Success Indicators for Selfbuild Houses in two Ghanaian Cities

The recognition of success criteria for effective d esign and construction management purposes has been a topical issue in the housing constructio n industry for quite a while now. Yet, little is still known of the success indicators for SelfBuild houses, although these constitute the dominant mode of housing supply in many developing countries such as Ghana. To this effect, structured questionnaires were used to elicit from homeo wners in two Ghanaian cities the importance they attach to a number of variables as determinant s of success for Selfbuild houses, and the data analyzed using scale ranking and one-sample t-test. The analyses revealed that; adequate ventilation for thermal comfort (ranked no. 1), hea lth and safety in the home (ranked no.2), quality of materials (ranked no. 3), quality of wor kmanship (ranked no. 4) and adequate daylight into rooms ranked (no. 5) are the main determinants of success in Selfbuild houses. The criteria cost and time received the lowest rankings of 10 th and 11 th respectively suggesting that while these traditional measures could be very important, in the long term they are not issues that Selfbuild homeowners might be particularly concerned about. The findings especially those relating to ventilation, health and safety in the home, qual ity of materials and adequate daylight are critical for dissemination to all construction professio nals/practitioners regarding design decisions and choice of construction materials for Selfbuild houses in a tropical country like Ghana.