Globally, construction delay is the main factors which have a high impact on countries’ economy and development. The present paper reports an exploratory research study of previous international research into delay factors affecting project delivery. The objective of this study was to deliver an overview of construction delays in order to classify the main groups of delays and compare the UAE construction industry with international studies. In total, 14 groups were found to contribute to causing construction delays. Studies of the global and UAE construction industry are in agreement that the leading group of factors that affect project completion are management factors; then, the second group comprises financial factors.