Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(7): 450-456, 2011

ISSN 1991-8178

Significant Factors Causing and Effects of Delay in Iranian Construction Projects

1
Towhid Pourrostam and 2Amiruddin Ismail
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran.
2
Sustainable Urban Transport Research Centre (SUTRA)/, Department of Civil and Structural
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

Abstract: Delays are one of the main problems in construction projects in developing countries, as
cause a negative effects on the projects. Delays can be minimized only when their causes are
recognized. The aim of this paper is to identify the main causes and consequences of delay in Iranian
construction projects. The literature related the field of causes and effects of delay in construction
projects has been reviewed from 2000 onwards. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the
causes and consequences of delay from consultants and contractors’ viewpoint. This study identified
10 most important causes of delay from a list of 27 different causes of delay and 6 different effects
of delay. It was found the predominant causes of delay are poor site management and supervision,
delay in progress payment by clients, change orders by client during construction, ineffective planning
and scheduling of project by contractor, financial difficulties by contractor, slowness in decision
making process by client, delays in producing design documents, late in reviewing and approving
design documents by client, poor contract management by consultant and problems with
subcontractors. The results showed delay can lead to many negative effects such as time and cost
overrun, disputes, arbitration, total abandonment and litigation. The paper forecasts some future trends
and suggests certain areas in which future research on construction projects could focus on. Although
the research is devoted to Iran’s specific case, the findings of construction management problems are
common to developing countries.

Key words: Causes of delay, Effects of delay, Iran, Construction project

INTRODUCTION

Construction delay is considered one of the most frequent problems in the construction industry and delays
have an adverse impact on project success in terms of time, cost, quality and safety (Faridi and El-Sayegh
2006). According to Aibinu and Jagboro (2002) delay is a situation when the contractor and the project owner
jointly or severally contribute to the non-completion of the project within the original or the stipulated or
agreed contract period. Delays can be minimized only when their causes are recognized. Keeping construction
projects within approximate costs and schedules requires sound strategies, good practices, and careful judgment.
However, to the dislike of owners, contractors and consultants, many projects experience extensive delays and
thereby exceed initial time and cost estimates (Enshassi et al. 2009). Assaf and Al-Hejjei (2006), found that
76% of the contractors have indicated that average of time overrun is between 10% and 30% of original
duration, while about 56% of the consultants specified the same percentage.
Time and cost overruns occur in most construction projects, although, the magnitude of these delays and
cost overruns varies considerably from project to project (Enshassi et al. 2009). According to Gkritza et al.
(2008), cost overruns can be traced back to “root causes” that are often associated with the preliminary phases
(project planning or design), that such root causes include poor estimation of quantities, design variations or
errors, project schedule changes, scope changes, unexpected site conditions, rising costs of materials and labour
(largely due to inflation), and/or unforeseen events.
The scope of this study was research to identify causes and consequences of delay in Iranian construction
project. Projects investigated in this study included administration buildings and roads. The literature related
the field of causes and consequences of delay in construction projects has been reviewed over the last decade.
A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the causes and consequences of delay from 100 consultants
and contractors’ viewpoint. Then was discussed the analysis the data using statistical procedures and

Corresponding Author: Towhid PourRostam, Department of Civil Engineering, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Shoushtar, Iran.
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 Aust. J. Basic & Appl. Sci., 5(7): 450-456, 2011

recommendations for reducing delay in construction projects.

Literature review:
Numerous researchers identified the causes of delay in construction projects. Al-Momani (2000) determined
the causes, level of time extension needed for public projects and aid requirement by construction managers
in establishing adequate evaluation prior to the contract award using quantitative data. He has believed that
the arguments and findings presented in this study provide a good guidance for managerial intervention, and
provide some guidelines and actionable information that managers can utilize to manage their projects.
According to (Koushk et al., 2005; Assaf, S.A. and Al-Hajji, S. 2006; Meeampol and Ogunlana, S.O. 2006;
Sambasivan and Soon, Y.K. 2007; Lee-Hoai, L. et al. 2008) delays can lead to many negative effects such as
time overrun, cost overrun. Sambasivan and Soon (2007) has noted that identical factors such as disputes,
arbitration, litigation and total abandonment. Over the last decade, the causes and effects of delay in
construction projects have been reviewed by the researchers which are shown in Table 1.

