Shelter is one the basic needs of a human being. In view of this most governments have seen the need to give this sector a critical look for the sake of their Citizens through development of policies to bring sanity in provision of this important and basic human need. Most of these policies target the major players in the housing sector. These include the housing consumers, housing producers, housing finance institutions, local governments and central governments. The types of policies governments come up with differ based on the unique circumstances these countries find themselves in. These include forces of demand and supply, level of infrastructure, the regulation of construction and material industry and the involvement of other relevant sectors (World Bank, 1993).

The same trend has been witnessed in the United Kingdom where the government, through a select committee on economic affairs has appreciated the need to put measures in place to put up more houses. According to this report, factors such as growing population, increasing immigration and increasing income have informed this need.

A customer is defined as the owner of the project or the one that needs the constructed facility. Their satisfaction can be used to evaluate the quality of the facility constructed from the customer perspective (Karna et al, 2004). Client can also be defined as the entity or person for whom the construction project is being done and who will eventually own the building once the construction process is complete or the person for whom the project is carried out, in the course of furtherance of trade business or undertaking .They are the most important factor among all the participants in the construction process since it is them that bring about the initiation of the construction process (Lopes et al 2011) .They are considered to be the driving force behind the construction process and are regarded to be possessing the ability to exert pressure and have influence on the construction process (Blayse & Manley,2004). The approach, behavior and style of the other participants in the construction process must be influenced by the needs and preferences of the clients for the project to remain viable and sustainable (Ryd, 2014). The behavior of the client therefore is so important that it can determine the success or the failure of the construction process .so crucial is there role that sometimes a client can be defined as the ‘Owner’ or the ‘employer’. The construction industry is increasingly becoming competitive and this presents a challenge to the contractors who must now develop long plans on how they can be able to accommodate the needs of their clients (Dulaimi, 2005). The increased competitiveness of the industry is probably attributed to the increased human population and increased urbanization. Contractors unfortunately have taken advantage of this situation to focus more on the making profit from construction of residential housing units and other projects with little regard to the needs and preferences of the client they are supposed to serve (Emuze & Smallwood, 2014). This misplaced focus of contractors on profits rather than satisfying the needs of the clients has drove a wedge between these two very important components of the construction supply chain compromising their relationship on matters of project construction. It has resulted in delay of completion of construction projects, unexplained inflation of costs and poor quality of the finished project.

The poor service that many contractors have been giving to clients has negatively affected project performance. According to Loosemore (2014), activities that constitute poor services such as poor scheduling and planning have had a significant negative impact on the performance of construction projects. Other factors that constitute poor service quality include poor performance due to low levels of efficiency, poor collaboration between the contractor and the client and other stakeholders important in the construction process, low financial capability of the contractor, lack of ethics, lack of proper commitment on the activities of the project, general lack of transparency on the goings on in the construction industry, lack of open and honest communication, developing a culture of blaming other partners in the construction industry, corruption, collusion and lack of experience on the part of the contractor.

The role that is played by the contractor has greatly been transformed from the person who gives out money for a project to be undertaken to that of someone who is an active participant in the construction process.

According to Blois et al. (2010), it is key for the construction industry to understand the organization structure of the client so as to know how best to handle them and their needs. Needs, tastes and preferences differ depending on the type of client. First, they can be classified according to their origin. This will inform the contractor whether it the corporate client, corporate client or public client. Secondly, it’s important to know the profile of the client. This will inform the contractor on the client’s needs to procure a building. There are private clients whose main focus and primary source of income is acquiring construction buildings for purposes of sale, lease and investments. Secondary clients acquire these construction buildings for residential purposes and also house their business activities. Third, it is classified according to the client’s construction experience. Here there are naïve, experienced and sophisticated .naive clients will first require to be taken through how the industry works before settling on a suitable project. Experienced and sophisticated clients have a lot of information when it comes to designs and know exactly what they want. The contractor will therefore spend minimum time on taking through what the construction work entails.

Understanding the complexity of the clients is not enough. There should also be the factor of frequent coordination of activities and exchange of information with the other stakeholders. Stakeholders are individuals or organizations that have something to gain and/or lose from the project. They often include financial institutions, pressure groups among others who can positively or negatively interfere. Just like clients, it is also good to identify stakeholders based on the type and the degree of involvement of each. Stakeholders can be divided into four categories; agents of the steering team, facilitating peripheral stakeholders, indifferent stakeholders and confronting stakeholders (Blois et al. 2010), this categorization should however be subject to review throughout the project life since the characteristics of stakeholders can and does evolve over time.

Because of the complex nature of the internal structure of client organization, there comes a need to have a system that links the clients to the project participants that are responsible for the project design. The system should exist on two levels; the first should be structure for project procurement. This covers the aspects of commissioning, creating legal designs and developing process protocols for inter-firm coordination .the design of this mechanism will depend, to a very large extent on the willingness of the client to delegate authority to the project management team and the amount of authority so delegated. Secondly, a vibrant mechanism of coordination and communication. This is especially key in the creation of a continuous value in the supply chain process from the supplier down to the client.

1.2 Background information

During the 1970s and 1980s, it became increasingly apparent that governments could not sustain the sole role of housing producers due to the huge investments needed in the sector. This led to the development of the Global shelter strategy for the year 2000 by the United Nations. This strategy advocated for more involvement of the private sector in the housing development. The Government was to play a role of creating an enabling environment that could allow the private to thrive in this area and also ensures that the consumers are not exploited by the private sector by promoting positive relations between the consumers and the players in the private sector (World Bank, 1993).

In the 1980s, Local authority (LA) in the United Kingdom owned about 5.4 million housing units representing about 30% of the total housing stock. Over the past few years however, the Unite Kingdom government policies have imitated the role of local authority in housing ownership and has instead building a robust Housing Association (HA) to encourage the growth of owner-occupation system and target supply of subsidies to ensure the ability of financial institutions of to provide additional finance to persons interested housing projects. (Berry et al. 2006)

According to a report by the House of lords select committee on economic affairs, there is need to put up about one million more housing units to accommodate the increasing demand for housing in the United kingdom prices for housing has gone up significantly increasing by 8.2% in the year of 2016.between 1930 and 2014 the pricing for real houses in the United Kingdom rose from slightly below 50,000 pounds to more than 250,000 pounds.

