MULTI-SKILLING IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND DUAL SKILL LABOUR STRATEGY: A CASE OF CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN PORT HARCOURT

Multi-skilling in the construction industry with emphasis on dual skill labour strategy is presented. The experiences from resident engineers, project engineers and skilled workers in construction companies resided in Rivers State were employed through questionnaires. This was basically to know the problems associated with the utilization of skilled workers sub craft. The dual skill labour strategy was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of multi-skilling through a duly completed one story building by construction company CONSULTREX. Results showed high agreement between resident engineers and project managers on the benefits of multi-skilling in the construction industry. There was high level of disagreement on the problems that hinder the use of multi-skilling in the construction industry. The view from the skilled workers is that the major problems with the utilization of multi-skilling in the construction industry are the fear of low quality jobs. Results further showed that 3,000,000 Naira (USD 15,000) can be saved from the total project cost of a story building construction if dual skill strategy were to be applied. Dual skill strategy is only profitable when 10 ? 30% of the skilled worker's salary is added as payment to the other skilled workers with the sub craft.