EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In construction, Site conditions and location can be seen to have serious impacts on the project cost, design and value. This is worth noting as it affects the running of the project.

This paper will therefore explore how site conditions and location affects project cost, design and value.

Firstly, site conditions as time factors, weather, planning, design change, lack of coordination, poor financial control, disputes and duration of the project will be discussed on how they affect cost.

Secondly, the aforementioned factors will be analysed on how they impact on overall design.

Thirdly, this paper will highlight how land features affect property value.

Fourthly, geographic features, local supply and material transportation will be discussed and how their location affects costs of building projects.

Furthermore, conditions of site and building regulations in each location will be discussed in detail on how they impact on design and;

The effect of location on property value will be highlighted.

Finally a conclusion is provided.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

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EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

2.0 SITE CONDITIONS

Land features or site conditions can be seen to affect price or cost of the building as these conditions affect the amount of preparation or site work required to build the structure. Lyer and Jha (2005) have noted some of the condition influencing cost as; project managers competence, top management support, project managers coordination, leadership skills, social conditions, economic conditions as well as climatic conditions.

2.1 EFFECT ON COST

Building costs can be seen to be influence by several site conditions. These include:

Time factors: accelerated schedules can be beneficial to the employer in that works
are completed earlier than expected. On the other hand this can be seen to have the opposite effects on costs despite this advantage. Contractors can make adjustments to the project Costs with the consent of the employer if project needs to be accelerated. The adjustments can be as a result of overtime and extra shifts.

Weather: this can be seen as the most uncontrollable factor. Temperature and
humidity have been seen to affect productivity of workers. Frimpong et al (2003), claim that high temperature and humidity are the major causes of reduced worker physical coordination. This is therefore detrimental on the cost.

Planning: in every construction project, incorrect planning can be seen to be one of

the most important factors affecting cost of production. Contractors need to be aware of all resources that might be needed for any project. It should also be to the contractors interest that these resources be managed efficiently. Therefore proper scheduling is

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EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE fundamental to exploiting project resources, failure to which cost will arise.

July 5, 2013

Design change: due to inadequate project planning and management, change in

design can be seen to escalate cost. This can be seen by analysis of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). In a report by Asamoah (2002), it was noted that WAGP project suffered a number of setbacks, resulting in the escalation of its cost from its initial cost US $500 million. One of the problems included changing initial plans to lay the pipeline offshore to an onshore configuration.

Lack of coordination between designers and contractors: it can be seen that

contractors construct projects according to the project design. Any mistakes in the design lead the contractor to apply the same mistakes without noticing and coordinating with the client or designer. Implementing designs with mistakes can be seen to cost a lot of money.

Poor financial control: controlling the project financially is not an easy task.
Resources to be controlled include; labour productivity, material availability, material waste, good and effective methods, using effective tools. Project managers should therefore be conscious of all those factors in order to realise better financial control.

Disputes on site: disputes are a major obstacle to any project. Disputes normally
exist if work does not match the contract documents or if work is not included in the contract document. Any dispute eventually delays the project therefore increasing the cost.

Duration of contract period: the longer the project duration, the more resources
will be put into any project. Further delay to a project will lead to an increase in project cost. Should the delay come from the client, the contractor may lose the opportunity to win other projects. Conversely, if the delay comes from the contractor, the client may lose the opportunity to invest in the project earlier.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

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EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

2.2 EFFECTS ON DESIGN

Conformance to specification can be seen to be one of the factors that affect design. This is usually neglected in cases where availability right material for a particular site is not favourable and therefore overall design will be affected. Sites that contain clay or silt require for the designer to incorporate in his design the effect of the soil conditions. This can practically be seen when designing foundations. Different soil conditions call for different foundation types if safety is to be guaranteed. Site specific factors as shading or solar reflection from adjacent buildings can also be seen to affect project design.

2.3 EFFECTS ON VALUE

Land features or site conditions have been seen to add value on property. This view has led to building owners to charge high rates on buildings that are well located. Some features that give property its value are a natural environment that is rich in vegetation as well as a naturally flowing water body. This incentive has led to building owners to add features such as flowers and trees as well as swimming pools to their builders so as to provide a beautiful place of abode that is highly valued.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

3.0 PROJECT LOCATION

3.1 EFFECTS ON COST

Geographic requirements: Costs are influenced by factors as climate, comfort
requirements, ease of access, distances from sources of labour and materials as well as productivity of workers in an area.

Low supply of raw materials locally: as can be seen in countries like Nigeria,
Ogunlana et al. (19996), clearly note that Nigeria despite being among one the largest producers of cement, it imports its cement. In a similar development, Majoku (2000), also observes that 90% of the countrys aggregate components for production and delivery of electricity still depends on other developed countries because of the neverending supply of electricity. However beneficial this may be on productivity, it also has the opposing effect on the cost.

Transportation: as government increases fuel prices, transportation companies

respond by raising the cost of their services to cover the fuel increase and this in seen to increase transportation cost.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

3.2 EFFECTS ON DESIGN

Regulations: Different site locations have different building codes of standards that
affect design. Factors such as planning, zoning, environmental protection site safety laws and regulations vary from locality to locality.

Conditions of site: The bearing capacity of soil, presence of rock, location of ground
water, the slope, and existing conditions as old foundations or buried hazardous wastes not only influence cost but greatly affects building design. The California Energy Commission (CEC) identifies California to comprise of sixteen climate zones. Therefore, the climate characteristics of a buildings particular location such as temperature, humidity, wind and sun can be seen to have either help or hindrance on the designers the designers efforts to provide a comfortable building. We can therefore see that a climate response design features take advantage of all that the climate has to offer. We can therefore say that if a particular climate location gives scorching daytime temperatures, low relative humidity, and wide daily temperature, it is therefore economic to design a building with evaporative cooling, night-time ventilation and high thermal mass. Employing climate responsive design not only helps with comfort and efficiency but one can also see that this greatly minimises the impact of any characteristic that may impair performance. Notwithstanding the above, if a project is built on a hilltop, the impact of wind direction and intensity may affect design in every aspect that is from the location of the entryway to the location of plumbing vents.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

In all efforts to control sunrays, the best design solutions will be seen to vary according to projects specific location. This comes bout because the suns apparent path varies according to latitude, Its position in the sky will be different in Mongu than in Livingstone at the same time of day, it is for this reason that particular design strategies that provide effective shading will be seen to differ according to latitude and there are no strategies that work best in all locations. The figure below provides different shading strategies with respect to suns position.

Fig. 1 source: CTG Energetics

It is also worth noting that apparent seasonal changes in the suns path occur because the earth is tilted at a 23.3 angle relative to the vertical plane, and as the earth orbits about its own axis once per day, and around the sun once per year, the suns position in the sky changes relative to the earths surface.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

Fig. 2 source: CTG Energetics

3.3 EFFECTS ON VALUE

It is imperative that every property is assessed for its value. The local council therefore levies tax against the property value. In most cases the building value is ignored and only the value of the land is assessed. Therefore an increase in size or quality of the building does not change the value of the land. This can be seen in the case in the town of Luanshya, where in most locations of this town, land is undervalued. This has had led to property losing value despite building owners increasing the property size and quality. Another view of how location affects value of property can be seen in the town of Lusaka where the local authority has valued land excessively. This has had positive

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

impact on the rates of buildings as the increased value of land causes property value to increase hence triggering costs. We can therefore see that site location does have serious effect on property value.

4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

4.1 CONC LUSI ON

Site conditions have been seen to affect project cost, design and value. Costs have been seen to be incurred due to delayed projects, poor site management, changes in design as well as weather conditions. On the other hand, changes in design have been seen to be caused by inconformity to the design specifications, unpredicted soil conditions as well as building regulations provided in a location. Lastly but not the least, it can be seen that building value is affected by the land features in different locations.

4.2 RECO MMENDATIONS

From this study, it can be recommended that proper site management be carried out before any works can begin and selection of the construction site should be to meet the desired value of the building value of the building required.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

EFFECTS OF SITE CONDITIONS AND LOCATION ON BUILDING COST, DESIGN AND VALUE

July 5, 2013

5.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aibinu, A.A. and Jagboro, G.O. (2002) The Effects of Construction Delays on Projects delivery in the Nigerian Construction Industry. International Journal of Project Management 20, 593 599

American Institute of Architects (2008), Ten Factors That Affect Any Design: Architects Handbook For Professional Practice, 13th edition: Author. Architectural Design Coorperation (2000) Design Brief: Design for Your climate: Author

Asamoah, J. (2002) Satisfying the Energy Hunger in West Africa: A Progress on West Africa Gas Pipeline. African energy, Brooke Patrick Publications,Johannesburg, [online] 02 July 2013, Available: http//www.africanenergy.co.za. Frimpong, Y., Oluwoye, J. and Crawford, L. (2003) Causes of Delays and Cost Overruns in Construction of Ground water Projects in Developing Countries; Ghana as a case study. International journal of project Management 21, 321 326. Makoju, J. (2000) Challenges of Invest ing in Nigerias Power Sector. [Online] 02 july,2013, Available:http:/ /www.thisdayonline.com Ogunlana, S., Krit, P. and Vithool, J. (1996) Construction delays in a fast growing economy; comparing Thailand with other economies. International Journal of Project Management 14 (1) 37 45.

CHIKWA MWANZA----11402286

Bsc BUILDING

ASSIGNMENT 2ESB 250

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