The boosting of the private sector in construction of affordable housing for residents in the UK has done well to meet the growing demand for housing; introduction of private finance has been successful in this regard. This arrangement has also seen the transfer of the existing blocks to from the local authority to the housing association and to the owner-occupation system. More importantly, however, private finance has seen increased private contribution through equity, rent and mortgage payments with the help of subsidies so that a lot of unmet needs can be addressed through the social housing sector.

Ordinarily, a project is considered to be successful when it is completed on time, within budget and of quality that is reasonably acceptable to a client. However the performance of a contract is subject to many unpredictable factors and variables such as performance of parties, resource availability, environmental conditions and contractual relations (Risyawati, 2014)

One of the initiatives the UK government has come up with to boost private owmership is the ‘Right to buy’ legislation.this initiave has allowed tenants to become house owners through purchase of the houses they rented. This has seen the purchase of nearly 2 million homes by sitting LA tenants.

Another initiative is the ‘large scale transfer program’ which works through the equivalent of a 100% debt financed management buyout enabling the substitution of private for public funding. The transfer price is determined by the government and takes into account the potential income stream, projected running costs and the investment needed to bring the stock up to a decent standard. With these initiatives in place, it becomes necessary for the contractors to develop good relations with their clients having received so much support from the government themselves for successful completion of residential housing projects.

More and more clients and contractors register their complains and the dissatisfaction of the performance of each other in the implementation of various construction projects. Most relationships between these two very important stakeholders in the construction industry has turned to be neither cooperation nor partnership but rather a fight for individuals’ advantages and maximizing each other’s benefits (Spang,2009).the typical situation in the international construction market has been characterized by dissatisfied clients, distrust between the client and the contractor, decrease in the know-how due to the principle of the lowest price, increasing expenses for claims and anti-claim management, a growing number of disputes and litigations between clients and contractors, delayed payments, low rate of return and high risk of business failure.it is therefore important for this situation to be changed since the present state of affairs paints both parties as being losers in the construction process.

The need to change the client-contractor relationship is obvious so as to bring about a form of client-contractor partnership and collaboration. According to Spang (2009), certain factors stand out in capturing the situation of the construction industry today. These include

Incentives contributes to partnerships-incentives may be given to contractors for the purpose of improving the quality or technical specifications. This may also involve the reduction of cost for alternative solutions. This will lead to maximization of the project output and results in a situation that favors both the client and the contractor.
Alternative dispute solution (ADS) contributes to partnership-there exists a stronger environment in the UK that allows for alternative dispute solutions. This approach gives a structured process for the solution of disputes and reduces the adverse effects and troubles caused by these disputes.
Responsibility is not clear-construction being a dynamic industry is defined by factors that comes with responsibilities and speed that requires fast decision making. From the viewpoint of the contractor, the client has so many problems while from the viewpoint of the client, the contractor has so many problems. Every party finds fault in the other and none ends up taking responsibility to facilitate the moving forward of the construction process.
Poor data quality contributes to quality-every party to the construction process have their own set of project data. These data possessed by these parties have varying data quality and data quantity. This creates a breeding ground for conflicts and disputes between these parties.
Risks are often not fairly distributed-most contractors hold the view that they are disadvantaged by the distribution of risks. Surprisingly, the client believe that the risks are distributed to favor the contractor. Both sides therefore have information about risks which they do not communicate to one another. Each party also have the urge to transfer the maximum risks to the other party. This mainly due to the fact that high risks and many troubles can mean loss of money and time.
Claims contribute to the increase of disputes-claims are often brought about by change of requirements by the client or poor quality specifications. Regardless of the cause, the end result is usually the increase of cost and extension of time for the client. The lack of defined processes and requirements for processes changes tightens the situation and is often the genesis of conflicts between the client and the contractor.
Technical specifications are often not clear-this is where the client demands other technical specifications that is different from the technical specifications that the the contractor had put in place and agreed on initially.

The project processes that define the relationship between clients and contractors have gone great transformation over the years. The transformation has been shaped by bad past experiences, prejudices, national, social and economic and increasing cost necessities (Spang, 2009).fortunately, some contractors have started to see the need for change .several studies that have been conducted have suggested that contractors have started to acknowledge the increasing importance of cooperation with clients, effective risk management, establishing new contracting models, cooperating with suppliers and establishing new operating models.As noted in 2006 by AGC, the largest American construction trade association in its report ‘making collaboration the top priority in the execution of a project’ in several parts of the world, various types of cooperation have been developed and the collaborative approaches vary depending on the degree of partnership, choice of elements and type of contract.

It is required that there should be early involvement of the contractor to reduce the risks associated with insufficient technical specifications. The contractor also has a significant effect on the design and minimizes the chances of an independent client oriented design. Early involvement of the contractor also ensures that the risks and disadvantages of bidding competition is minimized.it is also important for the client and the contractor to have regular meetings to keep abreast with the development of the construction process including project news, project progress need for change and need for certain key decisions to be made. The frequencies of the meetings should be informed by the duration of the project and the changing dynamics of the project. These meetings should have obligatory minutes and topics. The contractor should also undertake to have regular meetings with other stakeholders in the construction process so as to care of the concerns that the client might have raised during their regular meetings.

In addition to the regular meetings, regular and consistent project reviews are also important, the main intention of this is to collect, sieve and evaluate actual experiences in the project in order to pick out the best practices and lessons that will be important in the continuous improvement of the project processes. These reviews allows for feedback from both the client and the contractor on the project processes that allows for further improvement of the project will eventually lead to the final product that is acceptable to the client and brings satisfaction to the contractor.

