Evaluating factors affecting labor productivity in building projects in Somaliland; site engineer's perspectives

The construction industry has been referred to have a multiplier effect in the performance of any economy. Poor productivity of workers is one of the most overwhelming problems that construction industries, especially those in developing countries, face, the poor productivity of construction workers being one of the causes of cost and time overruns in construction projects. The pinpointing of thefactors which affect labour productivity would enable the project team to effectively use the resources on their disposal to enhance productivity. Enhanced labour productivity increases the probability of projects to be completed as per the budgeted cost and specified time. The main objective of the study was to investigate the significant factors that affect construction labor productivity on Somaliland construction sites through survey. Questionnaires were designed to collect information on factors influencing labour productivity from site engineers. 44 factors considered for the study were categorized in ten different groups named asmanpower, motivation, leadership, tools/materials, time, supervision, quality, project, safety and weathercondition.The factors were then ranked according to the rate given by the respondents.To achieve this survey method and Likert-type attitude scale were used and analyzed by SPSS package. The ten factors found to have the highest effect on building construction labor productivity in Somaliland are lack of experience, lack of financial motivation, payment delay, tools/equipment shortage, Khat, dispute with the superintendent, drawing and specification alternation during execution, labor disloyalty, rework, working within a confined space.