Abstract

This study investigates the causes of delay of building construction projects in Ghana to determine the most important according to the key project participants; clients, consultants, and contractors. Thirty-two possible causes of delay were identified from the literature and semi-structured interviews of 15 key players in the implementation process. These delay factors were further categorised into nine major groups. The list of delay causes was subjected to a questionnaire survey for the identification of the most important causes of delay. The field survey included 130 respondents made up of 39 contractors, 37 clients and 54 consultants. The relative importance of the individual causes and the groups were calculated and ranked by their relative importance index. The overall results of the study indicate that the respondents generally agree that financial group factors ranked highest among the major factors causing delay in construction projects in Ghana. The financial group factors were delay in honouring payment certificates, difficulty in accessing credit and fluctuation in prices. Materials group factors are second followed by scheduling and controlling factors.

Highlights

  • The literature is replete with studies of construction delays and their negative impact on project success and company performance (Couto and Teixeira, 2007)

  • The main objective of this study is to identify the major causes of delays of building construction projects in Ghana using an opinion survey

  • The perspectives of clients, consultants and contractors of the 32 delay factors were analysed based on the relative importance index

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Summary

Introduction

The literature is replete with studies of construction delays and their negative impact on project success and company performance (Couto and Teixeira, 2007). Studies on the causes could not be found in the published literature except the study by Frimpong and Oluwoye (2003) which investigated the significant factors that cause delay and cost overruns in the construction of underground projects in Ghana. They reported that to a large extent, Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building consultants, owners, and contractors agreed that project financing, economic and natural conditions and material supply were the four major categories of causes of delay and cost overrun factors. This important research leaves a gap which the current study sought to fill, namely to find the causes of delay in building construction projects

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