International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2017, pp. 1938–1953 Article ID: IJCIET_08_04_220

Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=8&Issue=4
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

ANALYSING DELAY FACTORS IN INDIAN

AFFECTING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
Veera Vijay. Divi
PG Student, Department of Civil Engineering,
KL University, Andhra Pradesh, India

Sundara Kumar. P
Associate Professor, Department of civil Engineering,
KL University, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT
Construction Projects are the one which is associated with the combination of
various activities, which requires a contribution from various parties. Hence there is a
greater probability of the occurrence of delays in the construction. This delays in
completion of construction projects can be a major problem for contractor companies
leading to costly disputes and adverse relationships amongst project participants. so,
by this report to explain the various factors leading to delay that is the causes of delay
and their impacts on different construction projects. Because every project is unique in
its perspective, although every project has its individual causes for the delay and the
respective impacts like time overrun and cost overrun. The aim of this paper is to
identify the causes of delay factors on India construction projects and analysing these
factors with the relative important index (RII) and Analytical Network Process (ANP).
For this purpose, 70 different delays factors were identified and categorized into 7
major groups through detailed literature review and the help of case study. A
questionnaire survey was carried out targeting 60 we received 45 respondents. Based
on this response the relative importance and ranking of these delay factors were
analyzed by RII and ANP. According to these results the factors and groups
contributing the most to delays and their impacts were discussed and some suggestions
were made to minimize and control delays in construction projects.
Key words: Construction Projects, Relative Importance Index, Analytical Network
Process, Causes of Delays.
Cite this Article: Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P, Analysing Delay Factors
In Indian Affecting Construction Projects. International Journal of Civil Engineering
and Technology, 8(4), 2017, pp. 1938-1953
http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=8&Issue=4

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1938 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

1. INTRODUCTION
Construction Industry has been one of the major source of income to many developing
countries, so these delays and their impacts on the construction projects is a major concerning
issue among the various industry experts and intellectuals, so there is a great research going on
these days analysing the causes of delays and theirs impacts on construction
projects.(Sunjka,2013)6 A project would be called as a successful project if it is completed
within or before scheduled time, below or within given a budget, at the same time with the
desired quality and profitability to the owner. (Majid,2006)2 So, there would be a lot of
expectations when a construction is going to start, so keeping all this in mind work should carry
by planning each and every step carefully. Any deviation from the original planned schedule
or activities will lead to delay resulting in loss of productivity and so on. (Sweis, 2007)3. As we
all know, the construction sector is a field of engineering where the quality and quantity of
output rely upon various independent and interdependent factors such as planning, contractor’s
experience, skilled labour, machinery, geographical conditions, material supply and many more
other factors. Coming to delays, delays would affect the project’s cost and schedule also they
would affect the overall project productivity and necessary field operations to be employed.
So, there is a necessity to minimize the causes of delays and maintain a growth in the economy
from the construction industry to safeguard this sector. Delays may be caused by, the
uniqueness of the project, Speed of decision making, Poor or unrealistic scheduling, Lack of
information, labour productivity, Availability of resources, third party dependences, Lack of
finance, Site Conditions, and Weather (Mustafa,2013)5 Some of the delays minimized by
Detailed site investigation, care full monitoring and regular meeting, Effective site
management, Collaborative working and effective coordination and Care full scheduling. The
aim of this paper is (1) To identifying causes of delay in construction projects based on
literature reviews and case study, (2) Categories this delay factors, (3) Analysis of this delay
factors using relative importance index (RII). And analytical network process (ANP), (Emre,
2014)7. (4) Identify major delays in construction project bases on these analysis and (5) Making
suggestion in order to control delays in construction projects.

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For this research, a questionnaire survey has been adopted to find out the major causes of delays
in the construction projects (Hemanta,2011)4. Identify the 70 delays factors from the literature
review and from case studies. A total of 70 delay factors were identified under 7 broad
categories namely owner related, contractor related, consultant related, equipment and material
related labour related, site and third party related and sales related. The final questionnaire
survey was on designed in the Google forms the attributes are listed. A five-point scale was
adopted and respondent was asked to rank the importance and impact of a particular delay
factor in one of their selected projects (Hemanta,2011)4. These responses were analysed in
relative importance index method and Analytical network process in the super decision-making
tool. Find out the major causes of delays through ranking process (Mustafa, 2013)5. And make
some suggestion to minimize and control of delay factors. Case studies play a major role in
describing this work the extensive literature review and past work done by many scholars is
taken into account while discussing this project. Figure 1 represents the detailed flow chart of
methodology.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1939 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

