DEPARTMENT OF QUANTITY SURVEYING

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND SURVEYING

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA SARAWAK

RESEARCH METHODOLGY

(BQS514)

ASSIGNMENT 3

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

FACTORS OF ABANDONED BUILDING IN MALAYSIA’S CONSTRUCTION

INDUSTRY

PREPARED FOR: DR. SYLVIA GALA MONG @ AGAM

PREPARED BY: PENGIRAN MUHAMMAD DANIAL AKMAL BIN PG MUHD SUFFIAN

(2022602568)

GROUP: AP2243C

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 27TH JANUARY 2023

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 TITLE OF RESEARCH AND KEYWORDS ............................................................................... 3

1.1 Title of Research ............................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Keywords .......................................................................................................................................... 3
2.0 ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................... 3
3.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 4
4.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................. 5
4.1 Delay in Delivery of Project ............................................................................................................ 5
4.2 Financial Problems.......................................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Mismanagement of the project ...................................................................................................... 6
5.0 AIM AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................... 6
5.1 Aim..................................................................................................................................................... 6
5.2 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 6
6.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................................ 7
7.0 SCOPE OF RESEARCH .............................................................................................................. 7
8.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 8
8.1 Research Strategy........................................................................................................................... 8
8.2 Study Population ............................................................................................................................. 9
8.3 Sampling Method............................................................................................................................. 9
8.4 Data Collection Methods .............................................................................................................. 10
8.5 Data Analysis Techniques ........................................................................................................... 11
9.0 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 12

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1.0 TITLE OF RESEARCH AND KEYWORDS

1.1 Title of Research

Factors of Abandoned Building in Malaysia’s Construction Industry
1.2 Keywords
Factors, Abandoned, Building, Malaysia, Construction Industry

2.0 ABSTRACT

According to Yusof et al. (2021), the construction industry is one of the key contributors to
employment and economic growth in Malaysia. However, the rising number of abandoned
structures is a significant issue for the construction sector. Construction work that has been
consistently put off for six months or more, either within the project's completion term or after the
projected completion date, is defined as an abandoned building, as stated by Doraisamy et al.
(2021). Abandoned projects have a negative impact on a number of stakeholders, including the
client, contractor, and consultant. Previous studies have shown that leaving a facility unattended
can result in major issues, which call for a mitigating strategy. This research will investigate the
factors that causes the abandonment of a building in Malaysia as well as its effect towards the
economy and the surrounding environment in Malaysia. The data for this research was collected
from respondents who are contractors in Malaysia who has experience in the construction
industry as well as documents related to abandoned buildings in Malaysia that were collected
from the internet. According to the perspective of the respondents, it is clear that the developers’
financial issues are the major cause of the building's abandonment. So, one of the solutions that
the respondents could agree was to enforce the law in construction industry regarding to building
abandonments by developers.

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3.0 INTRODUCTION
According to Ariffin (2018), any country's economy would not function without the construction
industry. When the economy is doing well, construction activity often increases, but when the
economy is struggling, project abandonment is more frequent. As mentioned by Ariffin (2018),
construction work that has been consistently put off for six months or more, either within the
project's completion term or after the projected completion date, is defined as an abandoned
building. Abandoned projects have a negative impact on many stakeholders, including the client,
contractor, and consultant. Mainly due to its detrimental effects on the nation, the topic of
abandoned buildings is now one that comes up regularly. Construction abandonments have taken
place in both public and private housing projects as well as commercial buildings.

As stated by Sabri (2019), the issue of abandoned building constructions first surfaced when there
were increasing numbers of project delivery delays, development was regularly halted for at least
six months, vacant homes were placed on the market without a buyer, and in the worst-case
scenario, the project was abandoned for unknown reasons after the contract had expired. Before
a project is deemed abandoned, there are a number of phases that must occur, under the
ministry's definition. It is labelled "late" if it is 10% past the scheduled delivery date; "sick" if it is
10% or more past the planned delivery date; and "abandoned" if no work is being done on the
project site or no staff is present for up to six months, as mentioned by Sabri (2019).

As stated before, when a building is abandoned, it may have a bad impact on organizations as
well as the parties involved and the surrounding area. The parties involved run the risk of losing
money as well as the public's trust, particularly in the case of a government-funded initiative. They
should be aware of the project's goals as a development business so that the projects may be
completed. In addition, a portion of the structure was demolished because of structural and
architectural issues. The expense of the project will rise the longer the structure is abandoned.
From the viewpoint of society, abandoned buildings might potentially turn into places where
crimes can be committed, according to Salam et al. (2020).

