In Construction
Delay Analysis Methods, construction
expert Jamil Soucar writes on the challenges and the various delay analysis methods:
Below is a list of common delay causes encountered on construction projects. One of the complications of a delay analysis is that the delays can be caused by few of these listed causes or a complex mix of these causes. The time of their occurrence and who caused what delay add to the difficulty of the analysis.
Errors and omissions in the contract documents:
- Missing information.
- Not having a phasing plan in the bid documents when the site work has to be done in phases.
- Conflicting information that need design revisions.
Contractor caused delays for reasons under their control:
- Not having enough labor force on site.
- Contractual problems between the prime contractor and subcontractors.
- Cash flow issues.
- Lack of proper planning and management of the project.
Delays for reasons beyond the contractor or owner’s control:
- Strikes
- Out of state manufacturer’s shut down.
- A subcontractor going out of business in the middle of the project.
- Unusual weather conditions.
Owner caused delays for reasons under their control:
- Scope changes.
- Limiting contractor’s access to parts of the site.
- Cash flow.
- Late processing of contractor’s requests for clarifications and change orders.
- A higher level political factor that impacted the project’s progress.
Personality conflicts between the project’s team.
- Unfortunately, sometimes this factor results in the team making things difficult on site that cause delays. In this case each party blames the other for the delay.
