Factors Influencing Time Overruns in Construction Projects

The successful completion of a construction project within the scheduled time is a challenging task for the project management team. Time Overrun is one of the most significant issues in construction industry. It is the extension of time beyond scheduled completion date of construction project. The purpose of this research paper is to identifying, analyzing and ranking the various factors affecting time overruns. A detailed literature review was conducted to identify the potential time overruns factors in construction projects. The factors were grouped in to five categories such as factors related to Contractor, Client, Consultant, Labour and External factors. A questionnaire for the survey was developed based on 35 factors identified from literature review and distributed to 40 construction companies. The validity of the questionnaire data was tested using reliability test in SPSS. The data was analyzed statistically using Relative important index method to find out the most significant factors affecting Time overruns. The results of questionnaire survey were used to rank the time overrun factors. The most significant factors of construction time overruns were identified as Shortage of materials in the local market, Delay in obtaining work permits from authorities, Rises in the price of material, Poor delivery of construction materials, Delay in payments. A case study was conducted in an apartment construction project to find out the potential causes of time overruns.By comparing the result of questionnaire survey and case study similar factors could be summarized