Methodology:
Questionnaire:
Delays are one of the main problems in construction projects in developing countries, as cause a negative
effects on the projects. The literature related the field of causes and consequences of delay in construction
projects has been reviewed from 2000 onwards. Summary of causes of delay from literature review are shown
in Table 1. A questionnaire survey was requested to solicit the causes of delay from consultants and
contractors’ viewpoint. The respondents were asked to identify their response category on 27 construction delay
factors from Table 1. The second part of questionnaire focused on the effects of construction delay in Iranian
construction projects.

Data Collection:
Odeh and Battaineh (2002) to establish the ranking of different factors from the viewpoint of contractors
and consultants, the Relative Importance Index (I) was computed as:

(1)

W= Weight assigned to ith response;

Wi= 3, 2, 1 and 0 for i= 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively;
Xi= Frequency of the ith response;
i=Response category index= 1, 2, 3 and 4 for Very important, Important, Less important, and not important
respectively.

Accordingly, W1= 3 for Very important, W2= 2 for Important, W3= 1 for Less important, and W4= 0 for
Not important have been used for this analysis. To study the strength of relationship between contractors and
consultants, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient was determined. The Spearman rank correlation
coefficient is calculated using Equation (2):

Ts=1- (2)

rs = Spearman rank correlation coefficient;

d = Difference in ranking between the contractors and the consultants;
N = Number of variables.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Causes of Delay:
Summary of relative importance index and rank for the causes of delays in Iranian construction projects
is shown in Table 2. From the analysis of the results, it was found that poor site management and change
orders by client during construction are ranked high by both consultants and contractors. Moreover the shortage
of labours, bad weather and type of project bidding and award are same ranking by consultants and contractors.
In addition the consultants and contractors disagreed on some of the factors. Ineffective planning and

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scheduling project by contractor is ranked much higher (Rank 2) by the consultant whereas this was ranked
lower (Rank 7) by the contractors. Moreover delays in producing design documents is ranked much higher
(Rank 4) by contractors but this was ranked lower (Rank 10) by consultant.
Table 1: Summary of causes of delay in construction projects from literature review.
S. NO Causes of delay in construction projects Al-Momani lim and Odeh and Frimpong Long Koushk Faridi and Zaneldin Assaf and Meeampol and
(2000) Mohamed Battaineh et al. et al. et al. El-Sayegh (2006) Al-Hejji Ogulana (2006)

% % % % % % %
(2000) (2002) (2003) (2004) (2005) (2006) (2006)

% % %
1 Poor site management
2 Ineffective planning and scheduling

% % % % % %
of project by contractor

% % % %
3 Financial difficulties by contractor

% % % %
4 Shortage of labours

% % % %
5 Delay in delivery of materials to site

%
6 Change orders by client during Construction

% %
7 Lack of materials on market

% %
8 Lack of communication between the parties

% %
9 Lack of consultant’s experience

% % % %
10 Inaccurate estimates

%
11 Bad weather

% %
12 Incompetent subcontractor

% %
13 Mistakes during construction

% % %
14 Improper construction method by subcontractors

% % % % % %
15 Delay in progress payments by client

%
16 Low productivity level of labours

% %
17 Problems with subcontractors

% %
18 Equipment unavailability

%
19 Problem with neighbours and site condition

% %
20 Type of project bidding and award

% %
21 Poor contract management by consultant

% % %
22 Obstacles from government

% % % %
23 Slowness in decision making process by client

Late in reviewing and approving design documents % % % %

24 Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents
25

% % % %
by consultant

% % % %
26 Delays in producing design documents
27 Inadequate contractor experience

Table 1: Continue.
S. NO Causes of delay in construction projects Lo et al. Alaghbari Sambasivan Le-Hoai Gkriza El-Razak Sweis Toor and Enshassi Kaliba (2009)
(2006) et al. and Soon et al. and Labi et al. et al Ogunlana et al.

