Study on Time Delay Analysis for Construction Project Delay Analysis

Study on Time Delay Analysis for Construction Project Delay Analysis

Ar. Meena. V

1. rch, Architecture department Sathyabama University

   Chennai, India

   Ar. K. Suresh Babu

   Associate Professor, Architecture department Sathyabama University

   Chennai, India

   Abstract Time delay is one of the biggest problems facing in many construction buildings in India. Completing projects on time is the key factor of the project, but the construction process is subject to many variables and unpredictable factors, which result from many sources such as availability of resources, external factors, performance of parties and type of building. If there is a delay in project it leads to loss of productivity, increased cost, contract termination and disputes between contractor and owner. The aim of this project is to examine the causes and effects of delay on building construction project during construction phase and to provide control measures for time overrun in the project. A study carried out on construction schedule delays and various delay analysis techniques and methods in order to evaluate the causes of delay and their impacts in the construction project. Then a questionnaire survey is done to find the major causes of delay faced by Client, Contractor, Consultant and Project manager. Population sample of 35 was used in which 30 was deployed. From the survey and study identified 67 causes of delay under 9 major groups such as Project team, Owner, Contractor, Consultant, Architect, material, labour, equipment and external factors. Then a ranking method is done based on relative importance index method to find major cause of delay. It is found that the most common factors of delay which is repeated in most of the project are lack of funds to finance the project to completion, labour shortage, material shortage, lack of effective communication, lack of supervision and changes in drawings. The outcome of the project is to provide recommendation to control delay in the project during construction phase.

   Keywords Delay analysis technique, causes of delay, tools to evaluate delay in construction, delay control measure

   INTRODUCTION

   In construction, delay could be defined as the time overrun either beyond completion date specified in a contract or beyond the date that the parties agreed upon for delivery of a project. It is a project slipping over its planned schedule. The delay in the project has an adverse effect on project success in terms of time, cost and quality. The objective of the project is

   • To identify delay factors in construction projects

   • To rank the delay factors according to the importance level on delays in project

   • To find the tools to analysis and evaluate the time delay factors in the construction building.

   • Recommendations to control delay during construction phase for construction project

   1. STUDY ON DELAY ANALYSIS

      1. Construction project planning

         Planning explains what is going to be done, how, where, by whom, and when for effective monitoring and control of complex projects. The objective of project planning is to complete the construction within the specified time and budget. In construction project planning the steps need to be identified are as follows.

         Feasibility of the project

         • Project management plan

         • Identifying the constraints in the project (time, cost, resources)

         • Project delivery method, stakeholders, funding sources

           Construction method

         • Identifying risk in project

         • Milestone, duration and budget

           Roles and responsibility

         • Preparation of contract documentation

      2. Project scheduling

         Project scheduling covers only the issue of when? i.e. when works need to be done and completed. By doing project scheduling it helps to control and measure the project duration and provides information for timely decisions to be taken when there is a change in schedule. The results of doing a detailed project schedule are duration of the project and completion date can be easily tracked, helps to calculates the start or end of a specific activity, evaluate the effect of changes, improves work efficiency, predict and calculate the cash flow, resolve delay claims and it serves as an effective project control tool

      3. Types of project scheduling

         Selection of the most appropriate scheduling technique depends on the size and complexity of the construction Project, the preferences of the entity preparing the schedule, and the scheduling requirements of the Contract. The most common scheduling techniques used for construction projects are Gantt Charts or bar charts, linear schedules, program evaluation and review technique and Critical Path Method (CPM) schedules.

      4. Progress monitoring

         When updating a project, actual progress is recorded for each activity relative to the date of each update. This regular update will include progress on values for: dates on which activities started or finished actual percent of work completed within each task, actual resources expended on each task and actual cost expended on each task. There are six basic techniques for measuring the progress of a task in a CPM network as follows: Unit Measure, Incremental Milestones, Start/finish, Observational Assessment, Level of Effort/Cost Ratio and Equivalent Units

      5. Classification of construction delays

         The classification of delays is dependent upon the type and magnitude of the effect that an activity will have on the project and who is responsible for the delay among the stake holders. Hence they are classified into four categories such as Critical or noncritical, Excusable or non-excusable, Compensable or Non-compensable and Concurrent or Non- concurrent.