Figure 1 A detailed flow chart of methodology

2.1. Relative importance Index (RII)

(Mustafa, 2013)5 The Relative Importance Index (RII) is a statistical method to determine the
ranking of different delays. As this survey is designed to determine the relative importance of
various causes of delays, the method is adopted in this study within various groups (i.e. owners,
contractors or engineers). The RII five-point scale, ranging from 1 (very low important) to 5
(very high important) is adopted and transformed the relative importance indices (RII) for each
factor as follows (Mustafa, 2013)5.
The sample for this study is relatively small. As a result, the analysis had combined all
groups of respondents (owner, contractor, and consultants) in order to obtain significant results.
Data is analysed by calculating frequencies and Relative Importance Index (RII) using equation
1.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1940 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

∑𝑊
RII = (1)
𝐴∗𝑁
Where,
RII is Relative importance index.
W is Weighting is given to each other by the respondents (ranging from 1 to 5).
A is highest weight (i.e. 5 in this case).
N is Total number of respondents.
The RII value had a range from 0 to 1 (not inclusive), higher the value of RII, more
important is the cause of delays. (Divya, 2015)9. The RII’s are then ranked, and average RII’s
of the causes in each group gives the RII’s of the mean groups. RII = Sum of weights (W1 +
W2 + W3 + ……+ Wn) / A x N For the purpose of this study A=5 and N=45.

2.2. Ranking of Delay Factors in Analytical Network Process (ANP)

Procedure for ranking of delay factor using Analytical network process in super decision-
making tool is as follows
• Identified delays factors are categorized of the factors into groups like owner related, contractor
related, labour related, equipment and material related, site and a third party, consultant related,
and sales.
• The network presents the relationship between all delay factors.
• The network process methodology indicates the ranking of delay factors
• Analytical Network Process (ANP) includes various types of clusters. The clusters and
their respective node-elements are listed in the below table 1.

Table 1. Lists the elements of clusters of Analytical Network Process (ANP)

Goal Ranking for delays

Criteria Delay categories
Alternatives Type delay factors

Based on the survey, delay factors are effectively classified into various categories each
delay factors are kept under respective clusters of ANP network which facilitates effective
delay analysis the nodes of clusters are listed as shown below (Emre, 2014)7.
Procedure in Super Decision Tool (Vinoth, 2014)8.
1. An authentic connection between the clusters along with the pairwise comparison matrix
provides the weights of each delay factors and their influence over the project time and cost.
2. An inter-cluster connection between the CRITERIA and ALTERNATIVES provides the
influence of delay factors on project characteristics. That represents the super decision model
using ANP network.
3. This facilitates with respective decision-making requirements based on the weights given to
factors.
4. The appropriate network between the various clusters renders the matrix incorporation, on the
check.
5. A sanity check run authenticates all the connections among various clusters and their entries in
the respective tool.
6. Verification of entries is necessary and is performed through a sanity check which follows the
above steps and connectivity. The sanity check that indicates zero error or warning allows the
computation of various weights.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1941 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

7. Computation of values like the super weighted supermatrix, limit matrix, and cluster matrix
follows the above. The influence line is set to smart p0 that acts as a benchmark for the
computation of node sensitivity, priorities and to synthesize the full report.
8. A sanity check run authenticates all the connections among various clusters and their entries in
the respective tool. A check of consistency being less than 0.1 proves that the formed matrixes
are relatively undistorted.
9. These are essentially used for the analysis of delay that arises in any category of the project and
its respective provisions the below table 2.

Table 2 Lists the delays in the form of nodes in clusters of ANP network

CLUSTERS INDICATORS

GOAL Ranking Delay factors

owner related delay (R), Contractor Related (R1), Consultant
Related (R2), Equipment and Material Related (R3), Labour
Criteria
Related (R4), Site and Third Party Related (R5) and sales related
(R6)
R R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10

Alternatives R1 R11, R12, R13, R14, R15, R16, R17, R18, R19, R20

R2 R21, R22, R23, R24, R25, R26, R27, R28, R29, R30

R3 R31, R32, R33, R34, R35, R36, R37, R38, R39, R40

R4 R41, R42, R43, R44, R45, R46, R47, R48, R49, R50

R5 R51, R52, R53, R54, R55, R56, R57, R58, R59, R60

R6 R61, R62, R63, R64, R65, R66, R67, R68, R69, R70

3. DELAY FACTORS
3.1. Owner Related(R): Delay in Progress payments (R1) Deliver the site to the contractor (R2)
Change orders by owner during construction (R3) Slowness in decision making (R4) Irregular
attending of weekly meetings (R5) Government authorities and approvals (R6) Poor
communication and lack of coordination with other parties (R7) One sided contract conditions
& no fairness in contract administration (R8) Delays in issue of drawings (R9) Inexperienced
project team (R10).
3.2. Contractor Related (R1): Ineffective project planning and scheduling(R11) Frequent
change of subcontractors(R12) Incompetent project team(R13) Poor communication and
coordination(R14) Poor site management and supervision(R15) Inadequate contractor
experience(R16) Unreliable subcontractor(R17) Inappropriate construction methods(R18)
Delay in resource mobilization(R19) Different nationalities of work force on site(R20).
3.3. Consultant Related(R2): Conflicts between consultant and design engineer(R21) Delay in
performing inspection and testing(R22) Approving major changes in the scope of work(R23)
Inaccurate site investigation(R24) Late reviewing and approving design documents(R25) Poor
communication and coordination with other parties(R26) Lack of experience of consultant in

