BSc (Hons) QUANTITY SURVEYING & CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

International College of Business & Technology

Directorate of Distance Education
Validated by
Built Environment Division
Faculty of Development and Society SheffieldHallamUniversity - UK
A Study of
COST OVERRUN FACTORS OF INTERIOR FIT-OUT PROJECTS IN DUBAI
By
Y.B.THILANKA MADUSHAN

A project proposal submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
BSc (Hons) QUANTITY SURVEYING & CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Of
SheffieldHallamUniversity - UK
September- 2014

Cost Overrun Factors of Interior Fit-out Projects in Dubai 2014

2 | P a g e

INTRODUCTION
Customer orientation is a business strategy processing on considering the customer needs
and satisfaction as the main priority. This kind of strategy will mainly concentrate on,
Understanding of the customer's exact requirement, providing the maximum quality product,
responding to the complaints and queries immediately and in a friendly manner,
Concentrating on the community issues regarding the product, etc. (customer
orientation).When considering the construction industry, the questions are, does the client
know what is the need exactly, Even if it is known,arethere any awareness of the possibility,
as per the design ethics and by construction process, and enough knowledgeabout the cost
of what is needed? Unlike other industries, the construction industry is always unpredictable
for a client till a specialist is consulted. Even if a specialist is consulted, sometimes the
expected result might not be achieved at the end. As the situation continues in such a
manner through years and years of construction practices, is it really possible to have a fully
customer oriented industry in this field?
in the present, there are some methods applied in the construction industry to attract the
customers, and full fill their requirements as much as possible. This research evaluates
about the methods that are currently in use and the effectiveness of them within the industry.
And also the purpose of this research is to identify alternative methodologies or the
modifications to the current methods which will enable the industry to become better
customer oriented.


PROBLEM STATEMENT
Most of the other industries such as manufacturing industry, first comes analyzing, then the
designing stage and later the production of the new models. and the customer will only
commit to the purchase after testing the finished product. For example; mobile phone
industry introduces new models periodically to attract the new customers, as well as keep
the current customers. And customers will have a lot of choices and they have the
opportunity to experience the benefits of new models by themselves. this situation allows
them to make a satisfied purchase, which is a symptom of a good customer orientation. But
in construction industry the product is fixed, immobile and tailor made for each customer.
and also the customers decision to buy a product in this industry is usually based on the
concept of the final product, rather than on the demonstrated finished product. (Dulaimi,
2005)
Due to this repetitive nature, the customer and the knowledge of newly introduced models of
products& services in this industry has a huge space between each other. The clients mostly
do not have a proper knowledge about what is the latest out comes available in the market,
the cost of it and the long procedures which are followed from the initial designing stage to
the completion of the work in the construction industry. Therefore there is a necessity to
reduce this gap by using alternative methods or by making modification to the existing
methods.

Cost Overrun Factors of Interior Fit-out Projects in Dubai 2014

3 | P a g e


AIM
The aim of this research is to recognize the most important factors which are affecting the
cost overruns in Interior Fit-Out sector in Dubai and improve cost performances.

OBJECTIVES
Defining the customer orientation concept relating it to construction industry
Analyzing & evaluation of the current practices used in construction industry for
customer orientation
Determining the effects of currently used methods and, identifying the Pros and Cons
of it
Proposingalternative methods or modifications to existing methods which will be more
effective by studying the other numerous industries.
Testing the effectiveness and the reliability of the newly proposed methodsor
modifications.


HYPOTHESIS
By evaluating the pros and cons through a comparison with other industries, it is proven that
the current practices are not satisfactory enough, therefore the alterations can be done for a
more customer -oriented Construction Products & Services








Cost Overrun Factors of Interior Fit-out Projects in Dubai 2014

4 | P a g e


RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Literature survey will be done to explainthe concept of customer orientation, and the present
situation of industry and about other industries which have successful customer orientation
rate.
Case studies will be carried out to identify the effectiveness of the current practices.
Questionnaires will be circulated among Consultancy firms, contractors firms and to the
consumers to understand their opinion on current practices used and the alternatives that is
more suitable to be made in the industry.
Interviews will be held with the professionals to find out their views on the alternative
proposed methodologies through this research

REFERENCE
customer orientation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2012, from
http://www.businessdictionary.com: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/customer-
orientation.html
Dulaimi, M. F. (2005). The Challenge of customer orientation in the construction industry.
Construction Innovation, 3-12.

BIBLIOGRPHY
Dickinson, R. (1967). Marketing Concept and Customer Orientation. European Journal of
Marketing, 18-23.