powerpoint ( between 10-13 slides) Executive Summary for case study

The significant factors causing delay of building construction

projects in Malaysia Wa’el Alaghbari, Mohd. Razali A. Kadir, Azizah Salim and

Ernawati Architecture Department, Faculty of Design and Architecture,

University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

Abstract Purpose – The paper seeks to identify the major factors causing delay in building construction projects in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was used to carry out the study. The questionnaire consisted of 31 factors which were grouped into four major categories by responsibility – contractor factors, owner factors, consultant factors and external factors. The level of importance of the categories was measured and the relative importance of weights was ranked.

Findings – The study finds that financial problems are the main factor and coordination problems are the second most important factor causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia. The results were analyzed to rank the causes of delay and further classify the types of delay.

Research limitations/implications – The scope of this study is limited to building projects in the Klang Valley area, where major Malaysian cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Seremban are located. The data for this study was gathered through a detailed questionnaire survey.

Originality/value – Based on the analysis of the ranking and intensity of causes of delay, this paper suggests possible improvements that could be made in order to reduce delays in the construction industry.

Keywords Construction industry, Project management, Malaysia

Paper type Research paper

Introduction As Malaysia progressively marches towards industrialization, the role of the building industry is greatly enhanced, with the idea of transforming the aspirations and needs of people into reality. There is thus an urgent need to mass-produce quality housing that is affordable to all Malaysians. New and innovative approaches and technology are needed in the design and construction of houses to enable the nation to achieve this target (Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1997). In the Malaysian context, the Government’s policy on housing is that traditional building practices must be replaced by an industrialized building system (IBS), which could save on labour, cost and time of construction, and confer quality and durability (Ismail, 2001).

Warszawski (1999) mentioned that the benefits of IBS when applied to a building process include savings in manual labour on site (up to 40-50 percent of the input in conventional construction), especially in skilled trades such as formwork, masonry,

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Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management Vol. 14 No. 2, 2007 pp. 192-206 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0969-9988 DOI 10.1108/09699980710731308

plastering, painting, carpentry, tiling, and pipe-laying (electrical and water supply). In addition, IBS is a faster construction process, meaning earlier completion of building projects.

A clear understanding of the current status of IBSs will help to set housing programs under the 8th Malaysia Plan. The first step in any advance study on building systems and their technology should be initiated by determining the status quo (Badir and Kadir, 2002).

One of the most important problems in the construction industry is delays. Delays occur in every construction project and the magnitude of these delays varies considerably from project to project. Some projects are only a few days behind schedule; some are delayed by over a year. So it is essential to define the actual causes of delay in order to minimize and avoid delays in any construction project.

The successful execution of construction projects and keeping them within estimated cost and prescribed schedules depends on a methodology that requires sound engineering judgment (Al-Moumani, 2000).

Objectives of the study The main objective of this study is to identify the major causes of delays construction projects in Malaysia using a survey. The primary aim is to identify the perceptions of the different parties regarding the causes of delays, the allocation of responsibilities and the types of delays.

Literature review Delay is generally acknowledged as the most common, costly, complex and risky problem encountered in construction projects. Because of the overriding importance of time for both the owner (in terms of performance) and the contractor (in terms of money), it is the source of frequent disputes and claims leading to lawsuits.

Delays occur in every construction project and the magnitude of these delays varies considerably from project to project. Some projects are only a few days behind schedule; some are delayed by over a year. So it is essential to define the actual causes of delay in order to minimize and avoid delay in any construction project (Ahmed et al., 2003).

There is a wide range of views on the causes of time delays for engineering and construction projects. Some are attributed to a single party, others can be ascribed to several quarters, and many relate more to systemic faults or deficiencies rather than to a group or groups (Hancher and Rowings, 1981).

