CASE STUDY ON QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM IN CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

In the era of open economy, quality has emerged as important parameter that determines the success or failure of an organization. Quality, though an elusive attribute, has always been an important issue in construction. Construction projects are always expected to create a balance between cost, time and quality. Quality assurance is needed because of the involvement of negligence and lack of knowledge especially in smaller projects which deduces the quality of the construction. How to establish a quality assurance system and implement the quality assurance system for overall upgrading of the construction quality has become a very essential topic. In the current paper, 30 construction projects were selected from National Capital Region (NCR) with a construction cost between three to five Crores and data was collected from these projects on various quality and management related aspects. These 30 projects cover structures such as school buildings, community hall, hostel block etc. The study was conducted for construction projects of different government bodies. This analysis has been mainly done covering the factors playing key role in quality of a structure during construction such as client’s commitment towards quality, quality of material, documentation, work practices, personnel etc. Based on the data analysis, quality assurance system for these projects were categorized as Excellent, Good, Average and Poor in Quality Grading based on the various factors that directly or indirectly affects the quality and smooth functioning of project during and post construction. This study highlights the negligence and/or ignorance of basic compliance needed during the execution of project which leads to untimely need of maintenance of structures. The study also indicate that there is need to train and create awareness among construction fraternity where still the fundamental quality management needs strengthening. This study was carried out for limited projects from NCR region and hence is not representative sample for whole country. Further studies should be done for more number of projects from various parts of the country to include the regional factors and issues covering environmental aspects related to the behavior of structures in coastal and non-coastal environment.