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1942 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

construction projects(R27) Incompetence to contractor technical enquiries(R28) Poor quality

control (R29) Inadequate project management assistance(R30).
3.4. Equipment and Material Related(R3): Equipment allocation problem(R31) Frequent
equipment breakdowns(R32) Low efficiency of equipment(R33) Shortage of equipment(R34)
Slow mobilization of equipment(R35) Changes in material types and specifications during
construction(R36) Late delivery of materials(R37) Shortage of construction materials(R38)
Escalation of prices in material(R39) Poor procurement strategies of construction
material(R40).
3.5. Labour Related(R4): Shortage labours (R41) Low productivity of labour (R42) Personal
conflicts among labour (R43) Slow mobilization of labour (R44) Unqualified/ inadequate
experienced labour (R45) Shortage of skilled labour (R46) Different culture problems (R47)
Low motivation and morale of labour (R48) Wrong selection (R49) Incorrect deployment
(R50).
3.6. Site and Third Party Related (R5): Effects of subsurface conditions (soil, rock, high water
table etc.) (R51) Site conditions like inaccessibility remote location, terrain etc. (R52). Traffic
control and restriction at job site (R53) Slow site clearance (R54) Unfavourable weather
conditions and natural disasters like floods, earthquakes (R55) Delay in obtaining permits &
licenses from authorities (R56) Accidents during construction & safety aspects (R57) Changes
in government regulations and laws (R58) Price fluctuations (R59) Problems with other
agencies (R60).
3.7. Sales Related (R6): Price factor (R61) Distance Factor (R62) Location of the Project (R63)
Connectivity to Work Hubs, Schools & Hospitals (R64) Quality of the Construction (R65)
Amenities in the Project (R66) Ambiance in the Project (R67) Security (R68) Vaastu
Compliance (R69) Investment criteria at present scenario (R70)

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The questionnaire is distributed to the targeted respondents in order to identify the most
important factors that cause delays, the common effect of delays, and methods of minimizing
construction delays. The survey questionnaires are distributed to the owners, contractors, and
consultants who have taken part in the construction site. Questionnaires are used to gather
information for the study. Questionnaires are sent different professionals and out of that 45
questionnaires are returned and found fairly filled for the analysis. This data is used for
establishing the relative importance and ranking of the various factors that contribute to causes
of construction delays, effects of construction delays, and methods rectification of construction
delays, the data is analysed based on the following steps. Results are presented in given Table
3 and Table 4.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1943 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

Table 3 Ranking of delay factors using RII

Respondent Scores
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Delay factors S.no Causes of delays RII Rank
very low low Medium High very high
imp imp imp imp imp
1 Delay in Progress payments 0 4 15 11 15 0.764 25
2 Deliver the site to the contractor 0 2 5 13 25 0.871 2
Change orders by owner during
3 construction 2 6 5 13 19 0.782 15
4 Slowness in decision making 0 3 11 17 14 0.786 13
Irregular attending of weekly
5 meetings 0 5 13 12 15 0.764 26
Owner related Government authorities and
factor 6 approvals 2 3 6 11 23 0.822 6
Poor communication and lack of
7 coordination with other parties 0 3 12 17 13 0.778 17
One sided contract conditions & no
8 fairness in contract administration 3 6 12 16 8 0.689 47
9 Delays in issue of drawings 0 2 4 16 23 0.867 3
10 Inexperienced project team 4 5 11 15 10 0.697 43
Ineffective project planning and
1 scheduling 0 0 11 18 16 0.822 7
2 Frequent change of sub-contractors 4 2 18 10 11 0.697 44
3 Incompetent project team 1 2 14 12 16 0.777 19
Poor communication and
4 coordination 1 6 9 13 16 0.764 27
Poor site management and
Contractor related 5 supervision 0 1 12 18 14 0.8 9
factor 6 Inadequate contractor experience 2 18 8 15 2 0.586 61
7 Unreliable subcontractor 0 7 13 16 9 0.72 37
8 Inappropriate construction methods 1 3 12 19 10 0.751 33
9 Delay in resource mobilization 2 3 5 10 25 0.835 4
Different nationalities of work
10 force on site 1 9 11 11 13 0.715 38
Conflicts between consultant and
1 design engineer 1 5 11 8 20 0.782 16
Delay in performing inspection and
2 testing 0 1 12 18 14 0.8 10
Approving major changes in the
3 scope of work 1 3 12 15 14 0.768 23
4 Inaccurate site investigation 2 6 13 18 6 0.68 52
Late reviewing and approving
consultant related 5 design documents 2 5 12 15 11 0.724 36
factor Poor communication and
6 coordination with other parties 0 5 12 15 13 0.76 31
Lack of experience of consultant in
7 construction projects 0 7 14 15 9 0.715 39
Incompetence to contractor’s
8 technical enquiries 0 5 8 14 18 0.8 11
9 Poor quality control 2 5 5 17 16 0.778 18
10 Inadequate project management 4 2 18 10 11 0.697 45
1 Equipment allocation problem 2 4 19 14 6 0.68 53
2 Frequent equipment breakdowns 4 4 14 13 10 0.693 46
Equipment and 3 Low efficiency of equipment 0 7 16 17 5 0.689 48
material related 4 Shortage of equipment 2 9 11 15 8 0.68 54
factor 5 Slow mobilization of equipment 3 9 16 13 4 0.626 59
Changes in material types and
6 specifications during construction 0 7 15 13 10 0.715 40
7 Late delivery of materials 0 3 12 17 13 0.777 20
8 Shortage of construction materials 2 8 10 15 10 0.702 41
9 Escalation of prices in material 0 4 10 12 19 0.804 8
Poor procurement strategies of
10 construction material 1 5 11 16 12 0.746 35

