Contributions of Influencing Factors to Compliance Levels Withnca Regulations: a Case Study of Small and Medium Scale Building Contractors in Nairobi City County

Abstract

Building regulations exist to ensure that building contractors uphold building policies set out in various relevant legislation. Despite the existence of these building [NCA] regulations, building construction works proceed in defiance of the regulations and as documented in past research studies, such defiance is one major cause of structural failures of buildings in Kenya. Identification of compliance factors has not adequately addressed the Small and Medium Scale Building Contractors’ (SMBCs) low compliance levels. The goal of this research was to evaluate the factors and their contribution to SMBCs’ compliance level with NCA regulations. Ultimately the study sought to propose strategies that would enhance SMBCs compliance levels based on the factors’ rating. Literature review produced secondary data, with field survey adopted for primary data. The target population comprised of SMBCs (NCA 8-NCA 5) in Nairobi City County, NCA officials as well as academics/experts in the construction industry. Disproportionate stratified random sampling yielded a sample size of 92 SMBC respondents. Purposive sampling produced 3 NCA officials and 3 respondents in experts/academics category. Data from SMBC respondents was collected through questionnaires whereas interviews were used for experts and NCA officials. The primary data was analyzed through SPSS 21 for quantitative data and NVivo software for qualitative data; to give descriptive statistics in terms of percentages, frequencies, RII, median and Inter-Quartile Range. The results were presented using tables, pie charts and bar charts. Literature review identified ten SMBCs compliance factors namely; inadequate SMBC capacity; SMBC reluctance to attend CPD training; low sensitization levels; inadequate SMBC training; NCA’s inadequate capacity; ineffective NCA strategy; alleged corruption by NCA; overlapping roles of NCA and other regulators; NCA lacking prosecutorial powers and; uncoordinated regulation. Field survey validated the compiled factors and confirmed the study proposition that SMBC compliance-influencing factors have different ratings on their influence on prevalent compliance levels with NCA regulations. The results rated ‘overlapping roles of NCA and other regulators’ the most influential factor at a Relative Importance Index (RII) of 0.80 implying very high influence. Contrariwise, “alleged corruption in NCA” was rated the least influential with a RII 0.63 implying high influence. All investigated factors yielded high influence on SMBC compliance. The results further proved that SMBCs compliance levels were average. These findings imply that the studied factors must be addressed for enhanced SMBCs’ compliance. The study makes recommendations including legislation reviews; thorough scrutiny of SMBCs at registration and NCA’s intensification of civic education, among others. The outcomes of the study contribute to the quest for solutions to the non-compliance of building contractors and by extension, the challenge of building collapse in Kenya. It also provides insight for further research on the contribution of developers on contractors’ non-compliance with building standards and codes, among other areas.