1.3 General models for partnering in construction projects

According to Spang (2009), certain theories are key in the investigation of the relationship between the client and the contractor. These are;

General transparency-the process of putting together the project from the time the idea is conceived thorough the design and construction to the time the final product is delivered to the client, should be very clear and transparent. There should be constant exchanging of ideas, information and knowledge between the contractor and the client. This free flow of information and knowledge will eventually lead to the building trust between these two parties further boosting the level of transparency.
Regulations for responsibility and decisions-there should be clear and defined routes of responsibilities for the various stakeholders involved in the construction process. There should also be clear decision making authority both from the client’s side and the contractor’s side. Decision making should be fast and be able to respond to the emerging needs of the project. Unnecessary bureaucratic procedures should be avoided as this can delay decision making and negatively impact on the trust the parties had developed towards each other.
Fair risk handling-the construction industry contains a wide range of risks and their handling is important in determination of the success of a project. Key point about these risks is that they should be easily identifiable by the project team, their probability of occurrence should be defined and the party to bear them should known.one these have been identified, risk distribution and risk handling between the client and the contractor can then be defined. Some of the risks associated with the contractor include machine failure, logistics and workmanship. The risks associated with the client includes ground conditions, legal procedures, cost of raw materials and political conditions. There should be clear and fair risk distribution which should be defined early so that each party knows which risks they are going to carry. The contract can also define instances where risk compensation can be applied. The agreement should also define how risks which were not recognized in advance can be handled.
Clear processes for project changes- it is not possible to plan large projects in exact measures. Due its size and dynamism, changes might be necessitated at some stage in the project. These changes might be proposed by the client, could be brought about by project conditions or could be due to lacks at the technical specifications. Most contractors are normally pleased at these changes since they provide a basis for additional payments.as expected, clients do not like them due to the inconveniences that these changes come with including increased costs and may even lead to cost overflows. Due to the differences of perception each party gives to these changes, it may potentially lead to conflicts between the client and the contractor .these changes therefore require proper management and handling. There should be transparency in the way these changes are brought about and it should also be clear what these changes are and there effects, who is allowed to introduce them and at what stage or at which time should they be introduced .if approached this way, it has the effect of minimizing conflicts that might come about between the contractor and the client or even other stakeholders in the construction process.
Clear and transparent organization-the organization of the client and that of the contractor have to be connected in such a way that there is easy and clear flow of interaction, faster decision making and faster rate of response to the needs of both at the convenient time. The duties and responsibilities required of each party has to be very clearly defined and be very transparent.in large projects, it is recommended that there be a steering committee(SC) that has representatives of both the client and the contractor and can communicate their needs effectively. The steering committee has the responsibility of controlling project targets, make decisions that are of importance especially on the project time, cost and targets. It also steps in in solving any conflict that might arise between the client and the contractor and even other parties that are essential to the fulfillment of the objectives of the project.
Common data systems-many data are not only necessary but also relevant to the client and the contractor in the course of the project builds up. These data include contract data, project milestones, cost, project changes, risks, accounts etc. these data are relevant to both teams in their assessment of the contractual impact which might necessitate that these parties talk about them so as to come to a common understanding on how they can be managed. The parties involved in the construction process should have a common system of data collection to avoid a situation where each party has their own set of data that is differs with that of the other team members. A common system of data collection brings about uniformity and prevents misunderstandings that are associated with varying data. The best way to have an agreed data is to use the same data. It is therefore important to have a common data collection, treatment and documentation
Contractual incentive regulations-contracts generally allow contractors to have some level of advantage. This advantage however may not be targeted towards project optimization, at least not from the clients point of view.it should therefore be the responsibility of the client to motivate the contractor to shift this advantage towards project optimization and package the contract in such a way that it contains predefined incentive regulations for continuous optimization and improvement of the project in technical, quality and cost terms. These may be in the form of additional remuneration for higher than standard quality, shortening of the completion time or reducing cost for equivalent. The client will then get an added value by getting a higher quality for the price that was stipulated in the contract or by getting a lower price for the quality that was stipulated in the contract. The contractor also gets more money as a result of the optimization hence it becomes a win-win situation for both the client and the contractor. This type of engagement has a double effect on both sides. These sides will make every effort to avoid conflicts that might arise since they are both getting what they want in the project, the client gets the right quality at a reduced price and the contractor maximizes their profit. No party would want to jeopardize this arrangement and will therefore avoid conflicts. Conflicts in most cases create a situation where the solutions that will make it possible for optimization to work is not possible.
Contractual dispute solutions-for the sake of the success of the project, there should alternative dispute resolution that is fixed on the contract .most contracts provide for several levels of dispute resolution before the matter gets to court.at each level there are representatives of the parties who take part in negotiations. Each class also contains time limits where the parties are provided with the opportunity to negotiate and come up with an amicable solution to the conflict. And in the first level, only the parties only the parties to the conflict are involved, if they fail to jointly find a solution, then one or three arbiters will be incorporated to the next level. The arbiters will play a critical role in an effort of hammering a deal between the protracting parties.it will be in their best interest to come to an understanding since the risks involved with the matter proceeding to litigation might not favor the interest of these parties. Litigation might result to a relationship that is damaged and can definitely affect future engagements between the client and the contractor. It is always better for these two parties to not only cooperate during the construction process but also build a partnership that can positively influence future project constructions. Partnerships will also allow for increased benefits that come with project optimization. These benefits, as earlier discussed, are enjoyed by both the client and the contractor

One of the major factors that determine positive client relation relations is client satisfaction.in an increasingly competitive and dynamic environment, greater attention is paid to customer relationship and customer satisfaction (Rahman & Alzubi, 2015) .construction companies use good customer relations to stay ahead of their competitors by constantly improving the quality of the work they do for these customers. Measuring customer satisfaction has several benefits to an organization including

Improvement of communication between parties and enabling mutual agreement
Recognition of the demand of improvement in the process
Better understanding of the problems
Evaluation of the progress towards the goal
Monitoring and reporting accomplished results and changes

Client satisfaction is therefore a fundamental issue for construction services and companies involved must therefore constantly improve their services to survive, especially in this era of rapidly changing customer demands, globalization of construction services and changing organizational and market imperatives (Rahman & Alzubi, 2015).

Client satisfaction is mostly measured in quality terms and is a significant factor representing the success of a project. The function of the construction industry is to provide clients with facilities that meet their needs and expectations employing a management philosophy that effectively determines the needs and expectations of the clients, ensuring operational quality at each stage and consequently the quality of the final product. Some of the factors that lead to customer dissatisfaction include inferior quality, overrunning project costs, delayed completion and incompetent contractors and consultants. Decisions such as selecting an unsuitable contractor as a result of poor consultations leads to poor project performance and eventually results in client dissatisfaction.

1.3.1 Identification of Conflict Cases in Construction Projects

As noted (hypothesized) above, the causes of these problems in the construction sector cited in the literature are not the true causes. Such an inference (hypothesis) was drawn in the light of the fact that conditions defined as the causes of conflict occur in a variety of construction projects and do not necessarily lead to conflict. To attempt to support this theory, it is important to establish the actual cause(s) of dispute to the construction industry. As mentioned above, the behaviour of the partners to the construction project is regulated by their joint contact document, i.e. the contract documents agreement. It ensures that the parties decide on the codes of conduct of the parties in the contract (result of the negotiation process) in the event of different occurrences and/or the occurrence of different unforeseen circumstances.

