How to Construct a Conclusions and Recommendations section (please remember that

the text below has gone through Turnitin software. If you copy the text then Turnitin
will come back as a direct match to your work. (use as a guide only).

Research aim
The aim of this research is to determine whether there are common sources, causes and
prevailing trends of defects in new homes in the UK.

Research objectives
In order to achieve this aim a number of sub objectives need to identified and resolved,
namely:

1. Does the literature on the subject area give a clear picture?

2. Is there a widespread problem with the level of defects in new homes?
3. Is there a common terminology surrounding defects?
4. Are there common sources of defects?
5. Are there common causes of defects?
6. Are there clearly identifiable trends?
7. Do the defects fall into distinct categories?
8. Is there a drive within the industry to reduce defects?
9. Are organisations aware of the effects and impact of defects on the homebuyer?
10. Create a set of robust conclusions which drive towards useful solutions for the
house building sector and wider construction industry. (*Note: there are more
questions here than what an UG student will have, adjust section
accordingly)

*Note, in this example research questions have been used instead of specific research
objectives as you may have constructed but the object of the exercise remains the same.
In your conclusions you must refer back to your objectives/questions as shown below.
Conclusions and recommendations for future research

Introduction (always introduce the conclusions section with some brief text)
This research was initiated with the aim of identifying the sources and prevailing trends of
snagging within the private house building sector of the UK construction industry. The
preceding chapters have elaborated on the various findings of this research project. The
findings have revealed the trends of snagging within the private house building industry and
have also provided the industry with a benchmark performance figure. More importantly
however the literature highlighted that the most important member of the new house buying
process is the customer who has little legislation that protects their ‘purchase’ and they are
therefore at the total mercy of the home builders. This chapter aims to provide an overall
review of the research project and to discuss the contribution of the research project in terms
of the existing body of knowledge. In order to achieve this, a set of robust conclusions and
recommendations are required.

Aim of the research (re-state your aim and objectives, for UG level think about the level
of detail you have to go into in relation to word count)
The aim of this research was to determine whether there are common sources and prevailing
trends of defects in new homes in the UK. During the course of the research it was discovered
that there was no standard benchmark figures or indeed little literature written upon the
subject, thus resulting in the research questions highlighted below. In order to achieve this
aim highlighted above, a number of sub research questions needed to be identified and
resolved. The fulfilment of these questions is discussed as follows:

ƒ Does the literature on the subject area give a clear picture? Initial emphasis was placed
upon the research surrounding defects. However this particular question was only
partially fulfilled as the literature relating to ‘snagging’ is virtually non-existent which
resulted in the uptake and sourcing of literature from other common theme areas.
ƒ Is there a widespread problem with the level of defects in new homes? The issue of
defects has been on the research agenda for over 30 years and the works of Powell in
1976 and various BRE projects in the 1980’s confirm this but the problem of defects
levels in new homes is not fully understood. As a result of this, this particular research
question has only been partially fulfilled.
ƒ Is there a common terminology surrounding defects? This particular research question
was answered in full. The term ‘snagging’ is a term widely used within industry although
within the literature it is a term rarely seen.
ƒ Are there common sources of defects? The direct answer to this is ‘yes’ there are
common sources of defects.
ƒ Are there common causes of defects? As previously, the answer to this question is ‘yes’
there are common sources. During the literature review, 22 causes of defects were
identified with the majority of existing authors concentrating upon issues of
‘workmanship’.
ƒ Are there clearly identifiable trends? There are clearly identifiable trends. Many trends
were identified during the analysis of the data and this particular research question has
been fulfilled.
ƒ Do the defects fall into distinct categories? 149 specific industry terms identified the
defects occurring in new homes which could then be divided into seven distinct
categories relating to FQ and TQ, therefore the defects do fall into distinct categories.
ƒ Is there a drive within the industry to reduce defects? Unfortunately the answer to this
question is ‘no’ there is not a drive within industry to reduce the occurrence of defects.
There will be no industry drive to reduce defect levels until legislation begins to err on the
side of the consumer.
ƒ Are organisations aware of the effects and impact of defects on the homebuyer? House
building organisations are aware of the effects snagging and defects have upon the
homebuyer but they continue to ignore the subject because legislation continues to
‘favour’ the builder.
ƒ Create a set of robust conclusions which drive towards useful solutions for the house
building sector and wider construction industry. Trends and industry benchmark figures
have been provided within this thesis which can be used by organisations and drive the
industry towards the elusive ZERO defect levels proposed by Egan in 1998.

Discussion and conclusions (summarise with some brief generic discussion)

The lack of detailed research in the area of defects and snagging within new homes somewhat
prohibits us from discussing the findings of this research directly with prior work/s. However,
previous research in associated areas has identified the major sources and cause of snagging
and whilst this work is centred on new housing, a full-scale industry wide research effort is
required to delve into the issues and arrive at a broadly meaningful set of conclusions.

The research within this thesis has demonstrated that current snagging levels found within
new homes in the UK are at a level which must be perceived as damaging to the house
building sector’s image and they detract from customer satisfaction. The house builders of
course could be asked to shoulder some of the blame for this lack of quality focus but the
responsibility may better sit on the shoulders of the numerous buyers who have accepted
products with lower than anticipated quality standards.

Recommendations (identify some recommendations, these may be applicable to

academia, your organisation, your geographical location or the wider construction
industry)

This research project has identified a number of areas of work requiring further investigation.
These potential areas of investigation have been further highlighted as follows:
ƒ There is a specific need for standard terminology to be used across the construction
industry. In terms of the data sample itself, it would be useful to ensure that the snagging
items are recorded with more thorough descriptions using pre-defined industry
terminology which does not exist at this present time.
ƒ This research has been undertaken using a dataset provided by an independent inspection
company. This was due to the lack of datasets available within the industry. There is a
need for a common industry dataset.
ƒ Research on defects and snagging in new homes was found to be extremely rare. More
housing specific research is required in order to ascertain the extent of the problem within
the largest sector of the construction industry.
ƒ Further investigation is required into the current levels of customer satisfaction within the
house building industry. It is hoped that the OFT report into the private house building
sector will be the first step in this process.
ƒ Despite the research outlining the sources, cause and trends of the snagging items, little is
known about the actual trades and various job roles that cause the majority of the
snagging items and this requires further investigation.
ƒ Further analysis of the 200,000 item database is required. It is recommended that this be
carried out using a term known as ‘factor analysis’ which can be used to analyse
 relationships between a large number of variables. In the case of this research this could
be variables such as room type, trade, and house builder.
ƒ Further research is required to understand the extent of the snagging problem in
comparison between the construction industry in general and the house building sector.
This potential research could then be used as a comparison to this research and would
hopefully highlight the areas of commonality and greatest concern.
ƒ Little is known within the construction industry about the financial impact of snagging.
Research into the indirect costs associated with the snagging process would highlight the
effect of snagging levels upon organisational performance. An estimating model that can
accurately predict the cost of snagging to the industry would be financially beneficial.

The list above provides some subject areas that could be expanded and investigated in further
detail. The measures and recommendations above merely suggest a way of understanding the
snagging problem in further detail although they are by no means exhaustive. This research
was aimed at identifying the prevailing trends of defects within new homes in the UK. It is
hoped that this has been achieved and that this research will impact upon the snagging
problem that currently exists within the industry and more importantly, inform the new house
buying public with a benchmark level of the items that can be expected to be discovered
when they unwrap their largest purchase in life ‘their new home’.