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Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 9, No. 1, 2019, 3762-3764 3762
www.etasr.com Soomro et al.: Causes of Time Overrun in Construction of Building Projects in Pakistan
Causes of Time Overrun in Construction of Building
Projects in Pakistan
Faheem Ahmed Soomro
Department of Civil Engineering,
Mehran University of Engineering and
Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Campus, Khairpur Mirs, Pakistan
faheemahmed_soomro@yahoo.com
Muhammed Jaffar Memon
Department of Civil Engineering,
Mehran University of Engineering and
Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Campus, Khairpur Mirs, Pakistan
ja2far@gmail.com
Abdul Fattah Chandio
Department of Electronics Engineering,
Quaid-e-Awam University of
Engineering, Science & Technology,
Nawabshah, Pakistan
fattahchandio@yahoo.com
Samiullah Sohu
Department of Civil Engineering, Quaid-e-Awam University of
Engineering, Science & Technology, Nawabshah, Pakistan
sohoosamiullah@gmail.com
Rizwanullah Soomro
Faculty of Civil Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
rizwantn16@gmail.com
Abstract—Time overrun in construction projects is a very serious
issue in developed and developing countries. The main object of
this research is to find the main causes of time overrun in the
construction of building project and its possible mitigation
measures. Quantitative approach was adopted in this research to
achieve object and RIW (relative importance weight) approach
was used for collecting data. Financial issues faced by the
contractor, contractor’s inexperience, weather impacts, late
delivery of material, mistakes in design, shortage of skilled labor,
incompetent subcontractor and mistakes in time estimation were
identified as main causes of time overrun in construction projects
and possible mitigation measures were also proposed from
experts. This research will help in giving awareness to
stakeholders to narrow down the factors of time overrun in
construction projects in Pakistan.
Keywords-time overrun; causes; building projects; mitigation
measures; Pakistan
I. INTRODUCTION
Time overrun is one of the most serious issues in
construction industry globally [1]. “Construction time overrun
is the change between a project’s actual contract period at the
time of tender and its final contract period on which
construction project finished” [2]. Time overrun can result in
many negative impacts on the construction project like budget
overrun, low productivity, contract expiration, work
acceleration resulting in bad quality, and disputes among
construction stakeholders [3]. It is observed that many
construction projects face the issue of time overrun worldwide
both in developing and developed countries like USA or UK
[4, 5]. Authors in [6] stated that more than 40% of projects in
construction industry experiences time overrun. Construction
industry is not famous in terms of project completion within
time. Ignorance of time overrun analysis resulted in many
construction projects failing to complete on the given time
frame [7]. According to [8] only 47% of projects were
completed within approved time frame, around 38% of
construction projects were behind time frame and 15% of
construction projects were completed ahead of time in
Indonesia. Like other countries, time overrun is one of the most
severe problems in the construction industry of Pakistan [9,
10]. Author in [11] reported that the majority of the Pakistan
construction projects were 11% to 30% below their approved
time fame. Only a few studies have been carried out to find
factors of time overrun in the construction of building projects
in Pakistan.
II. PREVIOUS STUDIES
Many researchers conducted studies on the causes of time
overrun in different kinds of construction projects to find
factors and causes of time overrun. Authors in [12] conducted
survey on 130 randomly selected engineers. Identified causes
of time overrun were delayed payments, material shortage,
changes in selected material prices, poor site management, and
problems in bank credit. Authors in [13] identified 83 common
factors of time overrun and arranged these factors in 8 groups.
By using relative importance index five causes of time overrun
were identified which were poor supervision at site and site
management, delay in making decisions, owner interference in
the project, ground conditions, and necessary changes from the
owner. Authors in [14] identified 16 causes of time overrun, the
top 5 being: financial problems faced by the contractor, poor
contract management, site supervision, lack of planning, and
delay in material supply. Authors in [15] carried out a survey
through questionnaire distribution to selected experts of
construction industry in Nigeria. Identified causes of time
overrun were inexperienced sub-contractors, shortage of labor,
poor site management, shortage of selected materials and
mistakes during works. Authors in [16] conducted survey about
the causes of time overrun in infrastructure projects of Qatar.
The results of the survey revealed that major causes of time
overrun were design changes, inadequate planning and
Corresponding author: S. Sohu
Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 9, No. 1, 2019, 3762-3764 3763
www.etasr.com Soomro et al.: Causes of Time Overrun in Construction of Building Projects in Pakistan
scheduling, changes in scope of project, inadequate estimation
project time duration, and shortage of skilled labour. Authors in
[17] identified the major causes of time overrun through
quantitative approach in construction projects of Vietnam. The
main causes of time overrun were poor monitoring, poor
project management and financial problems faced by owner.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study was divided in two phases. In the first phase the
objective was to find the main causes of time overrun and in
the second phase was to find the mitigation measures of these
identified causes. In the first phase, a literature review was
carried out providing a total of 51 probable causes of time
overrun. A questionnaire was developed, in which the
aforementioned causes were imposed and respondents were
asked to rank them. In the second phase, another questionnaire
was distributed in which mitigation measures from literature
review and unstructured interviews were incorporated.
