IRJET-Problems faced by Small Scale Construction Contractors in India

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Construction becomes the basic input for socio-economic development of any country. The construction industry generates substantial employment. Various research has been carried out in order to find out the problems faced by contractors in the field of finance, technical and management skills, business planning and strategy, health and safety issues which influence the success or failure of the contractors. The aim of this study was to identify the major problems that are faced by small scale construction contractors in India. Within this context, a survey was carried out among the small scale contractors in India. Analysis and ranking of the factors are done by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Based on the result, delayed payments by clients, fluctuation in material cost, owners involvement in construction phase, cash flow management and increased competition in the construction field are found to be the major problems faced by small scale construction contractors in India.

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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)

e-ISSN: 2395 -0056

Volume: 02 Issue: 02 | May-2015

p-ISSN: 2395-0072

www.irjet.net

Problems faced by Small Scale Construction Contractors in India
Prof. V Srinivasa Raghavan1, Karthik Kumar V2
1Associate
2Post

Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India
graduate student, Civil Engineering Department, Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India

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Abstract - Construction becomes the basic input for
socio-economic development of any country. The
construction
industry
generates
substantial
employment. Various research has been carried out in
order to find out the problems faced by contractors in
the field of finance, technical and management skills,
business planning and strategy, health and safety
issues which influence the success or failure of the
contractors. The aim of this study was to identify the
major problems that are faced by small scale
construction contractors in India. Within this context, a
survey was carried out among the small scale
contractors in India. Analysis and ranking of the factors
are done by using Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS) software. Based on the result, delayed
payments by clients, fluctuation in material cost,
owners involvement in construction phase, cash flow
management and increased competition in the
construction field are found to be the major problems
faced by small scale construction contractors in India.

Key Words: Small Scale, Problems, Contractors,
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
1. INTRODUCTION
Construction Industry plays an important role in the
economy of India. It is the second largest industries in the
country after agriculture and has been contributing
around 8 percent to the Nation’s Gross Domestic
Production and it is generated around 41 million jobs in
the country. Despite the growth, construction industries
faces many constraints although it employees large
number of population, less than 6 percent has the benefit
of structured training and skill building. Through the
recent studies it has been identified that there is a steep
decline in the failure rates of small scale construction
industries in India. The number of research have been
carried out for solving the industry’s problems in
developing countries. However, lack of progress was noted
in solving such problems due to the in-appropriateness of
some of the recommendation, lack of resources for
initiatives, neglecting the construction industries by
government [2]. As per the survey conducted by
Construction Industrial Development Council of India in
2011 there are around 31000 enterprises in the
construction industry in India out of which around 29600
are the small scale enterprises, around 1050 are the
© 2015, IRJET.NET- All Rights Reserved

medium scale enterprises and around 350 are the large
scale enterprises[8]. Small scale construction industries
represent over 95 percent of the total number of
construction industry in India. Hence the research has
been carried out to identify the major problems faced by a
small scale construction contractors in India.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Ncwadi and Dangalazana (2005) [1] studied challenges
facing the emerging contractors involved in the
construction of low cost housing in Nelson Mandela
Metropole, South Africa. The study focused the area such
as business strategy and planning, customer and market
focus, people management, information management as
well as health and safety issues. Questionnaire survey was
carried out by purposive sampling of 102 emerging
contractors out of which 58 were responded. Based on the
result it is identified that delayed payments, crime, racial
issues, strategic planning, shortage of funds are the major
problems facing the emerging contractors in South Africa.
Gadekar and Pimplikar (2015) [2] identified success and
failure factors of Indian construction companies. A survey
was carried out among 30 construction companies. The
ranking of the factors has been determined by using the
point rating techniques. The finding from the research is
cash flow management, insufficient capital and inadequate
sales are the most important factors for the success of the
construction companies among the large, medium and
small scale firms respectively.
Arslan and Kivrak (2008) [3] studied on critical factors to
company success in the construction industry. A survey
has been carried out among 40 Turkish construction
company. The ranking of the factors were determined by
using the simple multi attribute rating technology. The
Findings from the result are business management,
financial management and owner/manager characteristics
were determined as the most important factors to the
company success.
Thwala and Mvubu (2008) [4] carried out a research on
current challenges and problems facing by small and
medium scale contractors in Swaziland. A questionnaire
survey was carried out by random sampling among 87
contractors. The study concludes that failure among the
small and medium size contractors in Swaziland are

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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)

e-ISSN: 2395 -0056

Volume: 02 Issue: 02 | May-2015

p-ISSN: 2395-0072

www.irjet.net

mainly due to lack of resource for complex construction
projects, inability to provide securities, inadequacy in
technical and managerial skills, insufficient knowledge and
experience, slow and non-payment by government after
completing a government projects.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The aim of this research is to find out the major problems
faced by small scale construction contractors in India.
From the various literature review a list of problems faced
by the contractors are prepared and a comprehensive
questionnaires were designed.
The questionnaires composed of two sections; first part
was regarding the general information of the respondents.
The second part was on a list of problems faced by the
contractors. The degree of importance of these problems
were measured by means of Likert scale of 1-5. The
ratings are as follows, 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree,
3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree [1]. The chosen
group of respondents are mainly the top-level managers
and owners of the company. The respondents were asked
to rate their perceptions about the listed problems in the
questionnaire to improve its business activity.
Descriptive Statistical analysis was used to rank the
problems and correlation analysis was used in order to
test the relationship between the problems faced by
contractors. The analysis is done by using SPSS software.

