Abstract:
A contract between a prospective building owner and a building contractor is
rather like a contract of sell between a buyer of goods and the seller. What
makes the building contractor different from the seller of goods, however, is that
unlike the seller of goods who deals in identical ready-made goods, the building
contractor deals in unique goods that must be assembled at a unique location.
One of the essential features of a building contract is that the time or period for
performance by the seller, in this case the building contractor is agreed in
advance. The delivery of a building project by the contractor to the building buyer
or client within the contractually agreed timeframe is, however, in reality rarely
achieved. This is because the unique nature of each building project in terms of
project characteristics such as design, size, complexity, quality, and location
pose unique challenges to the building contractor. A review of literature on the subject revealed that in developed countries where the building industry is
expected to be quite efficient, at best, only about 20% of building projects are
delivered within the agreed time period. The performance in the building industry
in the Republic of Botswana, a developing economy, is not as good as in the
developed countries. The performance of indigenous or 100% citizen contractors
in Botswana is even more suspect, and has been the subject of much debate in
this developing Southern African country.
