ASSESSMENT OF MATERIALS MANAGEMENT PRACTICE ON PUBLIC BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN DEBRE MARKOS TOWN

Abstract

Construction materials management is the procedures, organizations, people, and technology used to identify, acquire, preserve, expedite, inspect, quantify, receive, store, and transport the associated information, equipment, and materials across the life cycle of a construction project. Poor Construction materials management is becoming a serious challenge or problem in Ethiopia, the Amhara region, especially for public building construction projects in Debre Markos Town, and not given attention to materials management practices. The study's main objective was to assess material management practice, the problems related to materials management, and mitigation measures for materials management, with a specific emphasis on selected public building construction projects in Debre Markos Town. A mixed research method was used based on secondary and primary data. The target population of the study was 13 public building construction projects. Samples of 68 respondents were selected from this population using a purposive sampling technique that directly related to materials management practice. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, site observations, and questionnaire surveys (consisting mainly of closed-ended and open-ended questions) and frequency tables, percentages, and figures were used to analyze the information. According to the study, the most common materials management practices are construction material testing, materials planning, material transportation, material handling systems, economic order quantity of materials, and so on. However, the most common materials' management challenges that the Debre Markos Town public building construction projects faced were a slow response from the consultant engineers and ineffective procurement processes, lack of coordination among crews, lack of adequate storage space for materials, misuse of specifications, etc. were common in the Debre Markos Town public building construction projects. The best five mitigation measures for the material management problems in Debre Markos Town were adequate stocking and storage of materials, accessibility and site layout preparation, inventory control of materials on-site, ensuring proper planning, monitoring and control, and material recording methods. The paper concludes by presenting a materials' management framework for developing such a system in the future. It was recommended that public building construction projects adopt effective material management practices directed by professionals to be sustainable and competitive in construction areas.