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1944 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

Respondent Scores

Delay factors S.no Causes of delays 1. 3. 5. RII Rank

2. 4.
very low Medium very high
low imp High
imp imp imp
1 Shortage labours 0 2 9 14 20 0.831 5

2 Low productivity of labour 2 4 19 9 11 0.702 42

Labour related
factor 3 Personal conflicts among labour 7 13 15 10 0 0.524 66
4 Slow mobilization of labour 6 10 14 13 2 0.577 62
Unqualified/ inadequate
5 0 3 13 15 14 0.777 21
experienced labour
6 Shortage of skilled labour 1 3 11 18 12 0.764 28
7 Different culture problems 0 12 11 16 6 0.671 55
Low motivation and morale of
8 4 8 15 10 8 0.644 56
labour
9 Wrong selection 2 5 15 17 6 0.688 49
10 Incorrect deployment 0 6 9 16 14 0.768 24
Effects of subsurface conditions
1 1 1 12 15 16 0.795 12
(soil, rock, high water table etc.,)
Site conditions like inaccessibility
2 0 2 17 15 11 0.755 32
remote location, terrain etc.
Traffic control and restriction at
3 13 6 15 11 0 0.506 68
job site
4 Slow site clearance 15 12 13 5 0 0.435 70
Unfavourable weather conditions
5 & natural disasters like floods, 4 9 15 7 10 0.644 57
earth quakes
Delay in obtaining permits &
6 1 3 12 19 10 0.751 34
licenses from authorities
site and third
party related Accidents during construction &
7 5 19 6 9 6 0.564 65
factor safety aspects
Changes in government
8 4 11 13 15 2 0.6 60
regulations and laws
9 Price fluctuations 3 20 8 9 5 0.568 63
10 Problems with other agencies 10 12 10 12 1 0.52 67
1 Price factor 0 4 15 11 15 0.764 29
2 Distance Factor 1 2 14 12 16 0.777 22
3 Location of the Project 13 6 15 11 0 0.506 69
Connectivity to Work Hubs,
4 0 3 11 17 14 0.786 14
Schools & Hospitals
5 Quality of the Construction 2 5 15 17 6 0.688 50
6 Amenities in the Project 3 20 8 9 5 0.568 64
Sales related 7 Ambiance in the Project 1 3 11 18 12 0.764 30
factor 8 Security 3 6 12 16 8 0.688 51
9 Vaastu Compliance 4 8 15 10 8 0.644 58
Investment criteria at present
10 0 4 1 9 31 0.897 1
scenario

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1945 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

