Analysis of delay factors and their effects on construction projects

Construction projects more often are facing with unpredictable delays and it is one of the biggest challenges to mitigate such delays. The aim of the present study is to explore causes and effects of delays on construction projects executed in Pakistan. Empirical methodology is used and the data is collected from 37 construction companies and questionnaires are distributed to 172 professionals. Various statistical tools are applied such as multiple regression to analyze the data. The finding of this analysis show that significant causes of delay factors are associated and ordered as contractor, client, consultant, material and equipment respectively; however, there is not any effect of delay on factors such as, labor and general environment. Finally, it is analyzed that construction projects delay lead considerably to project time overrun, cost overrun, project abandonment, and litigation. All these factors can bring projects on great risk. The analysis of the study gave considerable understandings to stakeholders of construction projects in order to formulate strategies to overcome delay and their impacts.