Many studies have been carried out to assess the causes of delay in construction projects. Mansfield et al. (1994) studied the causes of delay and cost overrun in construction projects in Nigeria. The results showed that the most important factors are financing and payment for completed works, poor contract management, changes in site conditions, shortage of materials, and improper planning.

Assaf et al. (1995) outlined the main causes of delays in large building projects and their relative importance. In their study, they found that 56 causes of delay exist in Saudi construction projects. The most important delay factors, according to the contractors, were preparation and approval of drawings (delays in contractor’s

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progress, payment by owners and design changes). The views of the architects and engineers were that delays were caused by cash problems during construction, the relationship between the contractors and a slow decision-making process on the part of the owners. Finally, the owners attributed delays to design errors, labour shortages and inadequate labour skills.

Ogunlana and Promkuntong (1996) identified the causes of delays in construction projects in Bangkok, Thailand and compared these with other delays and cost overruns to determine whether there are special problems that generate delays. They summarized the causes of delay in the construction industry as being in three problem areas:

(1) problems of shortages or inadequacies in the industry infrastructure (mainly supply of resources);

(2) problems caused by clients and consultants; and

(3) problems caused by contractor incompetence/inadequacy.

Mezher and Tawil (1998) conducted a survey of the causes of delays in the construction industry in Lebanon from the viewpoint of owners, contractors and architectural/engineering firms. It was found that owners had more concerns with regard to financial issues, contractors regarded contractual relationships as being the most important, and consultants considered project management issues to be the most important cause of delays.

Chan and Kumaraswamy (1998) surveyed the causes of construction delays in Hong Kong as seen by clients, contractors and consultants, and examined the factors affecting productivity. The survey revealed differences in perceptions of the relative significance of factors including financing and payment for completed works, poor contract management, changes in site conditions, shortage of materials, and improper planning.

Al-Moumani (2000) investigated the causes of delays on 130 public projects in Jordan, and the results indicated that the main causes of delay in construction of public projects relate to designers, user changes, weather, site conditions, late deliveries, and economic conditions.

Frimpong and Oluwoye (2003) identified the significant factors that cause delay and cost overruns in the construction of groundwater projects in Ghana. The results of the survey indicated that all three groups felt that project financing, economic and natural conditions and materials are the four major causes of delay and cost overrun. It was shown that consultants, owners and contractors agree substantially on the ranking of the categories of delay and cost overrun factors. It was also shown that all three groups surveyed ranked the project financing category of delay and cost overrun factors highest, while the labour category was ranked lowest.

Types of delay Delays can be grouped in the following four broad categories according to how they operate contractually:

(1) non-excusable delays;

(2) excusable non-compensable delays;

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(3) excusable compensable delays; and

(4) concurrent delays (Ahmed et al., 2003).

Generally, delays can be divided into three major types, namely:

(1) excusable and non-excusable;

(2) compensable and non-compensable; and

(3) concurrent.

Compensable delays Compensable delays are those that are generally caused by the owner or its agents. The most common form of compensable delay is inadequate drawings and specifications, but compensable delays can also arise from the owner’s failure to respond in a timely fashion to requests for information or shop drawings, owner’s changes in design or materials, and owner’s disruption and/or change in the sequence of the work. The contractor is entitled to both additional money and additional time resulting from compensable delays (Alaghbari, 2005).

Non-excusable delays Basically, these delays are caused by contractors or subcontractors or materials suppliers, through no fault of the owner. The contractor might be entitled to compensation from the delaying subcontractor or supplier, but no compensation is due from the owner. Therefore, non-compensable delays usually result in no additional money and no additional time being granted to the contractor (Alaghbari, 2005).

Excusable delays Excusable delays, also known as “force majeure” delays, are the third general category of delay. These delays are commonly called “acts of God” because they are not the responsibility or fault of any particular party. Most contracts allow for the contractor to obtain an extension of time for excusable delays, but not additional money (Alaghbari, 2005).