% % % % % % % %
(2007) (2007) (2008) (2008) (2008) (2008) (2008) (2009)

% %
1 Poor site management
2 Ineffective planning and scheduling

% % % % % % %
of project by contractor

% % % % %
3 Financial difficulties by contractor

% % % %
4 Shortage of labours

% % % % % %
5 Delay in delivery of materials to site

% % % % %
6 Change orders by client during Construction

% %
7 Lack of materials on market

%
8 Lack of communication between the parties

%
9 Lack of consultant’s experience

% % %
10 Inaccurate estimates

%
11 Bad weather

% % % %
12 Incompetent subcontractor

%
13 Mistakes during construction

% % % % %
14 Improper construction method by subcontractors

% % % %
15 Delay in progress payments by client

% %
16 Low productivity level of labours

% %
17 Problems with subcontractors
18 Equipment unavailability

% %
19 Problem with neighbours and site condition

%
20 Type of project bidding and award

%
21 Poor contract management by consultant
22 Obstacles from government

% % %
23 Slowness in decision making process by client

% %
24 Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents
25 Late in reviewing and approving design

% % % % %
documents by consultant

% %
26 Delays in producing design documents
27 Inadequate contractor experience

Table 2: Summary of Relative Importance Index and Rank for Causes of Delay in Iranian Construction Projects.
NO causes of delay in construction projects Consultants Contractors Overall

Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank

1 Poor site management 3.20 1 3.26 1 3.23 1
2 Ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 3.18 2 2.92 7 3.06 4
3 Financial difficulties by contractor 3.10 3 2.94 6 3.02 5
4 Shortage of labours 2.64 11 2.70 11 2.67 13
5 Delay in delivery of materials to site 2.58 13 2.46 15 2.52 18
6 Change orders by client during Construction 2.98 5 3.18 3 3.08 3
7 Lack of materials on market 2.54 15 2.18 20 2.36 22
8 Lack of communication between the parties 2.78 10 2.78 9 2.78 11
9 Lack of consultant’s experience 2.04 19 2.42 16 2.23 23

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Table 2: Continue
10 Inaccurate estimates 2.00 20 2.30 18 2.15 24
11 Bad weather 2.80 9 2.78 9 2.79 10
12 Incompetent subcontractor 2.84 8 2.48 14 2.66 14
13 Mistakes during construction 2.44 16 2.54 13 2.49 19
14 Improper construction method by subcontractors 2.84 8 2.46 15 2.65 15
15 Delay in progress payments by client 2.98 5 3.20 2 3.09 2
16 Problems with subcontractors 2.88 7 2.76 10 2.82 9
17 Equipment unavailability 2.62 12 2.48 14 2.55 17
18 Problem with neighbours and site condition 2.54 15 2.24 19 2.39 21
19 Type of project bidding and award 1.96 21 1.90 21 1.93 25
20 Low productivity level of labours 2.36 17 2.62 12 2.49 19
21 Poor contract management by consultant 2.62 12 3.04 5 2.83 8
22 Obstacles from government 2.12 18 2.82 8 2.47 20
23 Slowness in decision making process by client 2.90 6 3.04 5 2.97 6
24 Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents 2.56 14 2.92 7 2.74 12
25 Late in reviewing and approving design documents by client 3.04 4 2.82 8 2.93 7
26 Delays in producing design documents 2.78 10 3.08 4 2.93 7
27 Inadequate contractor experience 2.80 9 2.36 17 2.58 16

To study the strength of relationship between consultants and contractors, the Spearman rank correlation
coefficient was determined. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient is calculated using equation (2). The
Spearman rank correlation coefficient is found to be 0.831 for these research data, that is shows a strong
agreement between contractors and consultants for the ranking of the causes of delays. The collected data were
statistically analysed further to determine the overall Relative Importance Index (RII) of these 27 causes of
delays.
Table 3 shows ten most important causes of delay in Iranian construction projects. The analysis of the
result shown that poor site management, delay in progress payments by client and change orders by client
during construction are high ranking. Moreover the analysis of the data shows that based on contractor’s points
of view all 10 top causes of delay have mentioned, however that based on consultant’s point of view 9 of the
top 10 causes are from the overall top causes of delays. The comparative profiles of 10 most importance
causes of delay and relative importance index are shown in Figure 1.