         Critical Versus Non-Critical Delays

         The delays that affect the project completion time or date are considered as critical delays. And the delays that do not affect the project completion time or date are noncritical delays. If certain activities are delayed in the construction project life cycle, the project completion date will be delayed. The determining which activities truly control the project completion date depends on the following: The project itself, the contractors plan and schedule (particularly the critical path), the requirement of the contract for sequence and phasing and the physical constraint of the project.

         Excusable and Non-Excusable Delays

         Delay that is due to an unforeseeable event beyond the contractors or the subcontractors control. Normally, based on common general provisions in public agency specifications, delays resulting from the following events would be considered excusable: General labor strikes, fires, floods, act of God, owner-directed changes, errors and omissions in the plans and specifications, differing site conditions or concealed conditions, unusually severe weather Non-excusable delays are events that are within the contractors control or that are foreseeable. These are some examples or non-excusable delays: Late performance of sub- contractors, untimely performance by suppliers, faulty workmanship by the contractor or subcontractors, a project-specific labor strike caused by either the contractors unwillingness to meet with labor representative or by unfair labor practice

         Compensable and Non-Compensable Delays

         Compensable delay is caused by the owner or the owner's agents. A compensable delay is a delay where the contractor is entitled to a time extension and to dditional compensation such as payment for the delay.

         Non-compensable delay is caused by third parties or incidents beyond the control of both the owner and the contractor where the contractor is normally entitled to a time extension but no compensation for delay damages

         Concurrent or Non-concurrent.

         Concurrent delays are two or more parallel and independent delays to the critical path of a project. Concurrent delays can be on the same critical path or on a parallel critical path

      6. Delay Analysis Techniques

         Delay analysis is a analytical process that should be employed with project documentation along with collected data from project site. The selection of delay analysis depends on the variety of factors and the available records. There are five commonly used delay techniques.

         1. Impacted as-planned method

         2. Time impact analysis method

         3. Collapsed as-built or but-for analysis method

         4. Windows analysis method

         5. As-planned versus as-built (Total time) method

         Impacted as-planned method

         According to Trauner et al. (2009), in this method the analyst specifies the as planned schedule, and inserts into this schedule the changes which caused project delays. These changes are the only determined delays recorded during construction process which may have affected the project duration. Trauner et al. (2009) point out the major weaknesses of this method as it does not reflect the dynamic nature of construction project and the critical path.

         Time impact analysis method

         The analyst determines the amount of project delay resulted from each of the delaying activity successively by calculating the difference between the project completion date of the schedule after the addition of each delay and that prior to the addition (Ndekugri, Braimah, and Gameson, 2008).

         Collapsed as-built or but-for analysis method

         In this method, the analyst studies all contemporaneous project documentation and prepares a detailed as-built schedule instead of an as-planned schedule as mentioned in the what-if method. The analyst subtracts or removes activities which affected the project from the as-built schedule (Trauner et al. 2009).

         Windows analysis method

         Window analysis method is also called the contemporaneous period analysis and snapshot method. In this method, the basic concept is that the total project duration of CPM schedule is divided into digestible time periods or windows (e.g., monthly) and the delays that occurred in each windows of time are analyzed successively by focusing on the critical paths (Hegazy and Zhang, 2005).

         As-planned versus as-built (Total time) method

         Basically, the main concept is that the as-planned versus as-built method compares two schedules, which is why it is also called the total time method or net impact method. In this method the assumption is that one party (contractor) causes no delays and other party (owner) causes all delays.

      7. Programme updates

         It is used to document the performance of the employer, the professional team, designers, and the contractor and their ability to meet commitment dates. Programmes are updated to communicate actual project status from time to time, keep the programme relevant as a useful management tool, record actual performance of all parties alike, record changes to the original plan and support forensic or prospective delay analysis. When no frequency is specified, it is unlikely that a contractor will submit updated CPMs to the employer until extensions of time are granted or significant changes to scope or sequence are incorporated into the project. The minimum data required to properly update a programme would be percentage complete, remaining duration (%), actual start, and actual finish.

      8. Records

      Once the program update is done then changes need to be recorded. When good record keeping procedures are established and maintained, contract administrators are often able to access key information quickly and in a timely enough manner to respond to crises and manage problems at the time they arise. Many standard forms require contractors to provide notice of an intention to make a claim for time and/or money within a reasonable time after the event which gave rise to the claim. Records can be inspected by the employers representative from time to time. For each delay event an

      event analysis needs to be done.

