Cross-Disciplinary Coordination and Its Impact on Working Drawings and Specifications in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry operates as a multidisciplinary environment where effective collaboration between professionals such as architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, and contractors is essential to the successful delivery of construction projects. Central to this collaboration are working drawings and specifications. In Nigeria, these documents are frequently undermined by poor cross-disciplinary coordination, leading to drawing inconsistencies, project delays, and reduced construction quality. This study investigates the perceived challenges, frequency, and implications of coordination-related issues in working drawings and specifications within the Nigerian construction industry. Grounded in the Integrated Design Process (IDP) theory and the Design Coordination Model, the study adopted a quantitative descriptive survey design. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire distributed to 600 purposively selected construction professionals across Nigeria, with 539 valid responses retrieved (89.83% response rate). The instrument explored demographic characteristics, coordination challenges, and perceived impacts on documentation quality. Descriptive statistics, mean scores, and Relative Index (RI) values were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed a high frequency of coordination issues, with over 75% of respondents agreeing that these problems significantly affect the accuracy, clarity, and usability of working drawings. While working drawings are often used to resolve interdisciplinary conflicts, their delayed coordination process frequently results in adjustments, ambiguities, and inefficiencies. The study concludes that poor cross-disciplinary coordination remains a critical bottleneck in achieving high-quality construction documentation. It recommends early-stage coordination workshops, regular drawing reviews, use of integrated design tools (e.g., BIM), and the development of industry-wide coordination standards.