CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF DELAYS IN SAUDI ARABIAN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Construction is defined as a major industry that exploits natural resources globally. A construction delay can be defined as an extended construction duration, beyond the expected completion time. Various literatures proved that delays are a major and most common risk faced by the construction industry throughout the year. Hence, the objectives of this study are to identify the major causes of construction delays in Saudi Arabian projects, to determine the effects of construction delays in Saudi Arabia and to propose workable preventive solutions to eliminate or minimize the project delays. A questionnaire analysis was conducted to identify the causes and effects of delays in KSA’s construction industry. From the analysis, a lack of manpower skill (mean score 4.51 out of 5), manpower shortage (mean score 4.33 out of 5), delays in material delivery (mean score 4.13 out of 5), material shortage (mean score 4.13 out of 5) and poor project planning and coordination was identified as top 5 most occurring causes of delays, which resulted from contractor related causes of delays. Fifteen effects of construction delays were identified from the literature and distributed to respondents in questionnaire. From the research analysis, deterioration of company image (mean score 4.27 out of 5), bankruptcy (mean score 4.16 out of 5), stress for contractors (mean score 3.56 out of 5), total abandonment (mean score 3.53 out of 5) and acceleration of losses (mean score 3.02 out of 5) ranked as top 5 effects of construction delays.