Problem Statement
You are required to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant body of works to a real-life business research.
Construction delays are one of the major concerns in the construction world. Delays can be referred to as an events or acts that increase the overall time needed to perform the tasks of the contract in a specified period of time. (Arya & Kansal, 2016). Delays are characterized by additional days of work or starting the activities. The delays in construction are also be referred to as the time taken to complete construction project beyond estimated completion date specified in contract or date agreed by parties involved in the contract. Project delays are the project slipping over the scheduled plan and is one of the major concerns of the construction project (Thorat, Khandare, & Kanase, 2017). When a construction project is delayed the parties involved in the construction project have to bear huge losses as the planning and activities have to be postponed which results in cost overruns. The construction delays have a negative impact on the parties that are involved in the project such as the contractors, consultants and clients. There is a huge financial loss for the customers and there is a loss of profit for the contractors involved in the project because of high overhead costs. It has been reported by the Indian Government that 251 out of 782 construction projects in India are delayed with a time overrun of 1 to 261 months (Rathod & Dhall, 2017).
In this research, the focus will be on identifying the reasons behind construction delays in India along the effects of the delay on the completion cost. This study attempts to overcome the gap in the research by determining the different factors that are responsible for delays in the construction project along with impact of delays on the cost of the project. The target respondents of this study will include the construction site engineers and project managers. Construction in India has significantly increased and the issue of delays in the projects has also increased. Therefore, it is important to determine root cause of these delays so that each factor can be addressed. The time and cost of a construction project have a parallel relationship, as the time for the project will increase, cost of the project will also increase (Fugar & Agyakwah-Baah, 2010). It is crucial to control and monitor the time taken by the projects to complete so as to control the cost of the construction project.
Research Aim, Objectives and Research Questions
The aim of this project is to determine the causes of delays in the construction projects in India along with their impact on the cost of the project.
In this context, the objectives of the research are as a follows:
- Objective 1: To find the problems related to the delays caused by owners, contractors, location effects, modifications in the schedule or plan, and slow decision making.
- Objective 2: To determine and analyze the main reasons of the problem stated above with R.I.I factor calculation.
- Objective 3:To propose solution that can mitigate the problems listed in the above objective.
The major research questions for this research are as follows:
Research question 1: What are the factors responsible for delays in the construction projects in India?
Research question 2: What is the main reason of delays in the construction projects in India?
Research question 3: How can the problem of delays be mitigated?
The above listed research objectives and questions will help in providing a direction to the research.
This research project focuses on determining the causes related to delays in the construction project. Delays are insidious in nature and result in cost overruns, disputes, abandonment of the projects etc. The delays of construction projects in India are a major concern that needs to be addressed. The delay inconstruction projects causes huge financial losses. This study is important in terms of determining the causes and root cause of the delays in the construction project. The findings of this study will help the contractors, project managers and project engineers involved in the construction projects to manage the factors that have a direct effect on the completion time of the project. There are a number of studies that have highlighted multiple reasons of delays in the construction projects; there are however few studies that focus on determining the root causes of the delays in the projects (Braimah, 2013). This study is therefore theoretically important as it will determine the root causes of the delays with the help of the Relative Importance Index (RII). RII is one ranking technique that helps in determining the root cause of the delays in the construction project. RII will help in determining the relative importance of the factors that contribute in the delays of the construction project (Megha & Rajiv, 2013).This study will be one of the major contributions in the area of delays in construction. Practically this research will help a number of professionals involved in the construction projects who are constantly concerned about the cost overruns caused by the delayed project (Frimpong, Oluwoye, & Crawford, 2003).The causes determined in this study will help reducing the expenses of the projects along with the overall cost by helping the professionals determine the areas that are leading to the overrun. The project managers, contractors and engineers can then focus on addressing each cause of the project delay individually. This research will be a highly potential research in terms of determining the impact of factors such as delays caused by owners, contractors, location effects, slow decision making and changes in the schedule or plan on the time and cost overruns. Once the root cause of the delays in the construction projects is determined it will help in solving the issue of delays in the construction projects.
