Attributes of UK construction clients influencing project consultants' performance

Despite numerous efforts to understand construction clients and their priorities, evidence abounds to suggest that they are largely misunderstood and dissatisfied with the performance of their consultants and contractors. The perception of poor performance may not be attributed to the consultants alone. Perhaps the clients themselves do not possess the necessary attributes to secure a successful project performance. This paper describes a survey which set out to establish the relative importance of the attributes of clients' organizations which may influence project consultants' performance using the 'relative index ranking technique'. Project consultants were surveyed using a structured questionnaire as the main research tool and this was augmented by interviews. The most important attributes are financial stability of client (creditworthiness, current liabilities and current assets), feasibility of the project (project priorities, feasibility study and site conditions), past performance of client (cost overrun, quality achieved and time overrun), project characteristics (time for completion, type of project, cost of project and objectives/subobjectives) and client’s duties (project definition1 formulation, planning and design and project finance). More successful projects may result if clients cultivate some of the attributes identified in this study.