ABSTRACT
Estimates as a Tool for Building Project Cost Control is a phenomena by those who have been monitoring the cost of building construction. The building industry is characterised as highly competative, very risky and with low profit margin. The cost of construction in the past years has also been on steady increase with varied reasons which includes political influence, poor tendering procedures and inflation. But for a construction firm to maintain a competative edge in the market and also ensure Good Profit Margin and the client to have Value for the money expended for a construction project, the method by which they Design, Estimate, Plan and Control this project must be ACCURATE and EFFICIENT. The lack or inadequacy of the said method can be said to constitute some of the main perennial problems and reasons for the high cost of building construction. It is in the light of the above that the theme of the study was chosen in order to investigate on a building cost control system for minimising the cost of building construction during the project execution phase with much emphasis on the estimating process of the said cost control system. To achieve the above topic of discussion the study was divided into six chapters. These chapters dealt vividly on an introduction to the objective and structure of the thesis, concepts of a building cost control system, cost estimates and estimating procedures, contractor's cost elements, three site investigations, conclusion and recommendation. It is hoped that the study will be useful for a building cost control by contractors and client and for future researches on areas that were not extensively discussed.