Let us discuss one of the alleged causes of misunderstandings described by researchers – the conditions of the construction site. Suppose that the amount of underground water in the building area is found to be too high, which means that a range of additional works will be needed: pumping water out of the foundation pit, installation of drainage systems and additional waterproofing, etc. Should these conditions be established as the causes of the conflict? It is certainly not. There will be no dispute if the parties decide correctly on the risk allocation. All related costs should be met by the party which has concluded that there is a chance of these circumstances arising. For example, if the contract specifies that the contractor undertakes to construct a building for the agreed amount, regardless of the conditions of the construction site, the contractor will bear any and all costs related to the incidence of those circumstances. In this case, the dispute would only occur if the parties have not decided or implicitly formulated the rules governing the payment of additional costs by the parties. For fact, it is very common: the contractor assumes that the customer is responsible for the payment of extra costs, while the customer claims that the contractor is obligated to perform additional work at his own cost and expense. This suggests that the dispute should emerge not from the conditions of the site, as suggested in the cited literature, but from inadequate coordination between the parties to the contract (unclear understanding of the terms and conditions of the contract). We would be in almost the same position if we were to examine the other factors alluded to in the cited literature as the causes of disputes in building projects. Let us deal with quality-related conflicts. In reality, it is not the level of results that creates conflict. Where the quality conditions of the works are explicitly and properly understood by the parties to the contract, the contractor responsible for the performance of the work will remove defects or reduce the price of the job. During practice, however, disputes generally occur as a result of the inability of the parties to decide whether the works performed are of good or poor quality. It means that the parties have not been able to agree on the standard specifications applicable to building works in the negotiation process and are instead applying various standards to the workmanship judge. Consequently, the underlying cause of the conflict is the inadequate communication process rather than the poor workmanship. Now let’s look at the performance delays. Often, problems emerge not from delays, but from the reaction of the parties to the effects of delays. Sanctions applicable to the party responsible for delays (including termination of the contract) should be properly agreed upon in the contract. When the codes of conduct (application of sanctions) are correctly (clearly) accepted in the negotiation process, there is no space for disagreement. In these situations, disputes occur where the codes of conduct for delays in performance are not clearly laid down, i.e. the cause of the dispute is the inadequate communication process. If we analyze the other alleged causes of conflict in the construction projects referred to in the literature, we would arrive at the same result, i.e. the true causes of conflict would be unsuccessful communication processes. It should also be noted that inappropriate communication can lead to conflict not only when construction contracts are entered into, but also when they are concluded. Due to the restricted nature of the Article, the effects of contact noise on the output of the contract shall not be discussed in this Article. No work has been performed to assess the proportion of disputes in building projects triggered by inadequate communication processes. Nevertheless, based on practical experience, this may account for more than 90 per cent of the total conflict in the construction industry (Mitkus, 2013). In addition to the above-mentioned main cause of conflict in construction projects, the following causes can be identified:

Unfair behavior
Effects of psychological defenses

1.3.2 Unfair behavior

The current legal framework in the Republic of Lithuania has many gaps which allow for abuses by unfair participants in construction projects. Also clearly defined contractual terms may be deliberately misinterpreted by an unjust group. In addition, there are cases of misleading reporting of evidence and other such violations. The following example of unequal action, described as a source of conflict, is very typical of the conditions of economic downturn. The company is running out of funds to pay the contractor for the building work completed. Instead of recognizing this fact, the client starts to send the contractor unreasonably claims, arguing that payments are delayed due, for example, to poor workmanship, late performance, incorrect materials used, etc.

The client tries to make use of imperfections in the legal system by entering into legal proceedings that have lasted for many years; using the money that had to be paid to the contractor (it is very normal that the client is not able to borrow from the bank due to financial difficulties). Falsification of records, termination of job upon receipt of payment, concealment, etc. are other examples of unethical conduct on the part of the parties.

1.3.3 Improved labor relations

The working relationship between the client and contractor in engineering and construction projects is known to be the key link in the whole aspect of building (Dainty, Moore & Murray 2007; Smith 1980). Emmitt and Gorse (2009) are examining the effect of supply chain partnerships on the impacts of the project and believe that the supply chain partnership has some major influence on project results. Creating a successful supply chain partnership will also assist in increasing the project efficiency.

Larsson et al . (1998) performed a report on 280 building projects and highlighted four different examples of the complexity of the professional link between the main team leaders of the client and the contractors.

The adverse form of partnership is defined by the supremacy of apprehension and the danger of lawsuits. The secured adversarial style discusses the structured contract for project management. The underlying principle in both strategies is that the best way to defend one’s own interest is to be skeptical of the other party’s interests. Third scenario is unprofessional relationship in which project owners try to collaborate and seek to find equitable and rational solutions to disputes.

1.3.4 Professionalism

There have been proven protocols or principles in each field, and the analysis has shown that professionalism is the most important factor in creating a partnership that is compatible with every belief that expertise contributes to a healthy partnership amongst mining contractors and the customer. This research further confirms that Frodell (2011) argued that professionalism is a key input for a productive partnership. The building industry applies contract law in its activity. The client’s main goal is to get the job completed using the contractor’s service and the contractor’s purpose are to get his payment from his chief advisor.

Clients are still served to be in the best market setting. The client is a client in the sense of the construction industry, but a little twist is connected with the construction industry. For example, the contractor does not sign a contract with a customer who fails and does not recover part of the agreement. For the same way, the client does not require the services of a contractor that does not do quality work. Okay, in other words, Professionalism can be associated with competence, as reported by Altinay and Brookes (2010). Customer and contractor satisfaction is an important part of maintaining a stable partnership well after the project’s gestation phase (Altinay and Brookes 2010; Ambrose et al 2008; Bolton and Tarasi 2007; Every 1942). Satisfaction was the second element, meaning that the understanding of the servant-master when the parties to the contract are happy with each other’s position. Relationships pave the way for a more cordial partnership between the customer and the contractor. Satisfaction, according to Prior (2012), strengthens the loyalty of the participants.

