Effective Machinery Management Practices for Promoting Sustainable Business Performance of SME Contractors in the South Africa Construction Industry

The success of SME contractors’ machinery management is compromised by management practices adopted by construction SMEs at the project level. The purpose of this study is to investigate machinery management practices for the sustainable performance of SME contractors in the construction industry of South Africa. This study adopted a quantitative research method to achieve the study objectives. Questionnaires were distributed to purposively selected management team of SME contractors listed in Grades 1–4 of the cidb Register of Contractors within the Eastern Cape Province. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted to analyse the results using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 29. The findings revealed SME contractors’ machinery management practices to promote sustainable project delivery include hiring skilled plant operator, effective maintenance plan for regular maintenance of plant and equipment, continuous use of hired plant until booked off-site, sequence of activities on plant and equipment production, and plant arriving on time to site from suppliers. This study is limited to SME contractors listed in Grades 1–4 of the cidb Register of Contractors within the Eastern Cape Province. The findings from this study have practical implications for SME contractors and the construction industry at large because construction SMEs will be successful at the project level when machinery are effectively managed. This study focuses on SME contractors’ effective machinery management practices and recommends effective machinery management for enhancing SMEs’ sustainable business performance.