Perceptions of Strategies for Minimizing Skilled Labour Shortages for Building Projects Amongst Building Contractors in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study is to assess the perceptions of building contractors on strategies that can be adopted to overcome skilled labour shortages in the building industry. This is crucial as competitiveness is becoming entrenched in the industry for the survival of the practitioners. The client is requiring shorter time to carry out their projects and profit margins are reducing. Meanwhile, it is increasingly difficult to find skilled people in the various categories of artisans in building construction industry. There are also challenges of achieving good quality work as well as attendant time and cost overruns. Quantitative data was collected through a structured questionnaire survey using a five-point Likert scale for measurement of survey responses. The sample size of 115 was selected from the population using a simple random sampling technique. The study recommends that a standard training in organised institutions and supervised artisans’ training on building sites are critical to address skill labour shortages in order to have substantial artisans who are capable of high skilled work. This is needed by all categories of artisans for meeting the demands of the industry. Improvement in socio-economic status of artisans, performance recognition, and financial incentives should be given a priority in the work place. These will help to create a performance-enhancing environment for the industry.