1.3.5 Effective communications

Good contact is the third most important element for a successful client-contractor partnership. Confirmation of the works of Prior (2012), Davis and Love (2011) Raciti and Dagger (2010) Choo et al ( 2009), Ambrose et al ( 2008), Bolton and Tarasi (2007), Akintoye and Main (2007), Kannan and Tan (2006), Wasti et al . ( 2006) and Doran et al . ( 2005) respectively. Tactically, the views of these researchers suggest that, without contact, it is difficult to develop a relationship with others. It is often understood that contact as a catalyst for a healthy relationship is at the same level as the role of blood in the human body. While Ambrose et al . ( 2010) argued that communication is one of the factors behind the formation of a partnership, there is a significant difference between the views of buyers and suppliers which, in this context, exist between customers and contractors.

1.3.6 Commitment

The study is also consistent with the work of Kumra et al . ( 2012), Prior (2012), Frodell (2011), Davis and Love (2011), Altinay and Brookes (2010), Ambrose et al . ( 2008), Akintoye and Main (2007) and Kannan and Tan (2006), and this dedication is important in establishing relationships. Frodell (2011) earlier disclosed that an effective relationship element can be divided into input, inputs and inputs. This can be interpreted to mean that there is a connection between the partnership and the company or the company between the client and the contractor depends on the degree of partnership shown.

1.3.7 Trust

Trust has been widely investigated by a number of scholars in various fields and, as a result various meanings have been given to describe it. For example, Rotter (1971) considers trust as an individual feature and gives a definition of trust as the generalized belief of a person or group that the term, pledge, through verbal or written statements of some other person or group can be based upon. The definition of trust that he offers is the same as that provided by the Oxford English Dictionary definition of trust, which is ‘faith in, or reliance on, any quality or attribute of an individual or object, or the truth of a statement’.

Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995) provide a differing opinion about the definition and suggest that trust is an assumption that relates to a particular activity and specifically to an individual with whom the transactions take place where the insecurity prevails (Bhattacharya, Devinney & Pillutla, 1998). Their description of trust as ‘the willingness of an individual to be liable for the acts performed by another person on the basis of the belief that the other person will take concrete action of interest to the trustee, regardless of the ability to track or regulate the party’ (Mayer, Davis & Schoorman 1995). Ultimately, the fourth option is that contractors and owners work as a team to accomplish shared goals by implementing a given protocol. Therefore, trust is based on the agreement of two parties and each party has to subscribe to the protocols of ethical belief and good behavior. The parties involved in a construction must therefore subscribe to such beliefs to avoid disagreements.

1.4 Statement of the problem

The success of a residential housing project is assumed to be achieved when the project is delivered on time, at no extra coat and is of good quality. However, lack of proper client-contractor relations management can hamper this successful completion (Meng, 2012).the factors that lead to unsuccessful completion of a project can be external or internal. The external factors include adverse weather conditions, unforeseen site conditions, market fluctuations and regulatory changes. Internal factors may be generated by the client, the designer, the consultant and suppliers of labour, material and equipment.

1.4.1 Consequence of the problem

The profitability of the construction business has gone down as a result of the unhealthy relationship between the client, contractor and other members of the construction process and poor quality of service. (Wood et al, 2002). This challenge has also led to contractors being unable to efficiently deliver quality projects to the clients. This has negatively impacted on their profit margin further worsening this relationship. This point is affirmed by Emuze and Smallwood (2014) who indicate that the profit margin of contractors have taken a hit as a result them focusing on short term approach to management of construction activities.

Due to poor project performance and reduced capability and capacity of construction firms, contractors have suffered failure (Emuze et al, 2014). Contractors and clients have also had to contend with huge financial risks that has been caused by time and cost overrun. This has created pressure on the construction firms to survive and some have resorted to reducing prices to win bids further worsening the already bad situation of profit loss and poor project performance (Olaniran, 2015). This situation possesses the ability to create strain on the relationship between the client and the contractors since service delivery will obviously not be to the level where the client expects.

1.5 Aim

To investigate how the relationship between a client and a contractor determines the success of a residential housing project in the UK private sector. Based on the aim that has been stated, certain objectives have been developed to help in the achievement of this aim. The subsequent sub section details the objectives that will be studied in detail to shed light on the topic and the aim.

1.6 Objectives

The primary objective is of this study is to establish a connection between the client and the contractor and how this connection impacts on the success of residential construction projects in the United Kingdom. There are three specific objectives for this study are;

To carry out critical literature review on how the relationship between client and contractor determines the success of a residential housing project in the UK private sector.
To identify factors that affects the relationship between clients and contractors in the UK private sectors and their impacts.
To recommend factors that can promote better relationship between client and contractor in the private sector.
To investigate the weaknesses in the quality of service that the contractors provide to the clients

1.7 Research questions

How does relationship between client and contractor determine the success of residential housing projects in the UK private sector?

Hypothesis 1-The relationship between client and contractor does not affect the success of residential housing sector in the UK private sector.

Hypothesis 2-The relationship between Client and Contractor determines the success of residential housing projects in the UK private sector.

What are the factors that affect the relationship between clients and contractors in the UK private sector?

Hypothesis 1: factors affecting relationship between clients and contractors have significant impact on the success of residential housing projects in the UK private sector.

Hypothesis 2: factors affecting relationship between clients and contractors have no significant impact on the success of residential housing projects in the UK private sector.

How can the relationship between clients and contractors be promoted?
What are some of the weaknesses in the quality of service that the contractors provide to the clients?

Hypothesis 1: there are no weaknesses in the quality of service that the contractor provides to the client

Hypothesis 2: there are weaknesses in the quality of service that the contractor provides to the client.

1.8 Assumptions

Based on the studies whose reviews were conducted, it is assumed that positive and healthy relationship between the contractor and the client will result in the success of residential construction projects.
Since the questionnaires were sent through email with little window for clarification, it is assumed that the respondents understood the questions and the responses that they gave were accurate enough to be used to make conclusions in meeting the aim of the study.
Since some of the questions required technical expertise, it is assumed that all the respondents that were sampled had the right technical skills and enough years of experience to be able to handle the questions.

