The causes of delays in the delivery of construction projects: A review of literature

Abstract

This paper investigate on why there are many delays in the delivery of public construction projects by the main contractors on construction sites and how the mitigation of delays can play a role in addressing this challenge. The study has been conducted through the use of secondary data in form of literature review only. The findings from the literature survey revealed that the major causes of delays in government projects being contractor's improper planning, contractor's poor site management, inadequate contractor experience, inadequate client's finance and payments for completed work, problems with subcontractors, shortage in material, labor supply, equipment availability and failure, lack of communication between parties, and mistakes during the construction stage. A competent persons need to be involved in the project to improve the planning, site management and to reduce lot of mistakes during construction. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.