Table 4 Ranking of delays factors using ANP

S.N Rankin
Alternatives Total Normal Ideal
O g
1 Investment criteria at present scenario (R70) 0.0481 0.0961 1 1
2 Deliver the site to the contractor(R2) 0.0323 0.0647 0.6729 2
3 Delays in issue of drawings(R9) 0.0311 0.0622 0.6473 3
4 Delay in resource mobilization(R19) 0.0209 0.0417 0.4342 4
5 Shortage labours (R41) 0.0207 0.0415 0.4316 5
6 Government authorities and approvals(R6) 0.0191 0.0381 0.3965 6
7 Ineffective project planning and scheduling(R11) 0.0187 0.0374 0.3891 7
8 Escalation of prices in material(R39) 0.0169 0.0339 0.3527 8
9 Effects of subsurface conditions (soil, rock, high water table etc.) (R51) 0.0152 0.0303 0.3156 9
10 Change orders by owner during construction(R3) 0.0138 0.0276 0.2874 10
11 Slowness in decision making(R4) 0.0138 0.0276 0.2869 11
12 Late delivery of materials(R37) 0.0135 0.027 0.281 12
13 Approving major changes in the scope of work(R23) 0.0132 0.0264 0.2744 13
14 Price factor (R61) 0.013 0.026 0.2708 14
15 Delay in obtaining permits & licenses from authorities (R56) 0.0113 0.0227 0.2359 15
16 Late reviewing and approving design documents(R25) 0.0112 0.0225 0.234 16
17 Incompetent project team(R13) 0.0105 0.0211 0.2192 17
18 Unfavourable weather conditions & natural disasters like floods, earth
0.0096 0.0192 0.1996 18
quakes (R55)
19 Poor communication and lack of coordination with other parties(R7) 0.0096 0.0191 0.1992 19
20 Delay in Progress payments (R1) 0.0092 0.0183 0.1909 20
21 Incorrect deployment (R50) 0.0081 0.0161 0.1679 21
22 Connectivity to Work Hubs, Schools & Hospitals (R64) 0.008 0.0161 0.167 22
23 Low productivity of labour (R42) 0.007 0.0141 0.1463 23
24 Poor communication and coordination(R14) 0.0066 0.0131 0.1365 24
25 Inappropriate construction methods(R18) 0.0061 0.0122 0.1265 25
26 Unqualified/ inadequate experienced labour (R45) 0.006 0.012 0.1251 26
27 Poor procurement strategies of construction material(R40)
0.006 0.0119 0.1241 27
28 Shortage of skilled labour (R46) 0.0058 0.0117 0.1217 28
29 Changes in government regulations and laws (R58) 0.0048 0.0096 0.0997 29
30 Unreliable subcontractor(R17) 0.0047 0.0094 0.0983 30
31 Different nationalities of work force on site(R20) 0.0047 0.0093 0.097 31
32 Changes in material types and specifications during construction(R36) 0.0046 0.0093 0.0968 32
33 Irregular attending of weekly meetings(R5) 0.0046 0.0092 0.0956 33
34 Price fluctuations (R59) 0.0045 0.009 0.0936 34
35 Distance Factor (R62) 0.0035 0.0069 0.072 35
36 Problems with other agencies (R60) 0.0033 0.0066 0.0691 36
37 Incompetence to contractor technical enquiries(R28) 0.0033 0.0066 0.0682 37
38 Accidents during construction & safety aspects (R57) 0.0032 0.0064 0.067 38
39 Shortage of construction materials(R38) 0.0032 0.0064 0.0661 39
40 Personal conflicts among labour (R43) 0.0031 0.0061 0.0639 40
41 Wrong selection (R49) 0.0031 0.0061 0.0637 41
42 Inexperienced project team(R10) 0.0027 0.0055 0.0571 42

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1946 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

S.NO Alternatives Total Normal Ideal Ranking

43 Site conditions like inaccessibility remote location, terrain etc. (R52). 0.0027 0.0055 0.0568 43
44 Ambiance in the Project (R67) 0.0027 0.0054 0.0566 44
45 Frequent equipment breakdowns(R32) 0.0026 0.0053 0.0547 45
46 Frequent change of subcontractors(R12) 0.0024 0.0048 0.0498 46
47 Conflicts between consultant and design engineer(R21) 0.0023 0.0046 0.0474 47
48 Traffic control and restriction at job site (R53) 0.0021 0.0042 0.044 48
49 Inadequate contractor experience(R16) 0.002 0.004 0.042 49
50 Different culture problems (R47) 0.002 0.004 0.0417 50
51 Security (R68) 0.0018 0.0037 0.0384 51
52 Low efficiency of equipment(R33) 0.0018 0.0037 0.0383 52
53 Poor quality control(R29) 0.0018 0.0036 0.0379 53
54 Low motivation and morale of labour (R48) 0.0016 0.0032 0.0336 54
55 Delay in performing inspection and testing(R22) 0.0015 0.0029 0.0304 55
56 Inadequate project management assistance(R30) 0.0014 0.0028 0.0287 56
57 Quality of the Construction (R65) 0.0013 0.0026 0.0269 57
58 Slow site clearance (R54) 0.0013 0.0026 0.0268 58
59 Slow mobilization of labour (R44) 0.0012 0.0025 0.0256 59
60 Poor site management and supervision(R15) 0.0012 0.0024 0.0245 60
61 One sided contract conditions & no fairness in contract
0.001 0.002 0.0213 61
administration(R8)
62 Poor communication and coordination with other parties(R26) 0.001 0.0019 0.02 62
63 Vaastu Compliance (R69) 0.0009 0.0019 0.0193 63
64 Shortage of equipment(R34) 0.0009 0.0018 0.0192 64
65 Equipment allocation problem(R31) 0.0009 0.0018 0.0182 65
66 Lack of experience of consultant in construction projects(R27) 0.0008 0.0015 0.0157 66
67 Amenities in the Project (R66) 0.0007 0.0013 0.0137 67
68 Slow mobilization of equipment(R35) 0.0006 0.0011 0.0116 68
69 Inaccurate site investigation(R24) 0.0005 0.0011 0.0114 69
70 Location of the Project (R63) 0.0004 0.0008 0.0082 70

4.1. USING RII

• Calculating the Relative Importance index (RII)
• Ranking of factors in each category based on the Relative Importance Index (RII).
• Determine the ranking.

