An evaluation of construction time performance in the building industry

Building industries in many countries have been increasingly recognising the need for more efficient and timely completion of projects. Often, a number of unexpected problems and changes from original design arise during the construction phase, leading to cost and time overruns. Therefore, exploring the reasons for delay is one of the prerequisites of keeping the cost within budget and of good construction time performance. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the principal factors responsible for delays in the Hong Kong building industry, and determine their relative importance as perceived by different participant groups. A questionnaire survey, based on 83 previously identified delay factors, grouped into eight major factor categories, was conducted in early 1995. Responses from 78 construction personnel — from client, consultant and contractor organisations — suggest a strong consistency in perception between clients and consultants, for example as to the importance of the “poor site management and supervision” delay factor and the “contractor-related” delay factor category. However, there was a substantial disagreement between consultants and contractors, as well as between clients and contractors, in respect of the rankings of both the individual factors and the factor categories. Suggestions are given for more effective project management based on the observations. The results of this survey also provide a foundation for further research towards the development of an envisaged “construction time” prediction model for local building projects.