In light of this, this research was carried out to determine the causes of abandoned construction
projects in Malaysia and the steps that may be taken to mitigate the situation in the near future.

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4.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The problem statement for this research may be divided into three namely delay in delivery of
project, financial problems and mismanagement.

4.1 Delay in Delivery of Project

According to Sabri (2019), the development of Malaysia's economy was impacted by the
building sector. Consequently, there are many cases nowadays where a project's delivery is
delayed, which results in a major abandoned building project issue. The abandonment of a
construction project will have a serious impact on the individuals and organizations involved
as well as the surrounding environment Mohamad & Hassan (2020). Participants in the
project, including the developer, contractor, subcontractor, consultant, government, and client,
might lose a significant amount of money as well as future public confidence, particularly if the
project was government-funded. Next, before beginning anything, a developer should be well
aware of the project's goals to ensure that it is completed on schedule and without any
controversies Ariffin et al. (2018)

4.2 Financial Problems

Based on a survey conducted by Ariffin et al. (2018), it demonstrates that failure to pay a
subcontractor on time—whose relative importance index in the survey is 0.75— is the primary
reason a construction is abandoned. This can also be indicated as a financial issue the
development firm is dealing with. A company's financial situation will have an impact on how
quickly development moves forward. To ensure a seamless project with minimal delays, the
developer should have a solid financial foundation. As stated by Mohamad & Hassan (2020),
the developers' poor financial history was also influenced by their need to pay creditors and
cover building expenditures. The developers have been forced by the cash flow issue to use
the initial down payment as their primary source of funding and largely rely on the progressive
payments to cover the cost of construction. The main cause of the cash flow issue is the
developers' inexperience and lack of understanding (Norhayate et al., 2017).

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 4.3 Mismanagement of the project
According to Salam et al. (2020), the basic goal of construction management is to closely
regulate and track a project's development in terms of quality, cost, and time. The
inexperience of developers may lead to management errors. Some of the examples of
mismanagement that may lead to abandoned housing projects include absence of sufficient
feasibility studies, notably incorrect market research. The project's ability to function smoothly
will be reduced, and the extra time and money required to do a complete feasibility study
during the project's commencement stage will result in the project being abandoned (Adil et
al., 2019).
Another example of mismanagement is fraud. Non-payments or unreasonably decreased
payments of progress billings are a type of fraud. These actions can cause cash flow issues
for suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors, which may ultimately lead to project delays or
project abandonment. As mentioned by Salam et al. (2020), fraud may also be the result of
exorbitant buyer funds being spent, which causes housing projects to be abandoned.
Developer participation in false claims is another instance of fraud. Developers and their
architects work together to have the architects produce progress claim certifications that
fraudulently show greater levels of building progress so that the developers may withdraw
funds from the project.

5.0 AIM AND OBJECTIVES

5.1 Aim
The purpose of the research is to examine the factors of abandoned building in Malaysia’s
construction industry.
5.2 Objectives
There are several objectives of this research which are described as below:

a) To identify the factors that contributes to the abandoned building construction in

Malaysia.
b) To identify the effects of abandoned building construction towards the economy and
the surrounding environment in Malaysia.

c) To analyze the possible solutions to overcome the issue of abandoned building

construction in Malaysia.

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6.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Three research questions are posed to the researcher to aid in reaching the study objectives in
order to support the researcher. The following are the research questions.
a) What are the issues of that makes a construction building being abandoned in
Malaysia?
b) What are the effects of abandoned buildings on the economic and surrounding
environment?
c) What are the solutions to overcome the problems involved in abandoned building
construction in Malaysia?

7.0 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

The aim of this research focusing on the issues of abandoned building construction in Malaysia.
The scope of study is limited to the parties that are involve in the construction of a building in
Malaysia, which are namely consultants, contractors, developers, architects, engineers, clients,
private sectors and also the government.

Specifically, this research will only reach out to the parties that are involved a construction project
that is being abandoned in Malaysia, asking about their experience and involvement. This scope
of research will be conducted for around 2-4 months through questionnaires and documentation,
which the data will be analyzed by using content analysis as well as Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences (SPSS). Lastly, the geographical location that is being covered in this research
will be only in Malaysia.

