Critical Factors Influencing Cost Overrun in Construction Projects: A Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation

Abstract

Construction industries have poor cost performance in terms of finishing projects within a budget. A fuzzy model for evaluating the critical factors of cost overrun for construction projects in China is developed by identifying, classifying and ranking cost overrun factors of the construction industries. Sixty-five cost overrun factors are identified and classified into four clusters (project macro, project management, project environment, and core stakeholders) through a detailed literature review process and a discussion with experts from the Chinese construction industry. A questionnaire survey was conducted for data collection to calculate an index of the project-influenced factors and clusters in the construction industry in China. With the help of the proposed model, it is possible to guide project managers and decision makers to make better informative decisions such as project macro, project management, project environment, and core stakeholders.