4. SAMPLING METHOD
The probability sampling method using simple random
sampling was found to be most appropriate for the
research [4]. The selection criteria adopted to form the
sample size included the following:
a) Small scale contractor with less than 200
employees in their company.
b) Minimum qualification of respondent should be a
diploma/degree.
The following sample size formula for infinite population
is used to arrive at representative number of respondents
[7]:
SS= (Z) 2 * SD * (1- SD)
(1)
(M) 2
Where,
SS: Sample Size
Z: Confidence Level= 90%
M: Margin of error=10%
SD: Standard Deviation=20%
Z for 90% Confidence Interval=1.645
Hence, Sample Size= 43.29 ≈ say 43 respondents
Pilot test was carried out for 10 samples. To find out the
internal consistency of obtained responses, Cronbach’s
reliability test was carried out by using the SPSS software.
The reliability result obtained was 0.854.
© 2015, IRJET.NET- All Rights Reserved

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1 Descriptive Statistical Analysis
The respondents were asked to rate the degree of
importance level of the problems. Descriptive statistical
analysis was carried out for the obtained responses to
determine the ranking level of each problems by using the
SPSS tool. The table 1, below shows the ranking of the
problems according to the degree of importance perceived
by the respondents. Delayed payments by clients,
fluctuation in the material cost, owners involvement in the
construction phase, cash flow management and increased
competition in the construction field are considered as the
top 5 major problems faced by small scale construction
contractors in India.
TABLE I.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

PROBLEMS FACED BY SMALL SCALE CONTRACTORS

List of problems
Delayed payments by clients
Fluctuation in material cost
Owners
involvement
in
construction phase
Cash flow management
Increased competition in the
construction field
Absenteeism
of
workers
in
construction site
Too much focus on low prices at
tender stage
Lack of ability to provide a safety
measures to the workers in the
construction site
Lack of management skills
High number of employees leaving
the company
Bad debts (Outstanding payments
that cannot be collected)
Ability of the company to compete
with medium and large Scale
construction industries
Lack of experience in the
construction field
The ability to develop Long-term
Strategy
Inadequacy of working capital
Access to updated information &
technology on construction
Poor location of the business
High rate of interest on loans
Insufficient profit
Government policy
Lack of capital equipment
High
number
of
unskilled
employees in the company

Mean
4.16
4.05

Rank
1
2

3.91

3

3.86

4

3.84

5

3.81

6

3.81

6

3.74

7

3.70

8

3.63

9

3.63

9

3.60

10

3.60

10

3.58

11

3.49

12

3.42

13

3.28
3.26
3.26
3.26
3.23

14
15
15
15
16

3.19

17

Page 106

23
24
25

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)

e-ISSN: 2395 -0056

Volume: 02 Issue: 02 | May-2015

p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Lack of professionals advisors &
consultants in the construction
industry
Bank Policy
No cooperative from the material
suppliers

www.irjet.net

REFERENCES
3.07

18

2.93

19

2.77

20

5.2 Correlation Analysis
The spearman correlation coefficient was computed to
assess the relationship between the problems faced by
small scale contractors in India. There was a moderate
positive correlation between the two variables delayed
payments by clients and bad debts (outstanding payments
that cannot be collected) with a value of 0.525. Overall,
increases in the delayed payments by clients were
correlated with increases in bad debts.

6. CONCLUSIONS
This study represents the survey carried out among small
scale construction companies in India. The major
problems faced by small scale construction contractors
have been investigated through survey among the toplevel managers and the owners of the firms. Based on the
result, Delayed payments by clients with rating 4.16,
fluctuation in material cost with rating 4.05, owners
involvement in construction phase with rating 3.91, cash
flow management with rating 3.86 and increased
competition in the construction field with rating 3.84 was
perceived to be the top 5 major problems faced by small
scale construction contractors in India.

© 2015, IRJET.NET- All Rights Reserved

[1] Nawadi and Dangalazona, “An exploratory study into
the challenges facing the emerging contractors in the
construction of low cost housing in Nelson Mandela
Metropole, South Africa,” Published in xxxiii IAHS, Sept
2005.
[2] Gadekar and Pimplikar, “Success and Failure factors of
Indian Construction Companies,” Published in the
International Journal of Engineering and Science, Vol
3(6), pp 52-58, May 2014.
[3] Arslan and Kivrek, “Critical Factors to Company
Success in the Construction Industry,” Published on
International Journal of social, Management, Economics
and Business Engineering, Vol 2(9), 2008.
[4] Thwala and Mvubu, “Current Challenges and Problems
facing small and medium size contractors in
Swaziland,” Published in African Journal of Business
Management, Vol 2(5), pp 93-98, May 2008.
[5] Thwala, “An exploratory study of Problems facing
emerging Contractors in the North west province of
South Africa,” Published in African Journal of Business
management, May 2009.
[6] Gadekar and Pimplikar, ”Factors leading to Success of
Indian Construction Companies,” Published on Journal
of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Vol 10(1), pp 5254, 2013.
[7] http://www.kenpro.org/tag/sample-size-formula-forinfinite-population/ [accessed on 22-02-2015].
[8] http://www.CIDC.in/new/support/overview/20122017/introduction/ [accessed on 07-03-2015].

Page 107

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