Service quality of building maintenance contractors in Zambia: A pilot study

This study examines service quality of building maintenance contractors in Zambia. It argues that improving service quality would help local contractors to enhance their competitiveness in a globalised environment. The study uses an international organisation as a unit of analysis through the perception of the Estate's Manager in exploring service quality issues. An instrument based on the SERVQUAL approach was used to collect data. The determination of service quality was based on the comparison between the clients' expected and perceived service quality levels. The findings show that few contractors exceed the clients' expectations in all dimensions, while the majority fall below the clients expectations in all dimensions. The aggregate service quality scores for all contractors show that clients do not receive the expected service quality level. The findings also suggest that there is a correlation between service quality and customer satisfaction in projects undertaken by the contractors. Contractors therefore need to acknowledge this and improve on their service quality. The paper acknowledges that there are few empirical studies concerning service quality in the Zambian construction industry and therefore contributes to the understanding of quality issues in the industry. The findings provide useful insights into service quality in the Zambian construction industry.