Justification and Possible Output of the Research Project
Time delay and project dispute
It has been seen that many times due to several reasons a delay is experienced while completing a construction project. There are different types of delays in a construction project like delay because of the owner, or delay due to the contractor. Delays due to the owner are excusable, whereas,delays because of the contractor are inexcusable. Some delays are concurrent in nature and occur in almost every construction project (Hamzah, Khoiry, Arshad, Tawil, & Ani, 2011). In order to deal with such delays, proper decision making is required on part of the contractor. Project delays are also categorized on the basis that if the delay causes a shift in the project completion date, it is considered as a critical delay, whereas, when the project completion date is not extended because of any delay then it is considered as a non critical delay (Salunkhe & Patil, 2014). Twana Ahmed in his article has mentioned that labour as well as legal disputes also pose serious impacts on the finishing of the project on time. According to the research conducted by the author it was found that labour disputes as well as strikes were one of the major causes behind the delay of road construction projects. Legal disputes sometimes require penalties in order to settle the manner affecting the budget of the project and also on the completion time of the construction project (Ahmed, 2015).
Delay in large construction
The research conducted by Assaf and Al-Hejji has concluded that there are more than 50 to 60 causes for the delay of large construction projects. The authors have concluded that some of the common causes for the delay in large construction projects include owner’s excessive involvement, poor performance of the contractors, improper planning as well as design of the project. Making amendments or changes in the design of the project is also considered one of the major reasons behind large construction project delays. Financial constraint is also one reasons behind the delay of projects. Getting approval from the owner also requires certain time and at times because of a delay from theowner’s side, effectsare seen on the completion of the project. Gaining work permit is a time consuming process and at times this takes a lot of time, resulting in delayed construction project. Also, improper communication is a major reason which is listed in very few research works. Delays in decision making is reflected on the completion of the construction specific project as the time of completing the project is usually extended (Assaf & Al-Hejji, 2006). According to the survey conducted by Chan and Kumaraswamy, in order to know the causes of delays in construction projects of Hong Kong, it was found that poor risk management as well as poor supervisory activities were the major reasons behind the delayed construction projects in the country. Work variations as well as variations initiated by the owners are also major causes of large scale construction project delays (Chan & Kumaraswamy, 1997).
Conceptual Framework
Delay due to cost overruns
Delay due to cost overruns is occurred more frequently as compared to time overruns according to Kaming. The main reasons that cause cost overruns mentioned by the authors include an increase in material cost due to inflation. Another reason mentioned was related to improper estimation of the material cost or material required estimation. Also, the degree of complexity is also considered as one of the reasons behind cost overruns. Cost overrunsadverselyimpact the construction project hence, efforts should be invested in order to reduce cost overruns (Kaming, Olomolaiye, Holt, & Harris, 2010). One other research work has also mentioned that cost overruns is the most common issue that is being found for causing the delay of construction projects. The research has mentioned that unpredictable weather conditions along with poor planning also add to cost overruns. Design changes as well as fluctuation in the prices of construction material are also important reasons behind cost overruns. It is very essential to have detailed knowledge of the problems that can be faced in a construction project and future planning needs to be done in order to avoid such situations and its impact on the finishing of the construction project (Shah, 2016).
Delay due to poor decision making
Decision plays a key role in the construction project. Decisions are required to be taken for the smallest to the most complex issues and the decision to deal with such issues decides the future of the project. Decision making starts from the very first step, hence, it is said that decision making has a great role to play in deciding the completion time of the project (Toor & Ogunlana, 2008). Proper decision making can eliminate many risks before starting the project as well as during the project, proper decision making helps to deal with the issue quickly and reduce its negative impacts. Poor decision making has an impact on the financial budget of the project as the estimates may be wrong or the process selected may not be supportive enough. This may result in a delay in the completion of the project. Hence, it can be said that decision making is related to the completion of the construction related project and hence it is very important to stay focused and take effective decisions so that delays can be avoided in the completion of the projects (Alsendi, 2015). Slow decision making is also equally liable for delays in the construction projects. Hence quick decision making is an important attribute that should be present in the contractor of the project (Arantes, Silva, & Ferreira, 2015). It has been seen that due to poor or delayed decision making on part of the owners, a considerable delay is experienced in the construction of the project (Civitello & Locher, 2002; Daba & Pitroda, 2018). Many commonly occurring issues as well as unidentified issues arise in front of the contractor. It is the responsibility of the contractor to be ready with the solutions related to common issues whereas, being quick in taking decisions related to unexpected issues, only then can success be achieved on time as well as according to the estimated budget (Tafazzoli, 2017).