4.2. USING ANP IN SUPER DECISION-MAKING TOOL

• Computation and influence of delay factors on project by ANP in Super decision-making
• The ranking of all the delay factors on the basis of their priority that generated in ANP model.
• Weighted super matrix and its process serve as the source for the priority generation.
• Illustrate the ranking order of the delay factors as per their level of influence in the project by
the decision-making tool (Vinoth, 2014)8.
• Here ideal value shows in the below table give the level of influence on the project. This can be
obtained
• based on the responses (Vinoth,2014)8.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1947 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

• The results are analysed to establish the factors under the groups of and the ranking is done
according to their significant influence towards construction project delays. A ranking method
is used to achieve this objective and the significant of using these methods is it can reveal the
most influential factors within each category of causes. The interviewees checked and evaluated
the seventy (70) well-organized delay factor based on their professional judgment considering
the owner, contractor and consultant related delay factor groups. Based on the analysis the
following causes are identified and grouped into seven major groups. These factors are ranked
in each group based on Relative Importance Index (RII) (Mustafa, 2013)5. and Analytical
Network Process from the viewpoint of owners, contractors, and consultants.

4.3. Important Delay Factors from ANP and RII

The most important 15 delay factor are taken based on the Analytical network process
comparing them with RII as shown in table 5.

Table 5 is important to delay factors from ANP and RII

ANP
S.NO Most important factors causing delays Group of factor RII IDEAL Rank
VALUES
1 Investment criteria at present situation Sales 0.897 1 1
2 Deliver site to the contractor Owner related 0.871 0.6729 2
3 Delay in issue of drawings Owner related 0.866 0.6473 3
4 Delay in resource mobilization contractor related 0.835 0.4342 4
5 Shortage of labour labour related 0.831 0.4316 5
6 Ineffective project planning and scheduling Contractor related 0.822 0.3891 6
7 Escalation of prices in materials Materials, equipment related 0.804 0.3527 7
8 Effect of subsurface conditions (soil, rock) Site, third party related 0.795 0.3156 8
9 Change orders by owner during construction owner related 0.782 0.2874 9
10 Slowness in decision making owner related 0.78 0.2869 10
Late delivery of materials Material & equipment
11 0.777 0.281 11
related
12 Approving major changes in scope of work consultant related 0.768 0.2744 12
13 Price factor Sales 0.764 0.2708 13
Delay in obtaining permits licenses from Site & third party related
14 0.751 0.2359 14
authorities
15 Late reviewing, approving design documents Consultant related 0.724 0.234 15

5. IMPACTS OF DELAY FACTORS

In any construction project time, quality and cost are the three main factors, in which time plays
a key role than others, all these are interdependent because if there is a delay in any task or
operation, it would definitely lead to time overrun, which will influence further cost of project
leading to cost overrun, which is not acceptable to owner leading to difference of opinion or
which may be referred as “disputes” which may have consequences like litigation, negotiation
and even sometimes termination of project.
Here they are listed below.
• Schedule overrun or time overrun.
• Cost overrun or budget overrun.
• Disputes or difference of opinion.
The above impacts may also lead to further consequences like loss of productivity, project
acceleration, negotiation or mediation or arbitration if required litigation and sometimes ends
up with the termination of the project. Hence these can also be referred as secondary impacts
of the delays.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1948 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

5.1. Schedule overrun or time overrun

Time is the key project outcome which decides the standard of our work because if we are not
able to complete the project within the stipulated time, there is no use of setting all those time
scale restrictions, so it is going to have serious impact on each and every other outcome, so by
remembering that every activity is an interlink and dependent on another activity which will
have an impact on the other due to its delay, project can be completed as per schedule, so project
review meetings must be conducted at regular time basis(Sunjka.B,2013)6.

5.2. Cost overrun or budget overrun

Cost overrun, which is also referred as budget overrun is directly related to time overrun or
schedule delay because when there is a delay in construction project they are either expedited
or there will be an extension in scheduled time for the completion of the project, which
obviously results in cost overrun. Here the logic is very simple because firms need to bear the
respective cost of labour, equipment, and tools for the extended period of time. Moreover, if
there are any constructions mistakes committed it results in rework, generally, rework requires
10-15% more as compared to that of estimated cost. As there are various factors leading to
delays which are explained in the before chapter, other reasons leading to cost overrun will
include an increase in material cost due to inflation, incorrect estimation of quantities and so
on.

