| dc.description.abstract | 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. | en_US |
