Construction Projects' Key Performance Indicators: A Case of the South African Construction Industry

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are one of the factors that constitute construction project success criteria which is the reason while performance measurement on construction projects are usually carried out by establishing KPIs which offer objective criteria to measure project success. An assumption is made that if a project is completed on time, within the agreed budget and set quality, also referred to as the 'golden/iron triangle', then the project is deemed successful. Evidence suggests that this is far from the truth. Hence, the construction industry needs to pay attention to critical success factors, besides the golden/iron triangle. Hence, this paper explores the most significant construction projects' KPIs in the Gauteng province of South Africa. A questionnaire survey was used to collect the data for this study as a primary source in order to establish the most significant key performance indicators for construction projects in Gauteng, South Africa. Professionals such as architects, quantity surveyors, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers, civil engineers, construction managers, project managers and construction project manager, were randomly selected as the target population for the survey. The secondary data was collected from a thorough review of related literature; it is through this thorough literature review that the key performance indicators for construction projects in Gauteng, South Africa, were identified which were further tested via the questionnaire survey. Findings from the questionnaire survey revealed that the most significant construction projects KPIs are: construction time, profitability, project management, material ordering, handling and management, risk management, quality assurance, client satisfaction (product), safety, time predictability (project, design, construction), productivity, client satisfaction (service). The study contributes to the body of knowledge on the subject of construction projects' key performance indicators in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.