5.3. Disputes or difference of opinion

Disputes or difference of opinion arises between the owner and contractor due to various
reasons, they may be due to delay in payment by owner or issue of a change order or poor
management and supervision of the contractor, like these there a various number of causes as
mentioned in the earlier chapter which may lead to disputes. The contract signed parties have
various means to resolve the issues raised between them like a dispute can be resolved by
negotiations, arbitration, and mediation. If the owner or contractor directly wants to solve the
issue legally by claiming lawsuit they may defer to litigation where the final decision would be
evolved based on proofs and contractual rules.
Now coming to secondary impacts or consequences of primary impacts,

5.4. Project Acceleration

Due to some reasons if a project is delayed and the on-time completion is their prior motive,
then they would go for Project Acceleration although it would result in cost overrun. In Project
Acceleration, they would accelerate the work so that it would be completed as per schedule by
employing more labour and other resources which are required for fast completion of the work.
Although it may result in cost overrun but in turn, it will reduce revenue losses to the owner.
If it is the case of disputes the consequences would be any of the below listed:

5.5. Negotiation
It is a condition where the parties which signed the contract would go for discussions regarding
the aroused issue and try to solve it among themselves without any interference from the third
party. It is the best way resolve any dispute because there will not be any other additional costs
like legal fees or any other fees for the arbitrator and so on.

5.6. Arbitration
Arbitration is a way resolve to dispute by means of arbitrators who would be appointed by
either side of parties involved in the dispute and they would play the role of a judge by making
decisions based on the evidence they had and they would submit written opinions which may

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1949 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

be binding or non-binding. Generally, Arbitration trials go with an arbitrator on both sides and
those two would choose a third arbitrator and decisions would be made by majority vote,
sometimes an arbitration trial would also be conducted by the single arbitrator which is a
different scenario.

5.7. Mediation
Although Arbitration and mediation are similar, as they both employ a third party to resolve
the dispute, mediation is a scenario where a single mediator is involved and he does not a judge
the case but simply tries to create an environment of discussion and eventual resolution of the
dispute.

5.8. Litigation
It is the final way to resolve a dispute, where a lawsuit would be claimed by any of the parties
involved in dispute followed by notices, hearings, and proceedings legally through court by the
orders of a judge. They need to appoint a legal team on behalf of them to go for trials and time
period of judgment cannot be estimated. Unless the claimant is so confident about his/her
evidence regarding the dispute, they should not go for litigation because it is very costly and
time-consuming procedure. So, if at all failing to go with negotiation, mediation, and arbitration
the last choice they would be left with is Litigation.

5.9. Termination of Project

If the disputes between parties reached to an extent of termination of the whole project, then it
could be referred as the ultimate consequence of delays and its impacts as the project would be
terminated or stopped without any further proceedings.

6. SUGGESTIONS
The results from the questionnaire are analysed in RII and ANP to obtain the most important
causes of delays. Making suggestions for this results.

6.1. Owner related Delays

The most important causes of delay related to the owner are:
1. Delivery site to the contractor.
2. Delay in issue of drawing.
3. Change orders by owner during construction.
4. Slowness in decision-making.

The above four are the main causes resulting in delay, leading to further impacts like time
overrun and cost overrun. So below listed would be recommendations to the owner.
• The owner must be self-sufficient with his funds and other financial matters before starting of
project.
• The owner must also have a clear perspective and quick decisions regarding final design so that
no change in design is requested once after the start of work.
• Also, the owner must be cautious at the time of selection of contractor/ consultant and make
sure they do not have any previous record of illegitimate delays resulting in a loss to the owner.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1950 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

6.2. Contractor related delays

If the most important causes of delays related to the contractor are to be summarized from the
work, they would be:
1. Delays in resource mobilization,
2. Ineffective project planning and scheduling.
These are main causes from the side of contractor ending up leading to delays and further
consequences.

Recommendations
• The contractor must hire an experienced staff based on the project requirement and
timeline.
• The contractor must make sure whether the work is going as per schedule and under the
proposed budget, also as per drawings to avoid re-work or any acceleration at the end
which would result in cost overrun.
• The contractor must be self-sufficient with funds before the start of the project to avoid
any delay in payments.
• The contractor must take Errors and Omissions (E&O) insurance depending on the
requirement so that in the case of any errors and re-work you need not run for the
money.
Along with above recommendations, contractors must be sure about the cost and timeline
before signing the contract, so that there would be no future discrepancies (Assaf,2006)1.

6.3. Consultant related delays

From the results so far went on following listed are the most important causes of delay due to
consultant:
1. Approving major changes in the scope of work.
2. Late reviewing, approving design documents.

Recommendations
• Both the above causes would be due to lack of proper design team, so to avoid that kind of
issues the consultant firm must hire an experienced and dedicated staff who work on keeping
the deadline in mind which was set by the owner.
• There must be no lagging in the collection of information from the owner so that design would
be done appropriately as expected by owner and also the owner will not suggest any further
changes.
• They must also be sure while hiring subcontractors in design also because in large design works
main architects hire subcontractors for MEP works, so there should be no discrepancies while
transferring information.
• Also in the case of large projects if required they must be aided with E&O insurance, to avoid
any future problems.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1951 editor@iaeme.com

 Veera Vijay. Divi and Sundara Kumar. P

6.4. labour and material related delays

Coming to labour and material related, it is a crucial category where a negligence can land into
most frequent causes of delays like:
1. Escalation of prices in material,
2. Shortage of labour & material,
3. Late delivery of material.