1.9 Justification

The construction sector is an aspect that contributes massively to the economy of a nation.it therefore makes it to be a very sensitive and important sector. However, there are a good number of challenges facing this sector of the economy which has limited the level of success recorded in terms of value delivery (Mirawati et al,2015).among these problems is poor relationship between the client and the contractor which has resulted to project delay,cost overrun,delay in return on investments,conflicts leading to litigation,poor project quality among others.this brings about the need to investigate and propose factors to better the relationship between client and contractor so as to achieve better project delivery (Ismail, 2014).

Studies have revealed that most contractors never have a long term plan in the construction of many projects that targets the satisfaction of clients, instead their focus is mainly pinned on making short term profits. According to Vennstom and Ericksson (2010), the general management style for most contractors is a short term management approach that has minimal regard to quality service and attaining and sustaining healthy relationships with clients and is instead focused on the amount of profit they make in the short term. This line of thought is further supported by McDermott & Swan (2002), who opined that the defining characteristics for most contractors has been that of poor project delivery, lack of ethics, lack of commitment to the construction work and project goals, poor quality of general service and a toxic and strained relationships with the clients .their level of transparency in the course of the project cycle has also been wanting. Olanrewaju & Anavhe (2014) further state that construction project claims have significantly increased due to factors attributed to poor quality of service by the contractors. This poor service quality has also led to increased frequencies of time and cost overruns. Clients who go for contractors who demand low prices have been greatly disadvantaged since they have had poor time management, poor quality and cost management to contend with.

1.9.1 Alignment of Study

This study is very relevant to construction project management because a construction project manager must be knowledgeable on how best to manage project stakeholders. According to Burke and Barron (2007) client and contractor are key stakeholders whose influence and interest are extremely high. The study stated further that these stakeholders have different interest and expectations which must be carefully managed by the construction project manager. This requires high level of professionalism because both parties engage different professionals, policies, standard, and priorities in delivering their obligations on a particular project. It is imperative to note that stakeholder’s management is key to the success of a residential housing project or any other construction project (Burke & Barron, 2007). This links this dissertation to construction project management.

1.9.2 Limitations

Some expected participants who are parties to litigation cases failed to take part in the study due to legal reasons.
Online collection of data was hampered by some participants not responding within the time frame scheduled for the data collection.
Due to the sensitivity of the matter and the competitive nature of the industry, some contractors opted not to participate thereby limiting the collection of crucial data.
The number of participants, though convenient to the study especially due to the factor of time limitations, could have been higher so as to capture as more contractors to represent the different categories that were highlighted.
This study also settled on only 14 factors for the investigation of the factors affecting the relationship between the client and the contractor. There could more factors that affects this relationship.
The respondents were not given the room to further add other factors which were significant to them in the improvement of relationship between the two parties due to the closed structure of the questionnaire.
The study did not have a model of establishing any level if interdependence between the factors identified.

1.9.2 Structure of the study

This study has the following components

Chapter 1- Introduction. This chapter introduced the client and the contractor and highlighted their importance in the construction process.it also gives background information on how the construction industry has evolved over the years and how the client has increasingly become an active participant in the construction process. The main problem that has triggered the need for this study is stated in this section with the objectives that should be investigated so as to achieve the aim of the study.

Chapter 2- Literature Review. This chapter contains critical and comprehensive review of literature with respect to the topic of study. The section has extensively reviewed literature found in journals related to the objectives of the study, government and parliamentary reports and findings, reports of renowned bodies like the United Nations, previous research dissertations and conference proceedings on matters of construction projects. The reviewed literature critically looks at the factors that have over the years affected the relationship between the client and the contractor, the impacts of these factors and how the quality of service offered to the client by the contractor has affected client satisfaction

Chapter 3 – Methodology. This section contains the research methods and research design employed by the researcher in the course of carrying out the study.it also outlines the tools that have been used in data collection and the type of data that was targeted by the researcher. Ways of how the respondents were selected, the ethical considerations, tools used in data analysis and the schedule of activities are also covered in this section.

Chapter 4 – Findings and discussions. This section outlines what the researcher found after analysis of the data that was collected from the respondents. It also interprets these findings and connects them to the literature that was reviewed in the section of literature review (chapter 2) from the interpretations, the hypotheses that were developed in chapter one can then be confirmed or disapproved. This section also categorizes the factors that were subjected to test as either significant or insignificant depending on their score after being subjected to reliability test. It also ranks these factors based on the same reasoning.

Chapter 5 – Conclusions and Recommendations. This section concludes the findings of the research and confirms whether or not the study achieved its objectives. It also recommends what needs to be done based on the weaknesses that were observed from the research. These recommendations include points and methods that need to be emphasized by future studies and the topics that future studies can investigate so as to have a holistic understanding of the topic that was under study.

1.9.3 Chapter summary

The chapter covered items such as introductions, background information, objectives, limitations hypotheses and the main problem warranting the study as well as the research questions that the researcher should answer when the study is complete .the next chapter extensively covers reviews of literature that will aid in the achievement of the aim of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

All businesses and organizations have the aim of maximizing profit and minimizing costs in the course of their operations. The construction industry, being a business in itself, is not an exception. For this aim to be achieved, the needs of the stakeholders in the industry that include the clients, contractors, consultants, subcontractors and engineers have to be fulfilled. Practically, therefore, project management focuses on communication, collaboration and performance based selection of project participants (Baiden et al, 2018).good working relationships should be developed as a culture amongst the parties involved in the construction process. This is mainly due to the fact that relations amongst these parties, especially between the client and the main contractor have an effect not only on the success or failure of the current project but also on future projects.

Research works integrating the strength of the performance, the reliability of the service and the effect of procurement approaches on the quality of the client relationship and the quality of the service have been discussed in this chapter.

The purpose of conducting this literature review is to understand the research topic through the work of other writers on the subject. The critical analysis process helps to recognize gaps in existing studies that will be resolved in the new study (this thesis). Key terms analysed include construction industry, construction projects, contractor efficiency, relationships, and quality of service. Many of the keywords contained the words “construction industry” as the study focuses on the construction sector, specifically contractors and construction clients. The words “contractor performance” and “service quality” have led to the tracing of papers on the quality of operation of contractors with regard to their success in projects and their attitude towards the client and the project. The terms “relations” and “construction projects” have led to the tracing of papers with literature on the essence of relationships between contractors and clients and their effect on the quality of service.

Although relationship management has been considered to be a major factor in the future success of project management, few studies have examined relationship-based project management. The few studies so far done have pointed out the importance of management of social capital in the achievement of projective objectives in the construction industry (Baiden et al, 2018).

