Assessing the causes and effects of delays on the timely delivery of building projects in Kampala.

Abstract

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 building construction projects in Uganda. About 37 project delay attributes were identified through detailed literature review. A questionnaire survey was conducted across project participants that included among others; consultants, contractors and clients on selected building projects to gather their views on causes and effects of delay in delivery of projects. This research categorized the causes of delay under four main groups of consultant and designer related factors, contractor related factors, client related factors and other external related factors and then assessed their impacts on delay using relative importance index (RII) as a basis for analysis. The RII for all delay factors was computed so as to rank the factors. The most significant factors causing construction delays were identified as Late inspection and testing of completed works, delayed payment of contractors, change orders by client and equipment breakdown and maintenance problems. The study concluded that consultant and designer related category had the highest impact (RII = 0.805) and followed by client related (RII = 0.800). Identification of the causes of potential delay factors that are likely to affect the timely delivery of projects can help to avoid extra costs through claims and disputes that arise among parties when delays are experienced