Delay is one of the greatest challenges facing the implementation of construction projects. The completion project time is considered one of the measure indicators for assessing the success of any project. Delays usually have negative impacts of financial and social to all parties involved in the projects. The aim of the study is to find the most important causes of delay by evaluating the common causes of delays in terms of frequency, severity, and important indices in implementation of public construction projects in Erbil Governorate related to owners, contractors, consultants, and external factors. The data gathered through conducting a questionnaire for perception various parties involved in implementation of public construction projects. For these purpose, 104 forms of questionnaire were distributed to various parts to identify the delay causes in accordance with their opinions. It was concluded that the most significant factors causing the delay in construction of public project in Erbil Governorate related to the owner were “variation orders by owner during the construction” which came in the first rank, while the cause of delay related to the consultant that came in the first rank was “unclear and inadequate details in drawings,” whereas the factor related to the contractor which came in the first rank was “selecting incompetent contractor.”

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Variation orders are an on-going phenomenon in construction and industry projects worldwide, particularly in the province of Sulaimani, where the project's damage from cost and schedule overrun because of variation orders. However, the effect on project costs and time overrun of variation order has yet to be identified. This study evaluates the impact of variation orders on the cost and time off in the Sulaimani governorate. Two hundred twenty-eight projects from various construction sectors built between 2007-2012 were adopted to calculate the contract cost and schedule overruns due to variation orders. Data analysis was applied in the study were descriptive statistics. One-way ANOVA was also applied to determine whether the overrun of project cost and schedule significantly varied depending on project type, size, duration, location, and awarded years. The findings indicated that cost overruns are very common due to variation orders. 95.6% of the projects were studied being impacted, and overrun in project cost are also huge, with 16%. Time also overruns more common than cost overruns due to the variation orders. 98.7% of the projects were studied in Sulaimani were affected by time overrun with an average of 46.3% of initial duration observed. Findings also indicated that two out of five parameters measured in the analysis had a significant correlation with project cost overruns. Three out of five considered variables correlated with construction time overruns.

Variation orders are a permanent phenomenon in the construction of projects and industries around the world, and particularly in the province of Sulaymaniyah. Where construction industries suffer from variation orders. It includes an amendment of the initial scope of work as in the awarded contract.  This study analyses the causes of variation orders and their effects on cost and time of projects in Sulaimani governorate. This study involves a questionnaire survey to selected 36 causes and 10 effects of variation orders from the perspective of owner, design consultant, and contractors. A total of 223 completed questionnaire sets were returned out of 270 questionnaires distributed among the practitioners. Then the data was analyzed statistically. Also, 40 projects at different construction sectors that constructed during 2007-2013 were investigated by calculating cost and time overrun because of variation orders. The results showed that in Sulaimani governorate the most effective causes of variation orders are owner's financial problems, preparing typical design for different districts, errors and omission in design, desired profitability of contractor and lack of adequate or appropriate site before design stage to construct of project. On the other hand of impacts of variations, the study discovered that top five effects of variation orders on the projects are: schedule overrun, cost overrun, productivity degradation, dispute between contract stockholders and payment delay. Also, all projects affected by cost and time overruns at average of 20 percent of cost and 65.4 percent of time of project.

In this study the Laborer's Efficiency (LE) in building projects in Sulaimani City practically on field sites were investigated for Gypsum plastering (GP). Accordingly, four constructional different buildings as Multistory, commercial and houses were considered. Overall 11 main important factors during 30 practical records on field sites were practically observed. As a result, for the first time the Laborers' Efficiency (LE) was measured and classified in to three categories high, medium and low for two specific heights which were 0-2 m and 2-3 meters height of walls. On the other hand, concluded that the LE for the height of 0-2m affected on LP from 15.18 to 21.35 m2/hr., with a proportion of 40.6%. In addition to the LE affected-on LP for the height of 2-3m and varied the LP range between 13.33-15 m2/hr., with a proportion of 12.5%.