   2. QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

      The Survey is designed based on the objective of the study to find out the causes of delays in construction projects and effect of the delays on overall project. The Survey is framed in such a way that the personal view of different people involved in different projects (Architect, Consultant, Owner, Project manager, Contractor) is collected and analyzed. This questionnaire consists of 63 causes of delay on which a detailed analysis will be carried out by using statistical concept. These causes are classified into nine groups according to the sources of delay: Factors related to Project, Owner, Contractor, Consultant, Architect/design-team, materials, equipment, manpower (labor), and external factors.

      1. Questionnaire format

         Respondents are asked to fill What is the frequency of occurrence for this cause?. The frequency of occurrence was categorized as follows: always, often, sometimes and rarely (on 4 to 1 point scale). Respondents are required to fill the respective places with only scale points (1, 2, 3 and 4) of their opinion.

         Frequency of Occurrence

         Always (4): Generally occurs in all the projects (70%-100%). Often (3): Occurs in 5 to 7 projects out of 10 projects (50%-

         70%).

         Sometimes (2): Occurs in 1 to 5 projects out of 10 projects

         (10%-50%).

         Rarely (1): Occurs only 1 time out of 10 projects (>10%). The questionnaire format is provided in appendix

      2. Respondents profile

      The questionnaires were distributed to Owners, Project Manager, Architect, Consultants and Contractors of Indian construction industry. The respondents involved in the survey had several years of experience in handling various types of projects. The characteristics of the respondents participated in survey are summarized below. Population sample of 35 was used in this survey. A total sample of 31 was deployed.

      Result of respondents

      10

      8

      6

      4

      2

      0

      Fig. 1. Result of respodents

      working experience

      50

      40

      30

      20

      10

      0

      less than 10 11-15 years 16-20years 20 years and years above

      Fig. 2. Working experience

   3. QUESTIONNARIE SURVEY RESULTS

The collected responses from different categories of people involved in construction project gives the major causes of delay factor faced in the construction process. The mean of each group of question is calculated using Relative Importance Index to calculate the ranking and the percentage of delay cause in the building. The final result showing the contribution of different factors on the delay of a construction project is shown below

TABLE I. RANKING FOR DELAY CAUSES

1. Highest percentage of delay group

   From the above finding and analysis using ranking method the group which is more responsible for the delay in the project is find out. According to the survey result it is found that resources are the main reason for the delay in the project along with external factors it is then followed by Contractor, then Owner and the others.

   External Factors

   Labor Equipment Material Architect

   Consultant Contractor

   Owner Project Group

   0 20 40 60 80

   Points

   Fig. 3. Highest percentage of delay group

2. Template to evaluate time delay

   Causes of delay	Recommendations
   Weather condition	Conducting detailed and perfect surveys towards the field condition and previous weather data
   External factors	Monitor the work done by the earlier contractors to make sure that delays outside your control are recognized and documented.
   Lack of funds	Optimize cash flow in accordance with the requirements and make sure fund needed for project is available to execute the project
   Deviation of scheduling	Develop detailed and accurate schedule to facilitate easy and controlled scheduled execution
   Lack of communication	Planning and applying Management Information System(MIS)
   Poor decision making process	Conduct routine/regular coordination meeting and develop a procedure regarding decision making.
   Lack of coordination / Wrong delegation of authority	Develop a good, simple and easy to understand system to regulate coordination procedures and responsibility of units. Make organization chart with detail job description which includes responsibilities and roles of each function
   Lack of inspection	Provide separate technical staff or site manager for periodic inspection and monitoring work process which includes starting late, late submission of drawings, mistakes or errors, resource availability, etc. then proper record has to be maintained to detect risk and mitigate.
   Improper planning	Understand the level of supply and demand to produce detail planning and schedule. Implement automatic machine work to avoid shortage of labor such as automatic plastering machine, wall painting, precast concrete wall, etc.
   Lack of knowledge	Contractor needs to aware of new technology and techniques to reduce time duration for activity or labor force
   Lack of facilities at site	Site management should be properly done to ensure proper resource; basic facilities for worker are available to increase productivity by doing detail study in site condition.
   Poor selection of vendors	Consider supplier daily capacity and material quality for selecting vendors to avoid delay and conflicts.
   Labor shortage	Early workforce planning is essential for owners and contractors to effectively manage project labor risks. Then providing incentives/awards for workers like best employer of the year/ month so that productivity and quality of work will be increased.
   Skilled labor shortage	Providing training and upgrade skills to use new technology and techniques for unskilled labors to increase productivity and efficiency of the worker.

