Quantity Surveyors' Perception of Cost Impact Factors in Hong Kong Civil Engineering Projects

Abstract

Project cost is an important concern in any construction project. Although there has been a lot of studies on factors affecting the cost of construction projects, there seems no consensus as what cost factors have direct influence on the cost of civil engineering projects. This study therefore aims to bridge the current knowledge gap by examining quantity surveyors' perception of the factor structure among nineteen costing attributes identified based on literature review. Questionnaire was used to elicit responses from quantity surveyors working in the Hong Kong construction industry. Principal component analysis is conducted to extract the factor structure of the cost attributes and the attributes are grouped into three factor components, namely the contract management factor, the project management factor and the monetary value factor. Understanding these cost impact factors could be crucial in managing civil engineering projects, since it allows the project stakeholders and quantity surveyors to take precautionary steps to identify the cost management problems and areas for improvement and could even help to avoid cost deviations in engineering projects.