Analysis of construction delay for delivering quality project in Bangladesh

PurposeConstruction delay is the most common issue and creates many adverse effects in any construction industry. This study has investigated the views of engineers, project managers and contractors on the causes of delay during a construction phase to identify potential delay factors, negative effects on project delivery and prioritize the delay factors.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive literature review and interview with construction stakeholders have been conducted to identify potential causes of construction delays and design a questionnaire survey. The final questionnaire was designed with 40 potential delay factors, and a total of 102 valid Bangladeshi construction stakeholders responded to it. The result was analyzed by the relative importance index.FindingsAmong the 40 delay factors, the top five most influencing delay factors are “delay in progress payments,” “rework due to mistakes during construction,” “lack of skilled labor,” “poor monitoring and control of activities” and “delays in the making of a decision.” The top five most damaging effects of delay are “time overrun,” “cost overrun,” “disputes,” “arbitration” and “litigation,” among ten negative effects of construction delay. All construction stakeholders believe that the owner-related, consultant-related and contractor-related groups are the first, second and third most important groups of delay factors.Originality/valueThe outcome of this study would enable the Bangladeshi construction industry to develop strategies to overcome delay factors and their harmful effects. By focusing on the outcome of this research and prioritizing the critical factors, the construction industry of Bangladesh will be able to minimize construction delay significantly and propagate the progress of the construction industry by delivering quality projects timely.

Construction projects delay mitigation using integrated balanced scorecard and quality function deployment

PurposeDelays occur mostly in the construction process of many projects, which can have a consequent effect on the overall performance of the project in areas such as profitability, efficiency and safety. This study aims to suggest a structure that can be applied to manage construction projects effectively and, thus, to reduce delays. The integrated balanced scorecard (BSC) and quality function deployment (QFD) framework proposed in the present study enabled the identification and ranking of the objectives of the financial perspective and the enablers of construction delay mitigation. This will help construction industry professionals prioritize the enabling factors that influence the financial perspective, thereby helping them focus on the achievement of the most important ones which subsequently results in efficiency. Consequently, more tasks are accomplished with the use of less time and resources as the actions tend to be more narrowly focused on the achievement of the most important factors such as client and contractor-related factors, as opposed to the low-value adding factors.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted to determine the essential factors that would help resolve or reduce delays. A total of 41 mitigation factors (seven financial objectives and 36 enabler objectives) were identified and categorized into four BSC perspectives: financial, client, contractor and project management team, and innovation and learning. Two management tools, the BSC and QFD, were used to develop the system based on the mitigation factors defined.FindingsThe results of this study show that the most significant factors affecting the achievement of the financial objectives of the project are mainly customer-related factors, accompanied by factors related to contractors and project management teams. With the fishbone diagram and cause and effect analysis, the proposed BSC and QFD system provides a long-term approach for all stakeholders to help professionals in the construction industry prioritize and reduce delays more effectively. Moreover, the findings of the present study highlight the utility of the integrated BSC and QFD framework in quantifying the strengths of association of different objectives of the financial perspective and the enablers of construction delay mitigation.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper to the body of knowledge is the proposed integrated structure for BSC and QFD that can serve as a comprehensive and structural approach to rating the essential enabling delay mitigation factors based on the magnitude of their effects on the financial performance of the project. The proposed framework can be considered a novel tool since this is the first integrated BSC and QFD framework for construction delay mitigation. Finally, the proposed BSC and QFD framework, along with the fishbone diagram and cause and effect analysis, provides a long-term strategy for all stakeholders to mitigate delays. Thus, the proposed integrated BSC and QFD framework can serve as a systematic and structural approach for measuring the strength of influence of the enablers of delay mitigation against the financial perspective.

A Bayesian belief network predictive model for construction delay avoidance in the UK

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to advise on UK construction delay strategies. Critical delay factors were identified and their interrelationships were explored; in addition, a predictive model was established upon the factors and interrelationships to calculate delay potentials.Design/methodology/approachThe critical causes were identified by a literature review, verified by an open-ended questionnaire survey and then analysed with 299 samples returned from structured questionnaire surveys. The model consisted of factors screened out by Pearson product–moment correlational coefficient, constructed by a logical reasoning process and then quantified by conducting Bayesian belief networks parameter learning.FindingsThe technical aspect of construction project management was less critical while the managerial aspect became more emphasised. Project factors and client factors present relatively weak impact on construction delay, while contractor factors, contractual arrangement factors and distinctively interaction factors present relatively strong impact.Research limitations/implicationsThis research does not differentiate delay types, such as excusable vs non-excusable ones and compensable vs non-compensable ones. The model nodes have been tested to be critical to construction delay, but the model structure is mostly based on previous literature and logical deduction. Further research could be done to accommodate delay types and test the relationships.Originality/valueThis research updates critical delay factor list for the UK construction projects, suggesting general rules for resource allocation concerning delay avoidance. Besides, this research establishes a predictive model, assisting delay avoidance strategies on a case-by-case basis.

A Review of Employer-Caused Delay Factors in Traditional and Building Information Modeling (BIM)-Enabled Projects: Research Framework

Construction delays are considered a common worldwide problem. Previous studies have investigated construction delay factors from the perspectives of different project stakeholders. However, a thorough analysis of such delays on different types of construction projects in different geographies is still lacking, precisely the effect of employers’ delays in traditional and building information modeling (BIM)-enabled projects. This research proposes a research framework to address potential employer-caused delay factors in traditional and BIM-enabled projects. A cross-sectional literature search was carried out to review construction delay factors and employer-caused delay factors in traditional and BIM-enabled projects. The study found that: (a) a research gap exists in traditional construction delay studies in specific continents and project types as well as in BIM-enabled project studies, (b) delay aspects have not been addressed or have been partially addressed in previous studies, and (c) a relationship model between employer-caused delay factors and success factors can be developed by studying the effects of BIM barriers and implementation strategies. This paper is the first to present a comprehensive review on delay factors and tender a novel framework to address employer-caused delay factors in both traditional and BIM-enabled projects.