Causes and Effects of Wrong Cost Estimating on Public Building Projects in Enugu State, Nigeria

Cost estimation is one of the most important activities that helps a success of a project, as it helps by giving a clear idea of financial requirements for proper planning and resources. The aim of this paper is to assess the causes and effect of wrong cost estimating on public building projects in Enugu State, Nigeria in order to establish mitigation measures. The study involved convenient purposive sampling of building firms leading to a questionnaire survey. Copies of questionnaires were administered on fifty (50) randomly selected construction firms in Enugu state and two for each firm and 65 was retrieved and used for analysis. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. From the literature review, the causes of wrong cost estimating are divided into five main categories. Calculation errors and omissions by the estimators and market instability ranked first with a mean score of 4.32 followed by low expertise level of estimators and design complexity with a mean score of 4.01 and 3.98 respectively. Unavailability of all fields of specialisation and erratic decision ranked the lowest with a mean score of 3.08 and 2.92 respectively. The result further revealed that most effects of wrong cost estimating in the order severity are: abandonment, financial delays and schedule disruptions and finally loss of reputation and credibility. Hence the study recommends adequate precaution should be taken by Cost estimators in the process of estimating project cost and they should leverage on advanced software tools, machine learning algorithms, and historical project data.