Recommendations
• Be sure at the time of signing the contract regarding labour issues and their work schedule
whether it must be 5day- 10hour shifts or 6day-8hours shifts depending on the owner’s
requirement.
• Also, hire a labour supplier who got skilled workers and productive in nature, because labour
plays a key role in influencing project productivity and overall completion of work.
• Coming to material supply, if there is no time limit in starting a project then start the work at a
time when the market is free from inflation and when there are low material costs because at
the end it makes a huge difference if the costs of raw materials vary.
• Also, accumulate materials as per the requirement by carefully estimating the quantities of
materials required for the project.
• Employ proper material handling and storing techniques so that materials would be long lasting.
• Hire a good material supplier keeping in mind his previous record of delivering materials on
time.
• Always maintain good relations with material suppliers, if he works well it is good or else hire
a new local supplier by proper research.

6.5. Sales and Third party related delays

The most common causes of delay due to sales & Third party related are
1. Investment criteria at present situation,
2. Effect of subsurface conditions
3. Price factor
4. Delay in obtaining permits licenses from authorities

Recommendations
• Abide by regulations while constructing itself, so that later you may avoid any penalties or re-
work at the time of commissioning.
• Perform work following the rules and regulations prescribed by the city board where the work
is going on.
As we cannot avoid causes like acts of god or force majeure incidents which are not in our
hand, by avoiding these kinds of man made mistakes, we would ensure that our part is done
well and we are not contributing to any delays.

7. CONCLUSION
The delays in construction projects are discussed. It studies the importance of the cause of
delays. From this research study, it is observed that there are some common factors that are
causing delays in projects. those common delays are identified using two different methods i.e.
ANALYTICAL NETWORK PROCES (A.N.P) and RELATIVE IMPORTANT INDEX

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1952 editor@iaeme.com

 Analysing Delay Factors In Indian Affecting Construction Projects

(R.I.I).There are five foremost factors/ foremost that are identified similarly in both techniques.
Those are as follows.
The investment criteria at the present scenario, deliver site/ the site to the contractor, Delay
in issues of drawing, delay in resource mobilization, shortage in labour, if these factors are
identified and controlled delays in constructions will be controlled. The highest impact is
ranked as 0.897 for investment criteria at present situation and lowest impact is ranked as 0.435
for slow site clearance using R.I.I. The highest impact is ranked as 1 for the factor “Investment
criteria at present situation” and lowest impact is ranked as 0.0082 for “Slow site clearance”
using A.N.P. The topmost ranked 15 factors identified using analytical network process are
present in the topmost ranked 30 factors of the relative important index, from this, we can
conclude that the High ranked factors can be obtained from both ANP and RII. ANP is the
value which is representing the impact percentage to the overall project. when the ideal value
is representing one, the value states that the project will get 100% delayed due to that factor,
similarly if the value is 0.6729, it represents that the valued factor is causing 67% delay to the
overall project. some of the suggestions are given based on literature review and response.
Similar causes for delays are identified in all type of projects. Whenever these factors are
controlled in the project the delays can be avoided in the further projects/ the projects also.

REFERENCES
[1] Assaf,S.A. Causes of delays in large construction projects, International Journal of Project
Management.(2006),VOL.24,pp.349-357.
[2] Majid.I.A.Causes and Effect of delays in Aceh construction industry .(2006)
[3] Sweis. G. Delays in construction projects: The case of Jordon. Elsevier (2007).09.009.
[4] Hemanta Doloi. Analysing factors affecting delays in Indian construction projects. Elsevier.
(2011).10.00
[5] Mustafa ozdemir. Quantification of delay factors using the relative important index method
for construction projects in turkey ASCE, (2013), 29(2):133-139.
[6] Sunjka.B.P. Significant causes and effect of project delays in the Niger delta region,
Nigeria.SAIIE25 Proceedings Stellenbosch, South Africa.(2013).641-14.
[7] Emre Cakmak. An analysis of causes of disputes in the construction industry using
analytical network process. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences (2014).109:183-187.
[8] Vinoth Selva Bruce.L. Application of Analytic Network Process in Lean Production
Justification. IJER (2014). ISSN: 2319-6890.
[9] Thamilarasu V, Rajprasad J and Ram Prasanna Pavan T, A Case Study on Requirements of
Quality Workmanship In Construction Projects. International Journal of Civil Engineering
and Technology, 8(4), 2017, pp. 1061–1067.
[10] Divya.R. Causes, Effects and Minimization of Delays in Construction Projects. NCRACC
ESS. (2015). ISSN: 2348-8352.

http://iaeme.com/Home/journal/IJCIET 1953 editor@iaeme.com