The professionals’ perspective on the causes of project delay in the construction industry

Abstract

Abstract:Purpose Construction project delays are described as a universal problem, which has led to many empirical studies. However, most of these studies were based on the rankings by respondents, and they were rarely verified. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore professional perspectives on the causes of delay in the construction industry, where there has been little explicit consideration on this subject in recent decades.Design/methodology/approach A critical literature review and a qualitative approach was considered for a deeper and fresh understanding of the causes of delays, rather than recycling the existing themes and the risk of a statistically biased approach. A total of 41 interviews were undertaken which included the London Olympic 2012 project team. FindingsIn all, 32 themes were identified, which were categorised into 15 categories of causes of delay in the construction projects. Almost two-thirds of the main themes are not ranked top 15 causes of delay. These include knowledge and competence shortage, poor commercial decisions, unnecessary health and safety restrictions, poor risk management and poor space and logistics management. Research limitations/implicationsDue to the qualitative nature of the study, the findings might not be considered as representative. Practical implicationsThe findings provide consideration of the causes of delay in the construction industry as seen by practitioners, which should provide guidance to enhance performance. Originality/valueThe study contributes to the better understanding of the causes of delays by using qualitative research strategy which is limited in the construction management literature. This study is an empirical investigation into the causes of delay in the twenty-first century and it represents an important edition to the body of knowledge within the subject area.Acknowledgments:

Delay Causes and Emerging Digital Tools: A Novel Model of Delay Analysis, Including Integrated Project Delivery and PMBOK

“…• Digital design communication tools: Digital Twin, Building Information Systems (BIM) including Revit, ArchiCAD, Navisworks, BIMx, BricsCAD, Archibus, Constructor, IntelliCAD, VisualARQ, Revizto; Geographic Information Systems (GIS) including QGIS, ArcGIS, and ArcMap [17]. The literature frequently reports that design mistakes, errors, changing orders and scopes, later approvals, and late technical decision makings were the main causes of delay in different contexts [95,99,104]. • Digital communication systems: cloud-based tools, emails, smart phones, and radio communication systems.…”

“…• Digital communication systems: cloud-based tools, emails, smart phones, and radio communication systems. Some studies report that the communication and the coordination between different parties were poor [27,95,96,99,109].…”

“…The effects of new digital tools and technologies on delay have not been evaluated in the literature. Some of the key digital technologies are listed as follows: The literature frequently reports that design mistakes, errors, changing orders and scopes, later approvals, and late technical decision makings were the main causes of delay in different contexts[95,99,104]. • Digital communication systems: cloud-based tools, emails, smart phones, and radio communication systems.…”

Causes of delays in the construction phase of Chinese building projects

“…Causes of cost overrun have been studied (Flyvbjerg 2004). For example, the lack of control increases project costs (Sinesilassie et al, 2017) and reduces project quality (Agyekum-Mensah et al, 2017).…”

“…Jordan (Sweis et al 2008), Zambia (Kaliba et al 2009), Iran (Khoshgoftar et al, 2010), Turkey (Kazaz et al 2012), India (Doloi et al 2012), Pakistan (Choundhry et al 2014, Singapore (Hwang et al 2014), Chile (Ballesteros-Pérez et al 2015), Cambodia (Santoso and Soeng, 2016), and United Arab Emirates (Mpofu et al, 2017). Some studies also addressed the delays at the pre-construction stage through identifying causes of delays from the planning and design activities (Yang and Wei 2010), making clear contract conditions on delays (Chong et al 2014), and designing a risk management methodology at the design stage (Albogamy, A. and Dawood 2015).…”