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8.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In order to create trustworthy and acceptable findings in accordance with the scientific method,
research techniques are the dissertation procedure. According to Patel (2019), a research
problem is the first step in every research process. To conduct well-defined research, it is critical
to have a well stated research problem. The research design stage is the next step in the study
procedure. Therefore, the design is influenced by the study approach that was used. The actual
data collecting and analysis is the next step in the procedure. The study approach employed will
determine how the data are collected and interpreted. The reporting of the findings and
suggestions for further investigation is the process's last stage.

8.1 Research Strategy

The research strategy that has been applied in this case study is the mixed method research
which are namely qualitative research as well as quantitative research. This is due to the fact that
the researcher used documents and distributed questionnaires to conduct the research, which
can be classified under documentation, which is a qualitative research method as stated by
Malhotra (2017). Meanwhile, the questionnaires will be conducted using Likert’s Scale, which is
a quantitative method Malhotra (2017). The figures below will show the topic, aim, questions and
objectives of this research as well as the outline of research.

TOPIC RESEARCH
Factors of Abandoned Building in Malaysia's Construction
Industry

AIM OF RESEARCH
To examine the factors of
abandoned building in
Malaysia’s construction
industry.

QUESTION 1
What are the issues of
that makes a construction
building being abandoned
in Malaysia?
QUESTION 2
What are the effects of
abandoned buildings on the
economic and surrounding
environment?
QUESTION 3
What are the solutions to
overcome the problems
involved in abandoned
building construction in
Malaysia?

OBJECTIVE 1 OBJECTIVE 2
To identify the factors that To identify the effects of OBJECTIVE 3
abandoned building To analyse the possible solutions to
contributes to the construction towards the
abandoned building overcome the issue of abandoned
economy and the surrounding building construction in Malaysia.
construction in Malaysia. environment in Malaysia.

Figure 8.1.1 shows the Topic, Aim, Questions and Objectives of this research

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 STAGE 1
Problem
identification and
brainstorming ideas

STAGE 1 (Cont'd)
STAGE 4 Establishments on
objectives, scope of
Conclusion and work and problem
recommendation statement, research
question

STAGE 3 STAGE 1 (Cont'd)

Research and
Data analysis literature review

STAGE 2
Data collection
through
Documentation and
Questionnaire

Figure 8.1.2 shows Outline of Research

8.2 Study Population

The study population that is involved in this research is the contractors in Malaysia’s construction
industry. The researcher targeted the contractors who have 5-10 years of experience in the
construction industry for this research. This is due to the fact that the researcher desires a valid
and reliable answers as well as opinions for this research.

8.3 Sampling Method

The sampling method for this research is a non-probability sampling method. In contrast to the
probability sampling approach, the non-probability sampling methodology draws the sample
of using non-randomized techniques Showkat et al., (2017). Non-probability sampling includes a
lot of subjective judgement. Participants are chosen because they are accessible rather than at
random, as stated by Showkat et al. (2017). Moreover, the type of non-probability sampling
method that the researcher used is the quota sampling method.

The reason why the researcher used quota sampling method is due to the fact that to investigate
the contractor’s knowledge and perspectives about the research. As an illustration, the population
of contractors in Sarawak is 500 contractors. The researcher will just require a sample of the
population in order to comprehend and get comments from it, as mentioned by Jan (2020).

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Additionally, the researcher is particularly interested in certain population strata. According to Jan
(2020), quota sampling can aid in this situation by classifying the population into groups or strata.

In this research, the researcher aims towards the population of contractors in Malaysia. The
researcher will only take around 100 samples out of 81,301 samples of registered contractors
under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), which means the percentage of samples
will be 0.12%. The statistic below shows the amounts of registered contractors from January 2004
to June 2017.

Figure 8.3 shows Statistic of Registered Contractors under CIDB

8.4 Data Collection Methods

In this research, the data collection methods that had been utilized is the mixed method research
which are a combination of qualitative research method and quantitative research method. For
the qualitative research method, the researcher used documentation to get a further
understanding on the effects and solutions towards abandoned buildings in Malaysia. For
example, the researcher referred to Amiruddin et al. (2022) where the author suggests to enforce
the laws of construction in Malaysia to reduce the amounts of abandoned buildings in Malaysia.
On the other hand, for the quantitative research method, the researcher used Likert’s Scale to
collect the data from the questionnaire. The figure below will show how the Likert’s Scale
functions.

