Proceedings of The Inter-Disciplinary Academic Conference on Uncommon Development Vol. 4 No.3 January, 15-16 2015 – University of Jos Multi-purpose Hall, Main Campus, Jos, Plateau State www.hummingpub.com AN APPRAISAL INTO THE USE OF MECHANIZATION BY INDIGENOUS CONSTRUCTION FIRMS IN NORTH EASTERN NIGERIA. Abdulkadir Sani 1 , Ibrahim Idris 2 and Lawal Zubairu Adam 1 1 Department of Building, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, 2 Department of Building, Federal Polytechnic Bauchi. ABSTRACT The paper aimed at appraising into the use of mechanization by indigenous firms. The respondents are mainly technical and professional staff. Both primary and secondary data were used in sourcing out information, ninety questionnaires were self-administered to the respondent and only 60 are valid which form the basis of the analysis, relative importance index (RII) was adopted and used for analyzing the data. The study revealed that, purchase (RII=0.74) and hiring (RII=0.55) methods are the most frequent means of acquiring mechanization tools and also the respondents considered standard types of equipment (RII=0.89), projects completion time (RII=0.80) and nature of the projects (RII=0.79) as top priority in selection of plants and equipment to be used, in addition, timely completion of projects and quality of end products appeared to be high benefits into the use of mechanization. Study recommend further study on assessing the factors affecting the operations and maintaining of various plant and equipment on site. Keyword: mechanization, indigenous firms, relative importance index (RII), benefits and appraisal. INTRODUCTION The aim of any contractor right from inception through to completion and utilization of projects is that, the project to deliver should be of quality, within budget and time. One of the ways of achieving this goal is to employ the use of mechanization. According to Wikipedia, mechanization is the process of doing work with machinery. On the other hand, the term „mechanization‟ in construction is defined as the application of plant, equipment, and machineries for carrying out construction activities (Idoro, 2004). Today‟s construction projects are highly mechanized and becoming more so every day. With the growing industrialization of construction work, the role of onsite equipment and machineries is vital in achieving productivity and efficiency (waris et al., 2014). All construction projects require different types of equipment and machineries having their level of application. For example, residential projects have a low level of equipment usage. Commercial projects have moderate usage of equipment and machineries. Industrial and heavy construction projects required intense and high utilization of machinery for carrying out site works and many other special activities (Waris et al2014). Therefore, there is a high need on the utilization of construction plants and equipment by indigenous firms in Nigeria. Even though there are some factors that are responsible for low utilization of mechanization in Nigeria. This is evident as in the research of Yusuf et al, 2011 which stated that, some of the identified problems for low utilization of mechanization are; high cost of plant and equipment, high machinery maintenance cost, scarcity of spare parts, effect of government policies etc. Therefore, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of types of plants and equipment available for different construction activities, their application, operations, and capabilities. The aim of the study is to appraise into the use of mechanization by indigenous firm in north eastern Nigeria in order to ascertain the most frequent and reliable means of acquiring plants and equipment, assess the various factors to be considered in the selection of plant and equipment and evaluate the likely benefits to be derived in using mechanization in construction activities. The study is restricted only within Bauchi and Gombe state.