Method of Cost Control in Construction Projects in Sudan

Abstract

Cost control is an important issue in construction project management. It is widely practiced by contractors in Sudan and needs to be carried throughout the life of the project. This study is conducted to study the cost control methods in construction projects, identify the cost control method used by Sudanese contractors during the construction stage , to identify the problem faced by Sudanese contractor in controlling the costs of projects ,and to identify factors that can affect the level of cost control and How it could be ranked. The study of some cases taken difference projects in cost and specifications, and a survey questionnaire has been conducted by series of structured interviews with 30 contractors. The survey questionnaire included four areas of study: 1) Questions about the contractor's firm. 2) The procedure of cost control. 3) The level of cost control. 4) General evaluation for the situation of the construction companies in respect of their knowledge about the cost control. A brief interview with a Sudanese contractor and cases studies found that in General the Contractors in Sudan have a good awareness level of cost control procedures. On the other hand, they suffer from the lack of knowledge in so many related areas such as risk allocating, preparing of breakdown structure, utilizing of coding system and integrating cost with other functions. Finally, a set of recommendations and topics have been presented for further Studies and suggested to improve the construction cost control practices