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 Figure 8.4 shows Likert’s Scale

8.5 Data Analysis Techniques

According to Patel (2019), the researcher immediately starts the process of data analysis after
collecting the data. The initial data will be adjusted. The data analysis techniques that have been
applied in conducting this research is through content analysis and Statistical Package for the
Social Sciences, also known as SPSS for short. A study approach known as content analysis
(CA) is used to make sense of the frequently unstructured content of messages, as stated by
Gheyle & Jacobs (2017). In a nutshell, one may say that it seeks to interpret text. For example,
Mohamad & Hassan (2020) stated that while the local authorities place the responsibility on the
building engineers for failing to submit work report progress on current projects, which causes a
delay to the entire process, the property purchasers blame the government for failing to enforce
the law against the developers. This can be analyzed that there may be multiple parties involved
that causes the occurrence of abandoned buildings. Meanwhile, researchers from a variety of
fields use the software package SPSS to conduct quantitative analyses on complicated data, as
mentioned by William (2022). So, to get a reliable and quick answers from analyzing the
questionnaire and reach a better understanding of it, the researcher used SPSS.

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9.0 REFERENCES

1. Jan, M. A. (2020). Sampling and differences between Probability an non Probability

sampling techniques.
2. William, K. (2022, September 23). Retrieved from Survey Sparrow:
https://surveysparrow.com/blog/what-is-spss/
3. Adil, A., Abdulmajid, T., & Mahdi, S. (2019). Analytical Study of the Causes of Abandoned
Construction Projects. Civil Engineering Journal, 5(11), 2486–2494. https://doi.org/10.28991/cej-
2019-03091426
4. Amiruddin, N., Manaf, A. W., & Razak, H. (2022). Abandoned Housing Projects In
Malaysia: To Enforce The Existing Laws Or Introduce New Laws? Journal of Islamic, Social,
Economics and Development (JISED) EISSN, 7(46), 128–1755.
https://doi.org/10.55573/JISED.074614
5. Ariffin, N. F., Md Jaafar, M. F., Ali, M. I., Ramli, N. I., Muthusamy, K., & Abdul Shukor Lim,
N. H. (2018). Investigation on factors that contribute to the abandonment of building in
construction industry in Malaysia. E3S Web of Conferences, 34.
https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20183401025
6. Gheyle, N., & Jacobs, T. (n.d.). Content Analysis: a short overview Trade policy with the
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7. Malhotra, G. (2017). Strategies in Research. In International Journal of Advance Research
and Development. www.ijarnd.com
8. Mohamad, N. N., & Hassan, R. (2020). UNDERSTANDING ABANDONED HOUSING
PROJECTS IN MALAYSIA AND THE PROTECTION FOR HOME BUYERS. In International
Journal of Islamic Economics and Finance Research (Vol. 3, Issue 2).
9. Norhayate, W. D. W., Anwar, Z. F., & Hasyim, M. M. (2017). What Causes Abandoned
Residential Housing Projects in Malaysia? An Insight from Economic and Management
Perspectives. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and
Development, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v6-i4/3366
10. Patel, M., & Patel, N. (2019). Exploring Research Methodology: Review Article.
International Journal of Research and Review Keywords: Research, Methodology, Research
Methodology, 6. www.ijrrjournal.com

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11. Salam, S. A., Ariffin, N. F., Mohamad Noor, N. F. N., Ali, M. I., & Ramli, N. I. (2020). Effect
of mismanagement towards abandoned project in Malaysia. IOP Conference Series: Materials
Science and Engineering, 849(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/849/1/012004
12. Showkat, N., Parveen, H., & Parveen NayeemShowkat, H. (2017). Non-Probability and
Probability Sampling Review View project Mass Communication Theory View project M16-Non-
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Probability and Probability Sampling Module ID P2M16 Pre-requisites Objectives Keywords Non-
Probability and Probability Sampling M16-Non-Probability and Probability Sampling P2-
Communications Research Quadrant-I (e-Text).
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319066480
13. STUDY ON FACTORS THAT LEAD TO THE ABANDONED BUILDING PROJECT IN
BORNEO (SABAH & SARAWAK) IZYANA JANNATI BINTI SABRI B. ENG (HONS.) CIVIL
ENGINEERING UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PAHANG. (n.d.).
14. Yusof, A. M., Khoso, A. R., Sohu, S., Khahro, S. H., & Chai, C. S. (2021). Improving
performance in construction projects: A case study of malaysian public projects. Pertanika Journal
of Science and Technology, 29(4), 2579–2604. https://doi.org/10.47836/PJST.29.4.19
15. Doraisamy, S. v, Akasah, Z., & Yunus, R. (n.d.). A REVIEW ON ABANDONED
CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS : CAUSES & EFFECTS.

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