The project delivery crises faced by the Agusan del Sur

construction projects as to: before COVID-19 pandemic; and

during COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 8: Participants’ Responses in terms of Management Crisis

- Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del
Sur’s Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19

Figure 8 above shows the participants’ responses on the

project delivery crisis faced by their respective

construction projects in terms of management crisis–related

before and during COVID-19. As shown, the seven crises being

analyzed under management were both experienced before and

during the pandemic. However, during COVID-19, the project

delivery crisis increased because most participants

experienced the said problem. During the pandemic, the top

crisis of construction projects has 87.50% responses out of

24 participants. These were the suspension of work or time

extension because of lockdowns in place to slow the spread

of the virus (Umar, 2021), and increased in overhead

expenses because construction costs keep increasing due to

workplace safety and health compliance, suspension and

termination of the project, and productivity loss (Abdullah

et al., 2021).

The suspension of work or time extension was also a top

crisis before COVID-19, with 54.17% of total responses. This

implied that even before, this problem was already at hand

and faced by the Agusan del Sur construction projects. The

difference between this crisis before and during the

pandemic was instead of the lockdowns, most of the time,

weather conditions and other natural phenomena were the

reason for the suspension of work or time extension. In his

study, Mentis (2015) stated that the weather was

consistently rated among common causes of project delays as

one of the most frequent.

Figure 9: Participants’ Responses in terms of Design Crisis -

Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del Sur’s
Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19

The top project delivery crisis of Agusan del Sur’s

construction projects before and during COVID-19 in terms of

Design crisis–related was discrepancies in design documents,

as shown in Figure 9. Before the pandemic, the said problem

had 33.33% responses out of 24 participants. However, during

COVID-19, it increased to 62.60% of the total responses.

Hence, it can be noted that the discrepancies in design

documents worsened during the pandemic.

Moreover, next in line was the lack of design team

experience in construction projects with 50% of the total

responses. This result shows that discrepancies in design

documents worsened during pandemic because the design team

itself had luck of experience.

Figure 10: Participants’ Responses in terms of Labor Crisis -

Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del Sur’s
Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19

Figure 10 shows the participants’ responses on project

delivery crisis management on their construction projects

before and during pandemic concerning labor crisis-related.

As shown in the figure, the six crises were all experience

before and during COVID-19. Nevertheless, during the

pandemic, the number of participants’ responses on project

delivery crisis on their construction projects was greater

than before.
 The top labor crisis before COVID-19 was conflicts and

arguments among labor, which was also a top problem during

the pandemic, which had 41.67% and 66.67% of total

responses, respectively. According to the World Built

Environment Forum (2021) study, conflicts or disputes among

labor in the global construction sector had increased to

forty percent (40%) since the Covid-19 started. Force

majeure was the primary cause of complications.

Additionally, during the pandemic, the Inter-Agency

Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious

Diseases (IATF) implemented some protocols to limit the

number of work personnel to mitigate the spread of the

virus. With that, it is evident why the skeletal workforce

was also one of the top crises during this time.

Figure 11: Participants’ Responses in terms of Equipment Crisis

- Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del
Sur’s Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19
 On Equipment crisis-related (Figure 11), it was

analyzed that the Agusan del Sur construction projects

experienced all the crises under this category before and

during COVID-19. However, before the pandemic, the top

crisis was the low efficiency of old equipment, which had

54.17% of total responses out of 24 participants. During

COVID-19, the top crisis faced by their construction

projects in terms of equipment crisis-related had total

responses of 73.83%. These were slow delivery of purchased

equipment due to quarantine protocols, and longer time to

repair equipment breakdown due to border restrictions.

As a result, based on the figure above, it can be noted

that the project delivery crisis of Agusan del Sur’s

construction projects during the pandemic was mainly focused

on the effect of COVID-19’s protocols and restrictions.

Unlike before the pandemic, the top crisis was mainly

focused on the equipment itself. This is because as the

pandemic spread to the rest of the world, the implementation

of lockdowns and border closures restricted the movement of

goods. Border restrictions also took a long time to repair

equipment breakdowns (International Finance Corporation,

2020).
Figure 12: Participants’ Responses in terms of Material Crisis -
Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del Sur’s
Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19

Figure 12 above shows the project delivery crisis faced

by the Agusan del Sur construction projects before and

during COVID-19 in terms of Material crisis-related. As

shown, participants' construction projects faced all the

crises listed in this category. However, during COVID-19,

most of Agusan del Sur construction projects experienced the

problem more. Escalation of material prices, for instance,

was experienced and one of the top crises before and during

the pandemic.

Before COVID-19, only 50% of the total participants

responded to the said crisis, but during the pandemic, the

number of participants' responses increased to 88.33%, as

shown in the above figure. As a result, it can be analyzed

that the project delivery crisis of Agusan del Sur

construction projects as to the escalation of material

crisis worsened during COVID-19.

This happened because the cost of construction

materials increases annually due to inflation. However, the

inflation that accompanied the COVID-19 has been

significantly different and has largely impacted

construction costs (Choi, 2021), such as material costs of

many products like oil, asphalt, concrete, and plywood

(Stinson, 2021). Furthermore, figure 12 also shows that

delay in shipping and tracking material delivery was also

one of the top crises during the pandemic because of the

COVID-19 related restrictions (Economic and Social

Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 2020).

Figure 13: Participants’ Responses in terms of Contractor Crisis

- Related on the Project Delivery Crisis Faced by Agusan del
Sur’s Construction Projects Before and During COVID-19

The top project delivery crisis of Agusan del Sur

construction projects before and during COVID-19 in terms of

Contractor crisis-related was uneconomical utilization of

equipment, manpower, and materials. Before the pandemic, 25%

of the total participants’ construction projects experienced

the said crisis. However, during COVID-19, the said crisis

in Agusan del Sur’s construction projects worsened because,

from 25% of the total number of responses before, it

increased to 45.83% during the pandemic.

According to Balaji (2017), uneconomical utilization of

equipment, manpower, and materials happened because even

though the work on a construction project was planned on the

previous week and even a day before the execution,

contractors still often face uncertainties, delays, and

disputes during execution due to the lack of organizational

culture and system. Moreover, in their study, Gara et al.

(2022) mentioned that during COVID-19, site work progress

came to an abrupt halt, and productivity stagnated, leading

the construction projects to utilize their resources

uneconomically for the sake of the projects.

As mentioned in figures 8-13, all the list of the

crisis being analyzed under management, design, labor,

equipment, material, and contractor crisis-related were

faced by Agusan del Sur construction projects before and

during the pandemic. However, as COVID-19 brought a global

crisis, it also affected the construction industry

(Alsharef, 2021), which worsened the project delivery crisis

of participants’ construction projects during the pandemic.