Abstract:
Quality of any product in any industry is the most important factor as it
draws the customer's attention by fulfilling their needs. Quality of the
construction project simply means the ability to satisfy the client's need, meet
specifications and achieve project objectives. Like any other commercial
customers, construction clients always wish to get their products in terms of
value for money, conformance to specifications and fitness for the purpose
and this can be defined as achieving the quality of the construction projects.
Quality management systems available in building construction in Sri Lanka
were studied in this research in order to observe and compare their
applications in actual practice. It was found that International Standards of
Organization (ISO ) 9000 specifies the more effective method for quality
assurance and in this study only one construction company was found which
maintains this standards. The quality management in construction contracts
under this study is governed by the conditions given in the Institute for
Construction Training And Development (ICTAD) documents which specify
the limited scope of quality requirements. Its application in actual practices in
building construction was found very unsatisfactory. Quality measures
activities involved in construction sites were mostly carried out on the basis
of visual inspection of the work gang and site staff without following any
acceptable guidelines.
This study has revealed the necessity of implementing the systematic quality
control system or quality assurance system according to the size of the
building construction Projects in Sri Lanka in order to assure the quality of
Buildings.
