Investigating Causes of Delay in U.S. Construction Projects.

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

4-15-2017

Publication Title

53rd ASC Annual International Conference

First page number:

611

Last page number:

621

Abstract

Delays in construction projects is a global problem that causes considerable losses for many economies. Due to the complexities in standardizing construction projects, efforts to mitigate risks of delay have not been adequately successful. A rudimentary step to prevent delays involves identifying the main potential causes, which may be different in each region. This paper is a result of a survey that was conducted in the United States, targeting experienced experts in the construction industry to assess the criticality of potential causes of construction delay. In this study, the most common causes were identified first by means of a comprehensive literature review. Then, a nationwide survey was conducted to assess the relative criticality of causes of delay. Analysis of the collected data revealed that change orders, time-consuming decision making by the owner, and design errors were the most important causes of construction delays in the U.S. Using the relative importance index method, the relative criticality of the other 27 causes also was calculated. The findings of the research can be used as an informative tool to invest budget and time efficiently in mitigating the main causes of delay, decreasing the risk of delay in U.S. construction projects.

Keywords

Construction delay, Relative criticality ranking, Construction projects, Causes of delay

Language

eng


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