The significance of understanding the factors that affect building construction project cost estimating practice has been recognized by researchers and practitioners worldwide for many years. Identification of these factors and their level of influence are of paramount importance in modeling the cost behaviour of construction projects as well as increasing the estimating accuracy during feasibility stage. The objective of this study is to determine the significant factors influencing cost estimating practice for building construction projects. In order to achieve this objective, quantitative data were collected from building contractors in Klang Valley area of Malaysia. Each research participant was asked to assign a one-tofive rating for each of 79 factors of project cost estimating practice. Priority ranking of costinfluencing factors revealed that 35 of 79 factors were regarded by the research participants working for the small, medium and large contracting firms in Klang Valley, Malaysia as highly relevant for building projects cost estimating practice. Client requirements on quality with the highest transformed score was found to be the most important factor affecting building projects cost estimating practice.
building construction building contractors cost estimating practice significant factors
Tien-Choon Toh Connie Ting Kherun-Nita Ali Godwin-Uche Aliagha Omar Munir
Dept. of Built Environment, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Dept. of Qua Asia Pacific Logistics Centre, Eppendorf Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd, 47600 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Dept. of Quantity Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia Dept. of Geography, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Dept. of Built Environment, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 53300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia