posted on 2010-12-07, 11:50authored byJasim Al-Sehali
The quality of any finished project in the construction industry relies mainly on the
specifications written for that project. The specifications are benchmarks for the
quality of the project, which should be referred to during all phases of the project.
Successful specifications are normally associated with accuracy, clarity, coverage of
all clauses, precession and the effectiveness of the description of the materials and
methods of fixing. On the other hand, poor specifications often result in delays in
handing-over, escalation of prices due to variations, disputes, high penalties, loss of
trust and compromise in the quality of the finished project.
The construction industry in Bahrain often suffers from poor specifications. In order
to determine the severity of the problem, a questionnaire survey was undertaken to
analysis the present standard of specifications used in the construction industry in
Bahrain. The outcomes of the survey revealed major setbacks in the standard of the
existing specifications such as inappropriate repetition, excessive conflict, unclear
and uncompleted clauses with little precession. The majority of respondents called
for a change in the situation.
Improvement of quality has become a major challenge faced by the construction
industry and can involve, reducing cost solving problems of rework, reducing
maintenance cost and improving the life cycle value of the buildings. Total Quality
Management has become one of the best solutions to overcome the problems, and
specification could be used as a gate to introducing TQM to the construction
industry. Specifications are approach to setting the standard of quality for any
construction project, and used as a tool to get design and construction teams
committed to the projects quality standards through all stages of the construction
process. The overall afin of Us thesis is to develop a framework for implementing Total
Quality Management (TQM) in the construction industry in Bahrain, by developing
a dynamic specifications model which will help to improve performance in the
construction industry, improve consultant-client- constructor- supplier chain
relation, control the budget of the project and reduce disputes, claims and variations
in the construction industry.