Major Construction Delay Factors in Portugal, the UK, and the US

Construction delays are a common problem in all the developed and developing countries costing the industry billions of dollars every year. Understanding the major delay factors for construction projects is the first step to reduce this unnecessary loss. A combined 13 studies to identify the top delay factors for construction projects in Portugal, the UK, and the US have been reported in the literature. Thirty-five construction delay factors out of a possible 42 reported in the literature have been identified as one of the top 10 construction delay factors by one of the four or five studies for each of these countries. This means that some of the top construction delay factors may not be appropriate. It is confusing to practitioners in prioritizing appropriate preventive measures to achieve better schedule performance. A thorough review of these 13 studies is undertaken to identify the top 10 delay factors for construction projects in Portugal, the UK, and the US, respectively. With respect to the construction delay factors identified, preventive measures for each major delay factor to improve the schedule performance of construction projects in Portugal, the UK, and the US are presented. The level of improvement in the schedule performance of construction projects in Portugal, the UK, and the US will depend on the extent of the implementation of the recommended measures. Similar measures can be implemented in other countries with such major construction delay factors.