Proneness of Building Materials to Waste in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Construction material waste poses a significant challenge to project cost, environmental sustainability, and efficient resource utilisation in the construction industry, particularly in rapidly developing regions such as Oyo State, Nigeria. This study assessed the proneness of building materials to waste and examined the factors influencing waste in building materials in the study area. These were with a view to enhancing construction project delivery. The study population for this research were Quantity Surveying and Construction firms in Oyo State with sampling frame of 18 and 734, respectively. A Census of Quantity Surveying firms was conducted while a sample size of 75 Construction firms was selected for this study using simple random sampling technique, making a total of 93. Primary data were collected from 16 Quantity Surveying firms and 61 Construction firms via structured questionnaires, making a total of 77 and a response rate of 82.8%. Out of the 77 questionnaires retrieved, 70 were properly filled and used for analysis. Findings from the analysis showed that although all the seven materials investigated were moderately prone to waste, blocks, timber, and cement were the top three materials that are prone to waste mostly due to factors such as handling, design variation, competence, planning, weather.