Investigating whole life costing awareness in Tanzania building construction industry

Abstract

Whole life costing plays an essential role in ensuring value for money, not only in the construction stage but also in the duration of the asset’s life. This study investigates the level of awareness of whole life costing in the Tanzania building construction industry. It aims at realising the setbacks that impede the practice of whole life costing so as to formulate measures to help it. The research involved the use of open and closed questionnaires to collect data from construction professionals in Tanzania. Questions were derived from different literature, focused on realising the awareness level of whole life costing. The study reveals that despite most construction professionals being knowledgeable of whole life costing, it is still not widely practiced in the country. The benefits of its use are known to majority in the sector, but certain barriers are seen to be the cause of its lack of application. Lack of a standardized approach, lack of enough expertise/knowledge and lack of reliable data were revealed as the most significant barriers impeding whole life costing. The study sets a path for further research on how whole life costing can be made practical in Tanzania and other developing countries.

Keywords:

• Whole life costing
• building construction
• value for money

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).