Effects of Delay:
On the basis of review, according to (Koushk, et al., 2005; Enshassi et al. 2009; Assaf, S.A. and Al-Hajji,
S. 2006; Meeampol and Ogunlana, S.O. 2006; Sambasivan and Soon, Y.K. 2007) delays can lead to many
negative effects such as time overrun, cost overrun. Sambasivan and Soon (2007) has noted that identical
factors such as disputes, arbitration, litigation and total abandonment. The second part of questionnaire focused
on the effects of construction delay in Iranian construction projects. Similar to the first part of the
questionnaire, the respondents were asked to identify their response category on 6 effect factors from Table
4. From the analysis of the results, it is found that time overruns and cost overruns are ranked high by both
consultants and contractors. Moreover dispute and litigation are same ranking by consultants and contractors.
The Spearman rank correlation coefficient is found to be 0.886 for these research data, this higher value of
rs (approaching 1) shows an agreement between contractors and consultants for the ranking of the effects of
delays. The comparative profiles of importance effects of delay and relative importance index are shown in
Figure 2.

Table 3: Top 10 Relative Importance Index and Rank for Causes of Delay.
S.NO Causes of delay in construction projects Consultant Contractor Overall
--------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------------
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
1 Poor site management 3.20 1 3.26 1 3.23 1
2 Delay in progress payments by client 2.88 7 3.20 2 3.09 2
3 Change orders by client during Construction 2.98 5 3.18 3 3.08 3
4 Ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 3.18 2 2.92 7 3.06 4
5 Financial difficulties by contractor 3.10 3 2.94 6 3.02 5
6 Slowness in decision making process by client 2.90 6 3.04 5 2.97 6
7 Delays in producing design documents 2.78 10 3.08 4 2.93 7
8 Late in reviewing and approving design documents by client 3.04 4 2.82 8 2.93 7
9 Poor contract management by consultant 2.62 12 3.04 5 2.83 8
10 Problems with subcontractors 2.92 6 2.76 10 2.82 9

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Fig. 1: Comparative profiles of overall 10 most importance causes of delays in terms of RII with respect to
contractors and consultants

Fig. 2: Comparative profiles of overall importance effects of delays in terms of RII with respect to contractors
and consultants

Table 4: Relative Importance Index and rank for the effects of delay
S.NO Causes of delay in construction projects Consultants Contractors Overall
-------------------------- -------------------------- ------------------------------
Index Rank Index Rank Index Rank
1 Time overrun 3.46 1 3.36 2 3.40 1
2 Cost overrun 3.36 2 3.40 1 3.38 2
3 Dispute 3.18 3 3.28 3 3.23 3
4 Arbitration 2.90 4 2.76 5 2.83 4
5 Litigation 2.76 6 2.12 6 2.44 6
6 Total Abandonment 2.72 5 2.92 4 2.82 5

Conclusion and Recommendation:

In this study identified the causes and effects of delay in Iranian construction delay. Projects investigated
in this study included administration buildings and roads. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the
causes and effect of delay from consultants and contractors’ viewpoint. Ten most causes of delay were: poor
site management, delay in progress payment by client, change orders by client during construction, ineffective
planning and scheduling of project by contractor, financial difficulties by contractors, slowness in decision
making process by client, delay in processing design documents, late in reviewing and approving design
documents by client, poor contract management, and problems with subcontractors. Six major effects of delay
were: time overrun, cost overrun, disputes, arbitration, total abandonment, and litigation.

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This paper has recommended factors to address in reducing delays to client, consultants and contractors.
Clients should make progress payments to contractors on time, and recruit competent project manager.
Consultants have to try to manage the project professionally, complete and prepare design on time, using
professional specialists and implementation of accurate per-design for minimizing future changes. Contractors
need to provide adequate source of finance during construction and effective planning of project execution.

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