Concurrent delays If only one factor is delaying construction, it is usually fairly easy to calculate both the time and money resulting from that single issue. A more complicated – but also more typical – situation is one in which more than one factor delays the project at the same time or in overlapping periods of time. These are called concurrent delays (Alaghbari, 2005).

Delay responsibility Ahmed et al. (2003) claimed that the issue of responsibility for delay is related to whether the contractor is awarded or is liable for costs and additional time to complete the project. The categories of responsibilities are:

. owner (or agent) responsible – contractor will be granted a time extension and additional costs (indirect), where warranted;

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. contractor (or subcontractor) responsible – contractor will not be granted time or costs and may have to pay damages/penalties;

. neither party (e.g. “act of God”) responsible – contractor will receive additional time to complete the project but no costs will be granted and no damages/penalties assessed; and

. both parties responsible – contractor will receive additional time to complete the project but no costs will be granted and no damages/penalties assessed.

Causes of delay There are two kinds of cause for delay in construction projects:

(1) external causes; and

(2) internal causes.

Internal causes of delay include the causes arising from four parties involved in the project. These parties include the owner, designers, contractors, and consultants. Other delays, which do not arise from these four parties, are based on external causes for example from the government, materials suppliers, or the weather (Ahmed et al., 2003).

Ahmed et al. (2003) and Alaghbari (2005) mentioned the possible following factors causing delays in construction projects in Malaysia:

(1) Contractor’s responsibility: . delay in delivery of materials to site; . shortage of materials on site; . construction mistakes and defective work; . poor skills and experience of labour; . shortage of site labour; . low productivity of labour; . financial problems; . coordination problems with others; . lack of subcontractor’s skills; . lack of site contractor’s staff; . poor site management; and . equipments and tool shortage on site.

(2) Consultant’s responsibility: . absence of consultant’s site staff; . lack of experience on the part of the consultant; . lack of experience on the part of the consultant’s site staff; (managerial and

supervisory personnel); . delayed and slow supervision in making decisions;

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. incomplete documents; and

. slowness in giving instructions.

(3) Owner’s responsibility: . lack of working knowledge; . slowness in making decisions; . lack of coordination with contractors; . contract modifications (replacement and addition of new work to the project

and change in specifications); and . financial problems (delayed payments, financial difficulties, and economic

problems).

(4) External factors: . lack of materials on the market; . lack of equipment and tools on the market; . poor weather conditions; . poor site conditions (location, ground, etc.); . poor economic conditions (currency, inflation rate, etc.); . changes in laws and regulations; . transportation delays; and . external work due to public agencies (roads, utilities and public services).

Methodology This section describes the procedure of data collection and the techniques used in the survey.

Sampling frame of the study The sample included many building system companies. The questionnaire was distributed among government bodies, main contractors, consultants and developers who were connected with the building systems of construction projects. In order to accomplish this, the researchers contacted professional institutions, agents and government bodies.

Questionnaire design The questionnaire could be divided into sections, namely:

. respondent’s background;

. company information;

. project information;

. speed factors;

. external factors;

. contractor factors;

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. consultant factors; and

. owner factors.

Personal information regarding the respondents included academic qualifications, working experience in construction building projects, job status, etc.

Other parts of the questionnaire gathered information on the building system and its different properties. It focused on delay factors and so forth. Most of the questions were of the closed type and were designed to elicit qualitative information. Codes were provided beside the questions so that respondents and enumerators could communicate in a convenient way.

Population and sampling size The sample was restricted to building system companies. The respondents were contractors, consultant, developers, subcontractors, engineers and architects who were involved in building system construction projects. A total of 450 questionnaires were distributed by post and 78 samples were collected from the survey. The sample was selected randomly. A simple random sampling procedure was employed to choose the sample.

Of the 78 questionnaire sampled, 37 per cent were from contractors, 40 per cent were from consultants, and 23 per cent from were developers and government bodies.

