Posthandover Housing Defects: Sources and Origins

In Spain, the high levels of inexperienced workers and the long chains of subcontracting contribute to the poor quality of dwellings. Althoughthe Ley reguladora de la subcontratacion en el Sector de la Construccion (subcontracting law) has established quality measures, the number of customer complaints is still increasing. In this paper, a total of 2,351 posthandover defects derived from four Spanish builders and seven residential developments are classi fi ed according to their source and origin. The research reveals that the most common defects identi fi ed by customers at posthandover were derived from bad workmanship and were related to construction errors and omissions. Typical defects were foundtoincludeincorrectinstallation,appearancedefects,andmissinganitemortaskmainlyrelatedto fi nishingandconsideredtobeminor.No defects were caused by poor design because they are mainly detected and resolved during construction or become apparent after some years of use. This study demonstrates the negative impact of redoing defective work during the fi nal stages of construction and provides knowledge to de fi ne measures to improve the quality of the fi nished buildings, such as understanding customer expectations and preferences, training programs for workers, specialization of subcontractors, and tightening external controls prior to handover.

[1]  Michael Yit Lin Chew,et al.  Maintainability problems of wet areas in high-rise residential buildings , 2003 .

[2]  James Sommerville,et al.  Customer satisfaction and snagging in the UK private house building sector , 2010 .

[3]  Sui Pheng Low,et al.  Latent Building Defects: Causes and Design Strategies to Prevent Them , 2006 .

[4]  Sui Pheng Low,et al.  Assessment of Defects at Construction and Occupancy Stages , 2005 .

[5]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Occupational Licensing of Building Trades: Case of Western Australia , 2010 .

[6]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Dynamics of Rework in Complex Offshore Hydrocarbon Projects , 2011 .

[7]  Unai Mallea Rincon.  LEY 32/2006 REGULADORA DE LA SUBCONTRATACIÓN EN EL SECTOR DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN , 2008 .

[8]  Jim Georgiou.  Verification of a building defect classification system for housing , 2010 .

[9]  Michael Yit Lin Chew.  Defect analysis in wet areas of buildings , 2005 .

[10]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  A review of builder registration in the state of Victoria, Australia , 2000 .

[11]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Calculating total rework costs in Australian construction projects , 2005 .

[12]  Tony Auchterlounie.  Recurring quality issues in the UK private house building industry , 2009 .

[13]  María de los Reyes Martínez Barroso,et al.  La extensión del deber de vigilancia empresarial en las contratas a los trabajadores autónomos, tras la entrada en vigor de la Ley 32/2006, de 18 de octubre, reguladora de la subcontratación en el sector de la construcción , 2006 .

[14]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Assessment of residential defects at post-handover , 2013 .

[15]  Andrew R. Atkinson.  The role of human error in construction defects , 1999 .

[16]  Zahir Irani,et al.  A project management quality cost information system for the construction industry , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[17]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Design Error Costs in Construction Projects , 2012 .

[18]  Gi-Du Kang,et al.  The hierarchical structure of service quality: integration of technical and functional quality , 2006 .

[19]  A. Sohal,et al.  Capturing rework costs in projects , 2003 .

[20]  J.P. Rooney,et al.  Customer satisfaction , 1994, Proceedings of Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS).

[21]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Defect Costs in Residential Construction , 2009 .

[22]  James Sommerville,et al.  Defects in new homes: an analysis of data on 1,696 new UK houses , 2006 .

[23]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Influence of Project Type and Procurement Method on Rework Costs in Building Construction Projects , 2002 .

[24]  P.-E Josephson,et al.  The causes and costs of defects in construction. A study of seven building projects , 1999 .

[25]  James Sommerville,et al.  Defects and rework in new build: an analysis of the phenomenon and drivers , 2007 .

[26]  Femi Olubodun,et al.  Evaluation of defect influencing factors in public housing in the UK , 1999 .

[27]  Vivian W. Y Tam,et al.  Impacts of multi-layer chain subcontracting on project management performance , 2011 .

[28]  Marton Marosszeky,et al.  Managing subcontractor supply chain for quality in construction , 2006 .

[29]  W. B. Ledbetter,et al.  MEASURING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION QUALITY COSTS , 1989 .

[30]  M. I. Okoroh,et al.  Understanding residential house defects in Australia from the State of Victoria , 2004 .

[31]  Jodi J. Farrington,et al.  A Methodology to Identify and Categorize Costs of Quality Deviations in Design and Construction , 1987 .

[32]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  A comparison of defects in houses constructed by owners and registered builders in the Australian State of Victoria , 1999 .

[33]  David S. Watt,et al.  Building Pathology: Principles and Practice , 2008 .

[34]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Quantifying the causes and costs of rework in construction , 2000 .

[35]  W. B. Ledbetter,et al.  Causes of Quality Deviations in Design and Construction , 1992 .

[36]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Forensic project management: The underlying causes of rework in construction projects , 2004 .