LAUSR

Delay in delivering construction projects is one of the major problems that have negative impacts on the construction industry. The uniqueness of each construction project results in many complexities of specifying all the causes of delay. Thus, efforts to prevent delays in construction projects have not been adequately successful. The basic step to avoid the whole project delays involves identifying the main causes, which may be different in each region. This paper has conducted a survey in Iraq, targeting experienced civil engineers in order to assess the significance of the main causes of construction delays that may arise during the execution phase. Initially, a comprehensive literature review has been undertaken in order to identify the most common causes of delay, then, a survey has been conducted in order to evaluate the relative importance of each cause. The analysis of the collected data has revealed that the top ten significant factors of delay are; financial crisis, security situation surrounding the project, slow pace of work, lack of detailed plan for site organization, delay in materials supplying, inaccuracy of time schedule, inaccuracy in estimating work activities' duration, design errors, problems that arise as construction execution starts, and design changes during execution. Therefore, a set of appropriate solutions has been suggested in order to minimize the risk of delay. Copyright © 2020 Praise Worthy Prize - All rights reserved.