   The tools to evaluate and analysis time delay factors are CPM and PERT. The collected data from the tools should be filled in template for event analysis.

   TABLE II. EVENT ANALYSIS SHEET

   DESCRIPTION		FORMULA	VALUE
   Planned quantity	PQ
   Planned duration	PD
   Planned productivity	PP
   Total budget	TB
   Cost per unit	C	TB/PQ
   Actual quantity	AQ
   Actual duration	AD
   Actual productivity	AP
   Planned value	PV, BCWS	(AD*TB)/PD
   Actual cost	AC, ACWP	C*AQ
   Earned Value (EV)	BCWP	EV = PV x( AP/PP)
   Cost Variance	CV	EV-AC (BCWP -ACWP)
   Cost Variance %	CV%	CV/EV
   Cost Performance Indicator	CPI	EV/AC
   To Complete Cost Performance Indicator	TCPI	(TB-EV)/(TB- AC)
   Schedule Variance	SV	EV-PV (BCWP- BCWS)
   Schedule Variance %	SV%	SV/PV (SV/BCWS)
   Schedule Performance Indicator	SPI	EV/PV
   To Complete Schedule Performance Indicator	TSPI	(TB-EV) / (TB – PV)
   Budget At Completion	BAC = TB
   Estimate At Completion	EAC	AC +(BAC- EV)
   Variance At Completion	VAC	BAC – EAC
   Planned % Completed		PV / BAC
   % Completed Actual		AC / EAC

3. Recommendations

   From the survey it is found that contractor has the highest percentage of cause of delay followed by owner and then consultant. So recommendation to control major causes of delay are listed below

   TABLE III. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MAJOR CAUSES OF DELAY CAUSES

   No	Cause of delay	Alway s	Often	Some times	Rarely	Group
   	Original contract
   	duration is too
   1	short
   	Legal disputes
   2	between parties
   	Inadequate
   3	definition of substantial completion					Project team
   	Ineffective delay
   4	penalties
   	Types of
   	construction
   5	contract
   	Type of project
   6	bidding
   	Delay in progress
   7	payment by owner
   	Delay to furnish
   	and deliver the
   	site to the
   	contractor by
   8	owner
   	Change order
   	during
   9	construction
   	Late in approval
   1	design document
   0	by owner
   	Delay in
   	approving shop
   1	drawings and
   1	sample material					Owner
   	Lack of
   	communication
   1	between owner
   2	and contractor
   	Slowness in
   1	decision making
   3	process
   	Conflicts between
   1	joint ownership of
   4	the project
   	Unavailability of
   	incentives for
   	contractor for
   1	finishing ahead of
   5	schedule
   1	Suspension of
   6	work by owner
   	Difficulties in
   1	financing project
   7	by contractor
   	Conflicts in
   1	subcontractor schedule in execution of the					Contra ctor
   8	project
   	Rework due to
   1	errors during
   9	construction

4. Conclusion

The major causes of delay which is found repeating in almost every project are external factors, financial difficulties, shortage of labor, insufficient labor productivity, owner interference and improper planning. After analyzing the data it is clear that the contribution of Contractor in delay of the construction project is high then followed by client then consultant side and others. Resource allocation is the main criteria for doing schedule planning to allocate duration for each activity included in the project so that delay in the construction project can be reduced.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT (Heading 5)

I extend my gratitude to our Faculty Head Dr. A. Lilly Rose, M. Arch., PhD, Head of the Department Dr. N. Jothilakshmy, B. Arch; M.T.P., PhD, Assoc. Prof.T.Vennila M.Arch, Mr.S.Kavin Kumar and Assoc. Prof. Ar. K. Suresh Babu for their helpful suggestions and comments during my project presentation. Mr.K.Gopala Krishnan, Mr.Karthik Mohan, Mr.G.Hemanth kumar and my parents for their help and support to complete the project.

REFERENCES

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5. Roger Gibson Construction delays: Extension of time and prolongation claims

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   February 2013

8. Owolabi James D & *Amusan Lekan M. Oloke C., Causes And Effect of Delay on Project Construction Delivery Time IJER, Vol. 2 No. 4 April 2014

9. P. J. Keane & A. F. Caletka, Delay Analysis in Construction Contracts, A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication 2008, United Kingdom

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11. Theodore J. Trauner Jr., Construction Delays: Understanding Them Clearly, Analyzing Them Correctly, 2009

APPENDIX

Name

Date

Designation

Work Experience Email Id

Location