As a concept in the field of marketing, customer relations have gained widespread attention among players in the construction industry. This industry is made up of stakeholders that include client, contractor, consultants, and subcontractors. These parties need to play their role well for the project to be completed successfully. Despite the different levels of relationships that exist amongst these stakeholders, they are expected to attain some level of cooperation for the purpose of achieving the overall project aim. Two major forms of relationships is essential for these players in the achievement of this aim, these are contractual and working relationships.it is however unfortunate that despite these level of relationships, there is still aggression between contractors and clients which in most cases lead to conflicts and abandonment of projects (B.K Baiden et al,2018).

2.2 Literature Analysis Approach

2.2.1 Literature was collected from the following sources to support this research:

The Saunders , Lewis and Thornhill (2012) Prescribed Textbook was used to direct the research process on how to collect data , the research methods to be used and the process to be used in the analysis of data obtained from field work.

Textbooks for qualitative and quantitative analysis
Published papers and a small number of peer-reviewed publications have been used to collect information on contractor partnership management and quality of service.

The search for articles was made using key terms related to the nature of the partnership and the nature of the contractor’s service. Key terms included construction industry, construction projects, contractor efficiency, relationships, and quality of service. Reports have been accessed from the Emerald Site and the Google Scholar.

2.2.2 Forms of relationships in the Construction industry

According to Oxford English dictionary, relationship is defined as the way in which two or more people feel about and behave towards each other. Relationship building is a skill that all parties involved in the project should possess for smooth running of affairs of achieving the project objective (B.K Baiden et al, 2018) success or failure of a project is directly related to the stakeholder perception of the value created by that said project and the nature of their relationship with the project team. There are four forms of relationships between buyers and suppliers. These are

Transactional Relationships-this is a price-based transaction that emphasizes mainly on the value of money involved in the arrangement.
Series of transactions-this occurs where there are existing relationships between parties.it emphasizes mainly on performance. The better the supplier/Contractor perfoms, the longer the duration of the relationship.

Project collaboration-also called working relationship; it is an arrangement that focusses on the stakeholders of a project bringing in their absolute best targeted towards the achievement of the project objectives without laying much emphasis on the monetary gain.

Long term strategic partnering-it focuses more on future collaborations in the achievement of objectives for future projects.

The last three forms of relationships focuses on building working relationship, transactional relationship, though an exception is essential in the building of the last three.it is therefore accurate in classifying relationships in two broad categories of working and contractual relationship (B.K Baiden et al. 2018).most companies opt for the contractual relationships as opposed to the transactional relationships.

2.2.3 Challenges facing the building industry as a whole

Typically, contractors were not service-oriented (Kärnä et al., 2009; Wood, et al., 2002). In South Africa, Haupt and Whiteman (2004) argued that the dynamic nature of the industry has driven contractors to concentrate on optimizing revenue and to operate within the shortest possible timeframes. Also in South Africa, Tucker et al. (2015) argued that construction firms are engaged more in safety than in capacity building, which has had an impact on efficiency and, as a result, the industry is struggling with many construction firms that lack resources, technological ability and are self-interested.

Ho’s (2011) report, which included South Africa, pointed out that there are a range of ethical issues facing the construction industry, including, though not limited to, dubious contractor statements, and bribery and non-binding contractors. It has had an impact on project efficiency, contractor competition and has resulted in a business collapse (Ho, 2011). Nijhof, Graafland and de Kuijer (2009) claimed that the high incidence of contractor corruption had undermined the relationship between the contractor and the client. Vee and Skitmore (2003) have pointed out that contractors were considered to be immoral, which led to disputes. One of the main causes for unethical activity has been the rapid proliferation of construction companies that do not have core competencies and are solely focused on income.

2.2.4 Managing Client-Contractor relationship in the construction industry

The ability of any form of business to continue to be afloat largely depends on the clients.it therefore becomes essential for businesses to come with measures to that will ensure healthy relationships. (B.K Baiden et al, 2018).this greatly contributes to the well-being of the project with respect to the final outcome. Better relationships between clients and architects is relies heavily on certain inputs from both parties. These include fairness, trustworthiness, conformance to the terms of the contract; communication and client satisfaction (Atuahene et al, 2017).these have the ability to bring about both social and economic benefits to the client and the contractor. It is however unfortunate to note that there is increasing level of conflict between clients and contractors due to unprofessionalism, mistrust and unfairness displayed by the contractor. Satisfaction of the client should therefore be sought to create a better relationship between these two important parties (B.K Baiden et al, 2018).involving the contractor in the developmental stages of the project is a good starting point in the journey of establishing good working relationships between the parties. This is particularly important so that both parties fully understand the design before the project is initiated. Trust and commitment are basic factors that are essential for the building of a healthy relationship and also ease the flow of information between the client and the contractor (B.K Baiden et al, 2018).the client and the contractor also need to develop mutual characteristics that will be important indicators of a successful relationship between the two parties. These include development of mutual objectives, gain and pain sharing (passing on to the client the benefits of certain factors that could have an effect on reducing the cost of construction and those that could increase it in a fair manner), mutual trust, no blame culture, effective communication, joint working, risk allocation, continuous improvement, effective problem solving skills.(B.K Baiden et al, 2018).

Meng (2012), further confirms this by indicating that the most important elements for determining the success of a construction process are effective communication for problem solving, sharing culture, clear definition of responsibilities, commitment to win-win attitude and regular monitoring of the partnership process among stakeholders in the construction process.B.K Baiden et al. (2018) indicates that the nine regulations spelt out in the collaborative contract should be strictly observed. These are clear project specifications, trust (which should include regular meetings to update the parties of project updates, provide feedback and communication of any other relevant matters), fair risk handling, open communication, clear process for project changes, clear and transparent organization, common data systems, contractual incentive regulations and contractual alternative dispute regulations.

The construction industry has therefore undergone transformation from the times when the contractor and the client were seen as parties in opposing camps of the construction process to a more of cooperation-and-trust relationship between the two parties (Bresnen & Marshall, 2000).

The goal of this section is to clarify the idea of the relationship between the contractor and the client and how the relationship varies from various points of view and when customers use this approach for their construction projects. According to Boote and Beile (2005), in order to properly understand this issue, the researcher needs to have knowledge of what has been done before and the strengths and weaknesses of existing studies on the issue. The concern of this literature review is therefore to provide the reader with the information of previous studies, to define the general aspect of the analysis and to specifically determine the inclusive and exclusive outcome of the research (Boote & Beile 2005; Creswell 2008).

