Influence of Structural Engineering Design Software and Fees on Cost
Certainty of High-Rise Building Projects in Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
In investigating the influence of structural engineering design software
and fees on cost certainty of High-rise building, data was collected
from 150 consulting civil engineers drawn from the Engineers Board of
Kenya register using a web-based structured questionnaire survey.
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis and
interpretation. Results showed that the greatest influence design
software has on cost certainty of building projects is the accuracy of
the pre-tender cost estimates used for procurement. Further only 9.4%
of engineers used modern integrated design software because of the high
purchase and licencing costs. Consequently, inaccuracies in pre-tender
documents are perpetuated through limitations in modelling complex
buildings, inflexibility in effecting design changes, and updating and
synchronizing project documentation. Therefore incentives to discard
stand-alone engineering design software in favour of integrated ones
merit consideration. Although expensive, integrated software
significantly reduce the risk of cost overruns. As such, they should be
viewed as a necessary investment that enhances efficiency and overall
quality of work. Further, whereas various approaches exist for paying
the consultants, negotiations as dictated by free market systems are
becoming popular, which calls for fidelity to professional ethics from
contract signing and through the entire project cycle.