Influence Of Contractor Capability On Performance Of Large Construction Projects; A Case Of West Pokot County, Kenya

Abstract

The rising rate of poorly performed construction projects remains a serious problem affecting the construction industry in project delivery. Hence, this paper aims at investigating the influence of contractor capability on the performance of large construction projects in West Pokot County, Kenya. Time in this research has been used as the indicator for project performance. The objectives of this study were: to determine how Contractor planning, Contractor management capacity, Contractor resources and Contractor - Sub Contractor relationship influence the performance of large construction projects. A literature review was done where local, as well as global perspectives were looked into so as to fill a research gap. A conceptual framework was also provided as a guide to the study. The research adopted descriptive research design while using structured questionnaires and an interview guide to collect data. From a target population of 10 large construction projects in West Pokot County, 3 managers and site engineers from each of the project team (Contractor, Client, and Consultant) per project were selected as the sample. Therefore, a total sample of 90 respondents were used for the study with a 93.3% return rate. Data was collected using interviews and structured questionnaires. Questionnaire data was tallied and analyzed to frequencies, percentages, weighted mean and standard deviation and presented in tables. While data collected from interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. In the findings, it was established that over 98.8%, 91.7%, 97.8% and 80.4% of the respondents indicated that contractor planning, contractor management capacity, contractor resources, and contractor-sub contractor relationship influenced performance of large projects. It was recommended that the government should formulate policies aimed at enhancing performance of contractors, and organize trainings for contractors to enhance their skills needed to use modern ways of reducing actual project completion time.