Khumalo, Buhlebezwe2024-10-162024-10-162023Khumalo, Buhlebezwe. (2023). The role of design houses [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/41632A research article submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Johannesburg, 2023This research paper investigates the role played by engineering consultants on steel fabrication projects to provide compliance to engineering standards. Complying to all engineering standards increases chances of considering the project as successful. With significant number of engineering project that have failed, it was important to investigate the client’s satisfaction on the work conducted by engineering consultants. Criteria such as importance of engineering consultant, value added by engineering consultants and the percentage amount to be paid consultants were used to investigate clients’ satisfaction on the work done by engineering consultants on steel fabrication projects. Literature review revealed that engineering consultants need to keep up with latest technology to be able to comply with the engineering standards. Sharing of information was one the emphasis put by literature on the mandate for engineering consultants to assist the steel fabrication industry to grow. Results from the chosen sample indicated that 95% of clients involved in steel fabrication projects feels engineering consultants are important and should be remunerated between 10% and 20% of the total project cost. Engineering consultants were praised for assisting on compliance to standards. Clients indicated that engineering consultants do add value on steel fabrication projects. It is recommended as future research to investigate how satisfied engineering consultants are on steel fabrication projects. It is recommended to further investigate the engineering consultants’ satisfaction to conclude the study on the performance of the whole steel fabrication industry. Engineering consultants also need to indicate how working with clients have been to ensure the required delivery. They could indicate the challenges experience and factors that have contributed to their success. They could also indicate the gaps that will need to be closed to make the steel fabrication industry a highly successful sector. All these opinions could be integrated with those obtained from this report to ensure that a complete view of the industry is obtained.en© 2023 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Engineering consultantsSteel fabrication projectsCompliance to standardUCTDSDG-12: Responsible consumption and productionDissertationUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg