Regardless of your role in construction, you may have noticed that almost all construction work does not finish within the contractual deadline.
In fact, a delayed project has become a very normal thing to witness, and at a certain point it almost seems like it's an inevitable outcome. However, delays in most construction projects could actually be avoided if a proper design study was carried out.
So, here are the most common reasons for delays in construction projects:
1. Inefficient management
The construction knowledge we have today allows us to carry out adequate management of construction projects to guarantee the delivery of the desired quality within the required deadline. Without this management, the above-mentioned requirements cannot be achieved. On the contrary, a more serious outcome could wait just around the corner if your construction management process is not up to date.
In a project in Cairo, Egypt, a university was being built and although a construction plan was being executed, the project suffered huge delays.
So, the management team started to analyze the reasons and surprisingly a very simple factor seemed to be the main cause of the delay. It was the tender phase, due to poor management the pricing of the project was carried out in a very short period of time which led to many errors. The budgeted cost was incorrectly calculated on many of the BOQ items, resulting in inaccurate cash flow.
For example, the contractor's monthly cost plan said that the May 2016 work volume would be around 20 million EGP, when in fact it should have been 35! A poorly executed management plan led to an inefficient amount of time to execute project pricing, which by default led to many pricing errors.
These errors not only caused a cash flow problem and made it impossible for the contractor to complete the planned target, but also caused a huge delay in the project completion date and brought the project status to a limit where a recovery plan is almost impossible. .
Eventually, a construction project management plan includes much more than just the pricing phase and failure can appear in any of the other phases of a project unless it is executed correctly and each phase has an accurate implementation time. .
2. Construction implementation failure
The execution of a construction project requires full knowledge of the method instructions made for each construction item/element; This is why it is essential for any contractor to submit these method statements before the project begins to ensure they are approved and will allow engineers to carry out construction works properly to meet the quality and specifications required.
However, not taking this matter seriously can cause many unexpected failures in even the simplest construction activities.
Thus, one of the common causes of delays in construction projects is the contractor's failure to perform certain items properly, which results in redoing the entire process after discovering what went wrong in the execution.
Each item must be studied precisely to arrive at the specific construction method by which it can be constructed.
3. Environmental catastrophes/inevitable events
Every construction project that lasts more than a year will certainly be exposed to some inevitable environmental events due to the change of seasons throughout the year.
For example, in winter there are some days of heavy rain that make it absolutely impossible for workers to carry out any construction activity (especially concrete).
When such circumstances occur, all safety measures can do is protect the lives of workers. However, security cannot allow them to overcome these conditions and continue the execution phase.
All work must be suspended until further notice when the weather is suitable for working.
However, environmental catastrophes can be many other things besides rain. Here are some examples of possible Force Majeure events: storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, etc.
Consequently, a project delay will definitely occur if these circumstances affect critical project activities.
4. Design Issues
Each construction project can be summarized into 3 phases that represent all the activities necessary to complete the project from the first day to the last day of the project. In short, these phases are:
- Project
- Execution
- Post-construction maintenance and operation
Here we will mainly talk about the first stage (Design). This step can be a real threat to the project schedule, as problems are mainly discovered in the execution phase. No matter how well the project is reviewed or revised, the execution phase shows exactly what is wrong with the project. In fact, it can be discovered in a very harsh way, when you, for example, build a concrete element and then see it crumble or deform a few days after its construction.
Design problems are many and their number is so great that they can delay a project for months after they are discovered.
We can now understand the importance of the engineering work (Shop-drawing) required before and within the execution phase. It not only helps the execution team to implement the project correctly, but also helps to find the problems in the design in the early phases of the project, giving us time to resolve the problem before the run time of the corrupted element.
5. Scope creep
As we all know, the main parts of any project are:
- The owner (customer)
- The engineer (consultant)
- The contractor
Of course there may be more parties, but these are the most important.
However, owners often start projects without knowing all the details of what or how they want it to be in the future. For example, the owner decides that the project will consist of 4 buildings, 3 of them are designed but the 4th has not yet been determined/designed. Then they start the project until they decide what to do with the rest of the project that the contractor is not aware of, in this case the owner tells the contractor that there will be an increase in its scope, which by default means an increase in the duration of the project.
This increase could be in the form of a small item added to the BOQ or it could be an entirely new BOQ.
Eventually, every owner is advised to be fully aware of the scope of the project before it is assigned to a contractor, and this avoids unnecessary delays in the duration of the project.
6. Economic changes
We all know that construction is, after all, an industry that is affected by the country's economic conditions, just like any other industry.
So, if any country was subjected to an economic collapse or its monetary value changed, all construction projects will be affected in many ways, one of them is “delay”.
Due to the surprising change in the price of everything, the project cash flow becomes monotonous and no longer represents the true evaluated/budgeted cost per time. This immediately reduces a huge effect on the project schedule by doubling or tripling the original duration (perhaps putting the project on hold or even killing it) unless both the contractor and owner can find/afford a financial solution to the problem. catastrophe.
If such a solution is not possible, the owner must commit to changing the duration of the project and granting the contractor an extension of time.
7. Failure to coordinate schedule and execution
One of the common mistakes made by contracting companies is neglecting the importance of the project schedule. A proper schedule allows the project to be executed smoothly and according to the required deadline.
Furthermore, it helps to restore the project's direction if by any means the project deviates from its original plan. It also alerts the project team to any upcoming obstacles and provides solutions to overcome them.
Not to mention the positive effect of delay analysis (if a delay occurs) in creating a revised plan that allows the project team to catch up on current delays and avoid future delays.
The schedule is the project manager's best friend and main weapon. Now, imagine implementing a project without a schedule, the result can be nothing other than failure, as massive delays will eventually occur.
Conclusion
Delays happen, some events are avoidable and some are not, but the good news is that they can always be recovered or compensated for. The most important thing is to always have a good project management framework, good coordination between all parts of the project and between the execution teams.
Try to work according to the plan, be flexible and quick in dealing with any delays, maximize the use of available work and non-work resources and, finally, have the decision-making skills that allow you to avoid delay or – in the worst cases – to get them back.
