ABSTRACT
Housing is an important indicator for determining the level of development of a society or country. Nigeria has high deficit of housing needs for her citizens and mass housing has been identified as a strategy for filling the gap. The construction of housing requires expertise from the players of the industry especially the constructors (Contractors) to ensure safe and hygienic housing. But absence of requisite knowledge and skills amongst mass housing contractors has been identified as part of the key contributors to the continuous decline in the performance of the Nigerian mass housing construction projects. This research presented findings of an exploratory study aimed at determining the key knowledge and skills required for performance of contractors in construction project delivery. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed to Architects, Builders, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers working either in consultancy or client organisations. Feedback received from these professionals were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS 16.0. Results indicated three broad categories of knowledge and skills that support performance of contractors in construction project delivery: managerial, technical and generic knowledge and skills. Twenty seven (27) identified knowledge and skills underlying the three broad categories were found to fall between moderate to high impact on contractors' performance with weighted mean values between 3.26-4.35. The levels of the contractors' proficiency in the identified knowledge and skills areas were also analysed. The result suggests knowledge and skills gap with weighted mean values between 2.68-3.37 which need to be resolved through contractors training and education. Ten (10) skills and knowledge areas were found to be core due to their high impact on contractors' performance; these are project management and leadership, construction technology, financial management, building code and regulations, communication, teamwork and relationship management, human resource management, creative and innovative ability , risk management, and trade-specific technical know-how. The identified core knowledge and skills was therefore recommended as the basis for contractors' education and training programme aimed at improving their performance in the Nigerian mass housing sector.