The determinants of quality This paper argues that quality, quality management, quality control, etc. are not functions but products of sound management. Principles and effective management of design, scope, specification, documentation, cost, budgets and time are illustrated in Figure 1.
From inception to the completion of a construction project, each function must be aimed at the achievement of quality, whether the function is design, specification, documentation or procurement. Furthermore, the element of competition and what it purports to achieve, must not be forgotten. The traditional approach to competitive tendering involves the calling of tenders addressed to a principal, which purports to carry out specified work and/or the supply of goods in return for specified payment. In the evaluation of the tenders, the principal will seek a tender that best suits the specific requirements of price, time and quality. From time to time, other criteria may also apply. In recent South African experience, tenders submitted to the various state bodies might also be evaluated on the basis of: - Affirmative action
- Training
- Labour content
- Local materials
- Community involvement (Twyford, 1998:343-345).
The appointment of professionals may also be classified as 'competitive' as the consultant team should be able to produce a product meeting standard levels of acceptability, manage the process and motivate the contractor to achieve the highest levels of quality (Figure 2).
(Kelly & Male 1993:83)Taking the foregoing into account, the generation of quality products in construction is influenced by the following determinants: - Budgets
- Development cost plans
- Design and design management
- Specification
- Documentation
- Communication systems
- Total cost management and control
- Time scheduling and time management.
Quality is inherent in each of these processes which should not be reactive, but rather inherent in dynamic and proactive management of quality-achievement. At the risk of subordinating the purposes and interests of those who use and live in buildings, professionals, consultants, developers and contractors must realise the needs of the market, the people and the community they serve, The danger is that through "conceptual frameworks we risk isolating fragments of social reality, decontextualising, then recontextualising and, in so doing, creating a different kind of world" (Shammas-Toma, Seymour, Clark, 1998:177-192). In the final analysis, quality can only be achieved in a specific context, within a specific environment, for a real community. | 
