High rise buildings are complex, high risk, and multi-contractor projects which make them prone to construction delays. Delays can lead to time overrun, affect the total project duration and the total cost, and could result in litigation. Most construction schedules are deterministic and do not include the uncertainty and risk inherent in the diverse activities which constitute the construction project. Generally, high rise buildings are expensive undertakings and a schedule overrun could lead to significant time and money losses. Therefore, a high rise project manager must be able to estimate the potential delays and eliminate them if possible in order to reduce their impact on the success of the overall project. The research study identified 42 possible construction delays through the literature study and grouped them into six categories according to their source and relevance. These groups include: general delays related to project, owner, contractor, consultant, resource, and miscellaneous delays. A questionnaire was developed to investigate severities of the identified six delay categories; in addition, some questions about project details, critical effects of delays, and most responsible people for the delays were added to ascertain more information from the survey. The questionnaire was sent to pre-identified construction professionals of the high rise construction industry all over the United States and India. The individual analysis of each country shows that change orders, given by the owner during construction, is the most severe cause of delay for the USA, followed by severe weather conditions, as well as mistakes or errors in design and drawing documents. For India, the most severe cause of delay is the lack of communication and coordination among all parties involved in the construction, followed by improper construction methods and payment delays by the owner. The comparative analysis of two countries shows that there is a difference between the results and demonstrates that the presence of construction delays and their effects are more often and severe for India than the USA. It also shows that consultant related delays and miscellaneous delays are more severe for the USA than India and vice versa for the rest of the delay categories (general, owner, contractor, and resource related). All the participants of the two nations agreed that time overrun and cost overruns are the critical effects of construction delays, followed by disputes and arbitration. The present research study also includes the recommendations made by the survey participants.