The study reviews the acceptance and management by clients in the construction industry and the contractor in the project. The initial step in the learning process is to consider the type of clients and their characteristics. Since main aim of the client – contractor relationship is to involve the stakeholders in the project at the early stage of the project as much as possible. It is crucial to look at the life cycle of the project to see what the ‘is meant by all the stages of the project. The main theme of this study is to look at the responsibilities of both the client and the contractor as critical players in this sector. Therefore, the literature in the field of the client – contractor relationship and its different aspects is mainly investigated in order to discover enough information on the factors related to the subject under discussion.

To understand this relationship, we can critically review the following literature:

The clients in a building construction
Life cycle of the project in construction
Involvement of early contractors
Project viability
Innovation:
The working partnership
Commitments to the completion of the project
Communication in the construction industry
Confidence
Building procurement
Selection of procurement team

2.2.5 The clients in a building construction

2.2.5.1 Who is the client?

For prior understanding of the work of client participation in project delivery framework by building contractors, it is critical that we know who they really are and what their role is in the construction industry. This is literature defining construction clients as those who initiate the projects which will contract other stakeholders or participants for the supply of construction goods or services (Atkin & Flanagan 1995). The description given by Bryant, Mackenzie and Amos (1969) perhaps best highlights the essence of the client in the construction sector as follows:

‘‘the client is the individual that contracts the building and may be a private citizen in need of a building for his or her own personal use, an organization needing premises for private or public utilizations, or a government entity or agency – local, national or central to any public purpose’’ (Mackenzie and Amos, 1969).

The definition above means that a client in the construction is any individual or an organization that undertakes a construction project to meet their expectations. Masterman (2002) expands this definition by linking the activities that the client undertakes to meet these needs in the process of construction. According to Masterman (2002), a construction client is defined as the individual or organization that undertakes the activities to complete and execute the required project and then enters into a contract with the parties which are responsible for commissioning of the project.

The importance of construction clients in any construction industry cannot be underestimated. The completion of the objectives of the project from the point of view of all the parties is fully dependent on the performance of the project, which has a significant impact on the clients (Friend, Power & Yewlett 2013; NEDO 1983). Due to the importance of the role played by clients in building projects, particularly large and complex projects (Halpin 1993), the building industry should strive to better understand the needs and demands of its clients (Kometa 1995).

2.2.5.2 User categorization

Since one of the characteristics of construction clients is that they are heterogeneous, their definitions in are varied (Gunning & Courtney 1994). According to RIBA (1980) construction clients can be classified on the basis of their social authority, local government, central government, business and trade, renationalized business and housing associations.

According to Naoum and Mustapha (1994) clients can be classified according to the amount of construction projects they undertake and categorize them as one-off, on-off and on-going clients.

Additionally, Atkin and Flanagan (1995) identify clients on the basis of their social role as public and private clients. Austen (1984) classifies clients in the construction industry into two primary forms according to the type of projects, for instance, building projects and civil engineering projects. He claims that, given the difficulties of differentiating between these two types, the general understanding of the distinction is that buildings are on-going construction or completed buildings where people stay, whereas civil engineering works are concerned with managing the natural environment in order to provide infrastructure such as roads and railroads.

Chinyio et al., ( 1998) claims that while client requirements and desires are different, they can be generalized irrespective of the identity of the client such as public, private, or developer. Depending on their proposed approach, clients are reclassified into five needs-based classes by their requirements rather than by the conventional public-private-developer approach. Skitmore and Mills (1999) criticize certain elements of the needs-based classification of Chinyio for lacking support for the study.

Morledge (1987) explores why clients need to implement a project and categorizes clients between primary and secondary developers. The types are applied to experienced, partly seasoned and inexperienced clients by Masterman (2002) as per the degree of their complexity.

2.2.6 Public versus Private Clients

The distinction between public and private clients is well defined by the ownership or source of funding of the establishment. For instance, Federal government, local governments and government – funded organizations are called the clients that belong to the public sector. Public sector bodies are largely funded and therefore ensure that progressive policies are implemented to protect taxpayers’ money spending (Masterman 2002). On the other hand, clients from private sectors apply to entities or communal organizations, which may be small or big and who are owned or funded by private entities. To increase profits and retain share equity, organizations from private sectors typically implement many proactive strategies and apply the competitive risk needed to achieve their expectation (Masterman 2002).

2.2.7 Client-Contractor relationship in the United Kingdom

Partnership among stakeholders involved in the construction sector has proven to be a very effective tool in the industry in the UK, US and Australia (Bresnen & Marshall,2000). The tools that have been employed to bolster this partnership include effective dispute resolution mechanisms, appropriate formal contracts, incentives, team building workshops, continuous improvement programs and benchmarking. Organizations that have strong organizational culture, team building and motivation have been able to build healthy relationships with their clients. These attributes are important in the establishment of cooperation and trust with potential clients since this takes care of the different cultures and needs of the clients. The development of healthy relationships has proven to build the right team culture and promote positive attitude towards the construction process (Brensen & Marshall, 2000).

It has however been observed that there exist certain factors that negatively impacts on the the relationships between contractors and clients. Rigidity within the structural set up of most construction organizations and torturous process of consultations and approvals have negatively interfered with effective communication and problem-solving between these construction companies and clients. Some of the challenges faced by these construction companies are caused by lack of harmony between the objectives of these organizations and other stakeholders such as subcontractors who they partner with to serve the client.

2.2.8 Factors affecting relationships between Clients and Contractors

2.2.8.1 Client-related factors

Building of healthy relationships is very important in the control of conflicts in the course of project development. Client-main contractor relationship has been considered to be the main relationship in the supply chain management (B.K Baiden et al 2018).for this relationship to be maintained it is important to fully understand the need of the client the quality of the end product of the project is judged mostly by perception the client. N.G Thomas et al (2002) summarize the needs of the client based on the following significant parameters.

HOW A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A CLIENT AND A CONTRACTOR DETERMINES THE SUCCESS OF A RESIDENTIAL HOUSING PROJECT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM PRIVATE SECTOR

Pssst… we can write an original essay just for you.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction