Assessment of project delays in construction sites of high-rise buildings : a case study of selected high-rise building in Kampala

Abstract

High rise building construction projects in Uganda’s construction industry are experiencing a wide spread of delays. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors causing delays and their effects on high rise building construction projects in Uganda around Kampala. Ten (10) project delay attributes were identified through questionnaire and google forms. The questionnaire survey and google forms were conducted across the stakeholders that included project managers, clients and contractors among others on different selected high-rise building projects around Kampala to gather their views on the factors that cause delays in high rise building construction projects and their effects on the construction industry. This research summarized some of the causes and effects under the help of the above-mentioned stakeholders and assessed their impacts on delay using relative importance index (RII) as a basis for analysis. The RII for all delay causes and effects was computed so as to rank them. The most significant causes of construction projects delay of high-rise buildings was delayed payments (RII=0.956), inadequate contractors experience (RII=0.939), misuse of funds (0.922), under estimates (0.911) and delays in assessing major changes in the scope of work (0.894) and more others as in the table 4.2. The study concluded that major cause was delayed payments (RII=0.956) and the least cause was inadequate site investigation (RII=0.761). The study also concluded that major effects of the causes of project delay of high-rise buildings; were extension (RII=0.900) and cost overruns (RII=0.889) and least impact being total abandonment (RII=0.778). Identification of the causes of potential delay factors that are likely to affect the timely delivery of high-rise building projects can help to avoid extra costs through claims and disputes that arise among parties when delays are experienced.