Primary versus secondary research
Primary research is the one in which the first hand data or the original data is collected by a researcher using data collection tools such as interviews and focus groups. The primary research that will be done in this research will help in addressing the specific objectives of the research. The secondary research is the one in which the data from other sources is collected by the research. The secondary research that will be conducted in this research will help in building a conceptual framework of the theoretical background for thestudy. Moreover, secondary research will be used in this study to determine the causes of delays that have been running since decades.
Data collection tools
Primary research
Questionnaire – Questionnaire is one widely used data collection toolfor the primary data. Questionnaire can be defined as a set of questions related with a specific objective. The questionnaire will be used for collecting the responses of the respondents regarding their experience with the delays in the project. This data collection tool will help in collecting the data from a large number of respondents in a limited time. (Long, 2014)
Interviews – Interviews can be defined as face to face or telephonic interactions in context of a specific objective. In this research interviews will be conducted with the project managers, project engineers and contractors. The interviews will help in determining the causes in detail.
Secondary research
The secondary research in this study will be conducted with the help of peer reviews and journal articles along with reports and books. These sources will help in gaining a large amount of data for the research which can be further analyzed so as to determine the causes and impact of the project delays on the cost of the project. (Kulkarni & Pavan, 2014)
Qualitative versus quantitative research
Qualitative research is the research in which an exploratory research is done. This type of research helps in understanding the opinions, behaviors, motivations and reasons behind certain phenomenon or problems. The qualitative research helps in gaining a deep insight of the problem or developing the hypothesis or ideas for the same. (Daniel, 2016). Quantitative research on the other hand is the research that involves numbers or numerical data that can be transformed into statistics. In this research both the qualitative and quantitative researches have been used, the qualitative research will help in exploring the views of past researchers and respondents in detail. The quantitative research will help in quantifying the opinions and attitudes of the respondents along with understanding the reasons of delay with statistical data. (Pavan & Kulkarni, 2014).
There are different types of research strategies from which the researchers can choose for the research. The research strategy is chosen according to the research topic. In this research the explanatory research will be used for achieving the objectives of the research or determine the causes of delays in the construction project. (Fishe & Ziviani, 2016). In this research, explanatory research will be conducted and the focus will be on explaining the causes of delays in the construction projects in India. The explanatory research strategy will be used in this research because it is essential to explain the causes of the project delays before determining the root cause of the problem and its impact on the cost of the projects. Explanatory research helps in properly acknowledging the ideas that are essential for determining the causes of the delays in the construction projects.
This study will be divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction; The first chapter of this research will focus on introducing the research topic by explaining the problem of construction project delays in India. This section will also focus on the research aim, objectives and questions that are important in terms of providing a direction to the research.
Chapter 2 – This chapter will focus on highlighting the past studies that have been done in the context of determining the causes of delays in a construction project. There are a number of studies that have been done in this area, in order to effectively understand the causes and impacts of project delays it is essential to explore the previous studies.
Chapter 3 – In this chapter the methodology used in the research will be discussed in detail. It is important to define the methodology of the research. The focus will be on elements such as the type of the research, research strategy, data collection tools, sample design of the research.
Chapter 4 –In this chapter the data analysis will be done using statistical techniques. The Relative Importance Index will be used in this research so as to rank the causes and determine the root cause of the problem.
Chapter 5 –This chapter will present the major findings of the research. The findings from both primary and secondary research will be presented in this chapter.
Chapter 6 – This is the last chapter of the research which will conclude the research along with discussion of the findings.
Budget of the research
This research will require funds for different phases; total budget of the project is 10,000 Rs. The breakdown of the budget is presented below:
|
Activity |
Cost (in AUD) |
|
Data Collection |
5000 |
|
Other direct costs |
2000 |
|
Project costs |
3000 |
|
Total cost |
10,000 |
The above table shows that there are three major costs associated with this research. The data collection involves a cost of AUD 5000, because many journal articles have to be purchased for this research. Other costsinclude the cost of travelling for gaining the responses of the respondents using questionnaires and interviews. Lastly the total budget of the research will include costs such as the cost of printing and formatting.
