Factors affecting construction quality in Egypt: Identification and relative importance

The present paper explains the details of a study that was carried out in Egypt. The study involved the participation of 159 construction professionals representing traditional sectors of the construction industry, i.e. clients, consultants, and contractors, in addition to university professors. The Delphi technique was employed to obtain a consensus conclusion on the factors required to improve construction quality in Egypt, together with their relative importance. The respondents generated 16 factors and the relative importance of each factor was determined. For example, the first factor in order of priority was the improvement of the design and planning in the pre-construction stage, with a relative importance of 16.67%; the third factor was the improvement of the financial level and standard of living of employees, with 9.20%; and the sixteenth and last factor was the encouragement of innovation for simpler and more accurate work methods, with 2.14%. The analysis of the results showed that only five factors represented more than 50% of the total weight of all the factors. Improvement in the aspects of work specified in these factors should make it possible to improve construction quality progressively in Egypt.