Analysis of Factors Affecting Cost and Time Overruns in Construction Projects

The construction industry all over the world has to face a major challenge of cost and time overruns repeatedly from commencement to completion of the project. These overruns result in huge losses in terms of cost and time. This study focusses on the in-depth analysis of the overrun factors affecting construction projects. A total of 44 overrun factors were identified from the literature and were categorized into four major categories, namely project related, management related, legal-constraints faced and site-resource related. A questionnaire was developed using these factors and was filled by 105 respondents. Relative importance index was used to rank different factors according to their criticality in overruns. For statistical analysis, Minitab was used. The most critical overrun factors identified were, namely delay in obtaining permission from authorities, poor supervision and site management, unrealistic time schedule, unforeseen ground conditions and lack of skilled professionals. This research will help researchers, engineers, project managers, construction practitioners, etc. to deal with overrun factors in an effective manner such that projects can be completed within a specific allocated cost and time.