Principal component analysis of factors influencing pricing decisions of building materials in Ghana

The key factors that greatly affect the selection of building materials are the cost and other related factors such as properties of the materials. The aim of this study was to identify the factors that influence the pricing decisions in determining the price level of building materials in Ghana. Self-administered questionnaires were sent to both construction practitioners and building material merchants to collect data in Kumasi metropolis, Accra metropolis and Sunyani municipal assembly in Ghana. Factor analysis was performed to identify the main factors that influence pricing decisions of building materials. Six main factors were identified: market-, producer-, production-, economic-, political- and environmental-related factors. It is recommended that the identified factors should be controlled by stakeholders who are concerned with the identified factors that contribute to prices of the building materials in order to prevent the increased prices of building material. The study contributes to the literature in the area of building materials management.