Nigerian building construction companies face enormous challenges in the
management of supply chain which lies at the heart of successful construction project
delivery. This paper investigated the challenges of supply chain management by
building contractors in the Lagos Metropolitan Area. One hundred building
construction companies were sampled out of which seventy two responded to a
structured questionnaire. Simple descriptive statistics and factor analysis were the
statistical tools used to analyse the data. The result indicated that most building
contractors in the Lagos area buy material more locally, they don’t have any formal
relationships with suppliers, they keep suppliers at close proximity and maintain large
inventory of material. The use of modern Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) in tracking supplies and inventory management is practically
nonexistence. Factor analysis of the major problems of material supply chain
indicated six important factors, factor I (import tariff and security agent) factor II
(foreign exchange, sharp practices and late delivery) factor III (long lead time and
inflation) factor IV (damages and highway robbery) factor V (bad roads) and factor
VI (freight cost). The paper recommended that contractors should take more active
interest in the material supply end through suppliers’ certification and backward
integration, apply concept of leanness and modern technology in the management of
material supply chain.