IV. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
For the first phase, the developed questionnaire was
distributed among 131 professional respondents (either
consultants, clients or contractors) involved in handling the
construction of building projects, 87 were received back and 84
were usable for data analysis (Table I). Table II indicates the
respondents’ qualification and Table III indicates their
experience.
TABLE I. SURVEY DETAILS
Parameter Value
Total distributed questionnaires 131
Received back questionnaires 87
Invalid questionnaires 3
Valid questionnaires 84
Percentage of valid questionnaires 96
TABLE II. QUALIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS
Degree name Frequency Percentage
Bachelor 68 80.9
Master 14 16.7
PhD 2 2.40
Total 84 100
TABLE III. EXPERIENCE OF RESPONDENTS
Experience Frequency Percentage
0-5 years 8 9.52
6-10 years 24 28.58
11-15 years 21 25.00
16-20 years 18 21.43
20 and above 13 15.47
Total 100 100
For the first phase respondents were given questionnaires
and were asked to rank each cause on a Likert scale. RIW
approach was successfully used in previous studies giving
accurate and good results [18]. The weight formula in RIW was
calculated as shown in (1):
i i
i
a x
RIW
x
=
∑
∑
(1)
where ai shows a constant which represents the weight given to
i, and xi is a variable denoting the frequency of the answer for i.
The values are established from x1 having the least importance
and a1 being 1, to x5 for most significant and a5 equal to 5. The
results are shown in Table IV.
TABLE IV. CAUSES OF TIME OVERRUN
Rank Identified Causes RIW Value
1 Financial issues faced by contractor 0.834
2 Inexperienced contractor 0.831
3 Weather impact 0.812
4 Delay in supply of materials 0.783
5 Mistakes in design 0.769
6 Shortage of skilled labour 0.761
7 Incompetent subcontractor 0.688
8 Errors in time estimation 0.511
A. Financial Issues Faced by Contractor
Financial issues faced by the contractor were found as the
most major cause of time overrun. Contractors play important
role from execution to completion of a project. Construction
activities are suspended and stopped by the contractors due to
financial issues [19]. Continuous funding to contractors can
help to complete project on approved time.
B. Inexperienced Contractor
Inexperienced and incompetent contractor can cause time
overrun. Selection of contractor on favoritism causes time
overrun in construction projects [20].
C. Weather Impact
Most buildings constructed in tropical regions face chances
of heavy rains, floods and earthquakes which affect
construction activities causing delays on building projects.
Weather impact causes time overrun from approved time in
construction projects [21].
D. Delay in Supply of Materials at Site
Construction site of building is often located at remote and
sometimes in tropical areas, so it is difficult to have a
continuous supply of materials on time. Delay in material
supply creates gaps in construction activities at site which
causes time overrun in construction projects [22].
E. Mistakes in Design
Before project tendering, easy and accurate design should
be prepared. Mistakes in design delay the project construction
activities which can lead the project to time overrun [23].
F. Shortage of Skilled Labor
Shortage of skilled labor is one of the main causes of time
overrun in the construction industry. Pakistan is a developing
country and many workers are not skilled enough. Another
cause of shortage of skilled labour is that many construction
projects are running simultaneously [24].
G. Incomplete Subcontractor
Contractor appoints subcontractors for the completion of
different activities of the project but appointment of
incompetent subcontractor, can cause construction activities to
run very slow compared to the given schedule. Incompetent,
Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research Vol. 9, No. 1, 2019, 3762-3764 3764
www.etasr.com Soomro et al.: Causes of Time Overrun in Construction of Building Projects in Pakistan
with no experience contractors and subcontractors do many
mistakes during construction [25].
H. Errors in Time Estimation
Errors in making estimation of time duration because of
lack of experienced engineers or planners leads to improper
estimation of completion period of project. Estimation of
project length is based on resources and their output [26].
V. MITIGATION MEASURES
The second phase of this study was to identify mitigation
measures of the identified causes. A questionnaire was
developed having mitigation measures identified from literature
review and interviews from experts. The respondents were
asked to highlight their relative importance on a Likert scale.
The collected data were analyzed by using RII (relative
importance index) and the results are shown in Table V.
TABLE V. MITIGATION MEASURES OF CRITICAL FACTORS
Mitigation Measure Value
Adequate funds should be allocated for each project. 3.0
Highly experienced contractors should be appointed. 2.97
Proper arrangements should be done in flood and rainy seasons 2.94
Suitable resources should be used for supply of materials. 2.91
Well reputed consultants should be hired. 2.90
Skilled labor should be with facilities. 2.89
Favorite subcontractor should not be appointed. 2.88
Proper filed investigation should be made. 2.86
VI. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study was to find the major causes of
time overrun in the construction projects in Pakistan and
possible mitigation measures. After statistical analysis, the
major causes of time overrun were: financial issues faced by
the contractor, inexperienced contractor, weather impact, delay
in supply of materials at site, mistakes in design, shortage of
skilled labour, incompetent subcontractor, and errors in time
estimation. Possible mitigation measures to control these
causes were recognized and are depicted in Table V. The
outcomes of this study will help stakeholders to control causes
of time overrun.
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