International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 10, Issue 2, February 2020 326 ISSN 2250-3153 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.02.2020.p9845 www.ijsrp.org An Evaluation of the Proportion of the Components of Production Cost of Building Projects in the South- South Geo-political Zone of Nigeria Emmanuel Tayo Adu 1 , Anjiba D. Lamptey-puddicombe 2 and Benedict Amade 3 1 Department Quantity Surveying, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Corresponding Author, Tel: +2349030320081 Email address: teatea4t@yahoo.com 2 Department of Quantity Surveying, Rivers State University, Port-Harcourt Rivers State, Nigeria Tel: +2348033168974, Email address: anjibaa@yahoo.com *3 Department of Project Management Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria Tel: +2348035698405, Email address: benedictamade@futo.edu.ng DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.10.02.2020.p9845 http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.02.2020.p9845 Abstract: This study evaluates the proportion of the components of production cost of building construction projects with a view to improving estimation accuracy for project planning and control in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Secondary data of selected building elements of public storey building projects completed within a 10 year period of 2009 and 2018 are obtained for this study. This consists of cost data of 240 projects retrieved from archives of building construction contractors. Data collected which include production costs of materials, labour, plant and equipment of the selected building projects are analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results of the study indicate that production cost of materials is highest while cost of equipment is the least among the selected building. Window and door elements have the highest cost of materials at 77.17%; staircase, floor and upper floor elements have the least cost at 52.98%. Mechanical installations and finishing elements have the highest production cost of labour at 35% while windows and door elements have the least total elements cost of 20.49%. Framework has the highest proportion of cost of equipment of 15.02% and the least is windows and door elements at 2.34%. The proportion of production costs are 52.98% to 77.17%, 20.49 to 35% and 15.02% to 2.34% for material, labour and equipment components respectively. The study establishes that the proportion of the selected components of the building elements are not the same across the selected elements evaluated (p-value < 0.05). The study recommends the adoption of the results of this study in ensuring accuracy of estimation of construction building projects. Keywords: Building elements, costing, production components, production cost. I. INTRODUCTION Studies have shown that cost is among the major considerations throughout the project life cycle and can be regarded as one of the most important parameters and driving forces of project success (Memon, Rahman, Abdullah and Azis, 2010; Choge and Muturi, 2014). Cost is defined as a monetary value of all the goods and services used in order to perform an operation (Yaman and Taş, 2007). Within the context of construction, cost is referred to as the portion of hard costs usually associated with the construction contract, including cost of materials, labour and equipment costs necessary to put those elements in place (Windapo, Odediran, Moghayedi, Adediran and Oliphant, 2017). Building construction stakeholders and society are concerned with construction costs in various ways, due to project objectives and diverse expectations of stakeholders. Other parameters in measuring project performance, such as time and quality performance are important but cost has greater implication. In addition, most clients put priority on construction cost because of the management and allocation of project resources. There seem to be a strong relationship between project performance and the extent to which objectives of the project are achieved in terms of cost. These therefore make the process of estimation of construction cost in the achievement of project objectives a critical task in the industry. Construction project estimating is described as the market worth that results from previous, existing and future quantities, or even later than the incident under consideration (Odusami and Onukwube, 2008). It is the technique for forecasting and predicting cost and expenditures of a future project (Flyvbjerg, Holm and Buhl, 2002). The singular importance of construction estimate in any project is its accuracy (Ashworth, 2004). However, construction cost estimation rarely produces accurate estimates due to many intricacies (Ubani, Omajeh and Okebugwu, 2015) which include complex relationship among the cost elements. An agreed tender sum which is established based on estimated cost should reflect final cost but rather includes other costs such as variation cost, modification cost, legal claims, and many other external contingency factors which could have