References
Ahmed, T. (2015). Delay in Construction Project. Retrieved from Researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306032747_Delay_in_Construction_Project
Alsendi, M. A. (2015). Studying the effect of decision making on delayed construction projects. Retrieved from Policemc.gov.bh: https://www.policemc.gov.bh/mcms-store/pdf/33338498-e92e-47a4-b788-560e571abf47_Dissertation_%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B3_%D8%B1%D9%82%D9%85_7544-%D9%85%D8
Arantes, A., Silva, P. F., & Ferreira, L. M. (2015). Delays in construction projects – causes and impacts. International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Systems Management (IESM) . Seville: IEEE.
Arya, A., & Kansal, D. R. (2016). Analysing Delays of Construction Projects in India: Causes and Effects. IJSTE – International Journal of Science Technology & Engineering | , 3(6).
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Braimah, N. (2013). Construction delay analysis techniques—A review of application issues and improvement needs. Buildings, 3(3), 506-531.
Chan, D. W., & Kumaraswamy, M. M. (1997). A comparative study of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 55-63.
Civitello, A. M., & Locher, W. D. (2002). Contractor’s Guide to Change Orders. Prentice- Hall.
Daba, D. D., & Pitroda, D. J. (2018). A Critical Literature Review on Main Cause of Delay in Construction Projects. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 5(1), 612-615.
Daniel, E. (2016). The Usefulness of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches and. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(15), 91-100.
Fishe, I., & Ziviani, J. (2016). Explanatory case studies: Implications and applications for clinical research. Australian Occupational Therapy, 51(4).
Frimpong, Y., Oluwoye, J., & Crawford, L. (2003). Causes of delay and cost overruns in construction of groundwater projects in a developing countries; Ghana as a case study. International Journal of Project Management, 21(5), 321-326.
Fugar, F. D., & Agyakwah-Baah, A. B. (2010). Delays in Building Construction Projects in Ghana. Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building, 10(1/2), 103-116.
Hamzah, N., Khoiry, M., Arshad, I., Tawil, N. M., & Ani, A. I. (2011). Cause of Construction Delay – Theoretical Framework. Procedia Engineering, 490 – 495.
Kaming, P. F., Olomolaiye, P. O., Holt, G. D., & Harris, F. C. (2010). Factors influencing construction time and cost overruns on high-rise projects in Indonesia. Construction Management and Economics(15), 83-94.
Kulkarni, N., & Pavan. (2014). Research Methodology: Review Article. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 3(7).
Long, H. (2014). An Empirical Review of Research Methodologies. Creativity Research Journal, 26(4).
Megha, D., & Rajiv, D. B. (2013). A methodology for ranking of causes of delay for residential construction projects in Indian context. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, 3(3), 396-404.
Pavan, G. K., & Kulkarni, N. (2014). Research Methodology: Review Article. International Journal of Innovative Research and Development, 3(7), 168-173.
Rathod, K., & Dhall, N. (2017). India: Delays In Construction Projects. Retrieved from Khaitanco.com: https://www.khaitanco.com/PublicationsDocs/Mondaq-KCOCoverage24JanKHR.pdf
Salunkhe, A. A., & Patil, R. S. (2014). Effect of construction delays on project time overrun: Indian scenario. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology, 543-547.
Shah, R. K. (2016). An Exploration of Causes for Delay and Cost Overruns in Construction Projects: Case Study of Australia, Malaysia & Ghana. Journal of Advanced College of Engineering and Management, 2.
Tafazzoli, M. (2017). Investigating Causes of Delay in U.S. Construction Projects. 53rd ASC Annual International Conference Proceedings (pp. 611-621). Las Vegas: Associated Schools of Construction.
Thorat, S., Khandare, M. A., & Kanase, A. K. (2017). Identifying the causes and effects of delay in residential projects. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 4(4), 2993-2996.
Toor, S.?U.?R., & Ogunlana, S. O. (2008). Problems causing delays in major construction projects in Thailand. Construction Management and Economics , 395-408
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