Assessing Contractor Satisfaction towards Client Performance in Construction Projects

Abstract

While most research looks at the client satisfaction in the construction industry, contractor satisfaction towards client performance is also an important issue. The performance of contractors and clients are inter-reliant, and their interactions fundamentally determine the overall project performance. This research aims to analyze the level of contractor satisfaction towards client performance. The objectives are to determine the contractor satisfaction index (CoSI) towards client performance, and to evaluate performance indicators to improve. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys filled out by 163 respondents. Indicators of client performance include client’s understanding of project requirements, financial, decision making, management skills, supports for contractor and client’s attitude. This research found that the CoSI equals to 69.65%, indicating that in general the contractors are satisfied with the clients’ performance. Further, an importance-performance analysis of client performance (IPACP) classifies the client performance based on the importance and performance, resulting in four categories, i.e. excellent work, areas of improvement, low priority, and disproportionate. Excellent work of clients are mainly related to financial and attitude, while areas of improvement include the understanding of project scope and spesification, ease of payment approval on projects, unity of opinion from client’s team, and administration system. These findings are beneficial for clients for self-evaluation on their performance, particularly on attributes they underperform. Policy makers in the construction industry can also learn from these findings to initiate a strategic program to strengthen client performance. As the performance of clients and contractors are inter-reliant, improving client performance also means enhancing contractor performance for a successful project.