Authors:
Amílcar Arantes
1
and
Luís Miguel D. F. Ferreira
2
Affiliations:
1
Universidade Lisboa, Portugal
;
2
University of Aveiro, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Construction Delays, Construction Industry, Portuguese Construction Industry, Project Management, Relative Importance Index, Factor Analysis.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Applications
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Information Systems Analysis and Specification
;
Methodologies and Technologies
;
Operational Research
;
Project Management
;
Stochastic Processes
;
Supply Chain Management
Abstract:
Delays are frequent in engineering and construction projects all over the world. Delays can have severe impacts, such as time and cost overruns and conflicts between stakeholders, and can also lead to total abandonment of the contract. This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted to identify the most important causes of delays in the Portuguese construction industry. Among the respondents were representatives from all stakeholders involved: contractors, consultants and developers. The Relative Importance Index was adopted to classify the relative importance of the 46 identified causes of the delays. The results show that the main causes of delay were slow decision making by developers, change orders, unrealistic contract duration and specifications in contracts, financial constraints on the contractor and the type of bidding and award of contract process. Additionally, factor analysis revealed eight high-level causes that aggregate 30 of the original causes. These findings
are expected to contribute to expanding the knowledge in the scientific community of construction management, in particular in the field of supply chain management, and helping the Portuguese industry in the reduction and prevention of delays in construction projects.
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