architects should always include appropriate moisture control elements in their building designs, building construction professionals should ensure to include appropriate water channels during construction of buildings, construction engineers and builders should always adhere to design specifications when carrying out building projects.

Keywords: Buildings, Deterioration, Design, Construction