Data processing and analysis All the collected information from the survey were checked and verified for their correctness. Data cleaning was carried out by checking the frequency and descriptive statistics as well as coding and data entry. The cleaned data were then analyzed to obtain frequency, statistical descriptive analysis and variance. Multiple comparison tests were carried out using SPSS 12.0.

Ranking delay factors The respondents identified variables that they perceived as being likely to contribute to factors influencing the speed of IBS and factors influencing delays in construction building projects by responding on a scale from 1 (very important) to 4 (unimportant). The four-point Likert rating scale was 1 ¼ very important, 2 ¼ important, 3 ¼ some or less important, and 4 ¼ unimportant. This scale was chosen to avoid neutral answers that do not provide information on very important or non-important issues. The mean score (MS) for each factor was calculated using the following formula Chan and Kumaraswamy, 1996; Lew et al., 2003):

MS ¼ 4 2 P

ð f £ sÞ N

! " ð1 # MS # 4Þ;

where MS is the mean score, f is the frequency of responses to each rating (1-4), s is the score given to each factor by the respondents (ranges from 1 to 4), and N is the total number of responses concerning that factor (78).

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Results and discussion Delay is a serious problem in the construction industry. It is costly for both owners and constructors. Owners lose money by missing out on potential revenues from the use of the project and through increased overheads for contract administration and supervision. Contractor losses are due to increased costs in overheads and tied-up capital (Al-Khalil and Al-Ghafly, 1999). Hence, determining the factors that cause delays in construction projects is crucial. Tables I-IV present the results of the analysis of the items of the general factors that cause delay in construction projects in Malaysia. A total of 31 factors from the four categories were ranked according to

Factor Mean SD Rank

Financial problems 1.44 0.68 1 Shortage of materials on site 1.67 0.75 2 Poor site management 1.67 0.87 2 Construction mistakes and defective work 1.71 0.69 3 Delay in delivery of materials to site 1.73 0.73 4 Coordination problems with others 1.83 0.71 5 Shortage of site labour 1.85 0.72 6 Low labour productivity 1.87 0.65 7 Poor skills and experience of labour 1.88 0.87 8 Lack of subcontractor’s skills 1.96 0.84 9 Lack of site contractor’s staff 2.10 0.75 10 Equipment and tool shortages on site 2.22 0.83 11

Table I. Ranking of contractor’s factors causing delay in

construction projects

Factors Mean SD Rank

Financial problems (delayed payments, financial difficulties, and economic problems) 1.26 0.44 1 Slowness in making decisions 1.78 0.83 2 Contract modifications (replace and add new works to the project; change in specifications) 1.87 0.81 3 Lack of coordination with contractor 1.95 0.75 4 Lack of working knowledge 2.05 0.87 5

Table II. Ranking of owner’s

factors causing delay in construction projects

Factors Mean SD Rank

Supervision too late and slowness in making decisions 1.62 0.61 1 Slow to give instructions 1.63 0.74 2 Lack of consultant’s experience 1.79 0.71 3 Incomplete documents 1.81 0.76 4 Lack of consultant’s site staff experience (managerial and supervisory personnel) 1.99 0.71 5 Absence of consultant’s site staff 2.22 0.94 6

Table III. Ranking of consultant’s factors causing delay in

construction projects

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the ranking of their mean values. The first category, contractor’s factors, included the 12 factors presented in Table I. The second category, owner’s factors, included the five factors presented in Table II. The third category, consultant’s factors, included the six factors presented in Table III. The fourth category, external factors, included the eight factors presented in Table IV.

Contractor’s factors causing delay in construction projects Table I presents the results of factor analysis of the items of contractor’s factors that cause delay in construction projects and their ranking as a whole. Based on the mean value criterion, the first ranking seemed to capture the respondents’ general felling that it is financial problems that are the major factor that causes delay in construction projects. Statements such as the insolvency of unpaid workers, and subcontractor deliveries of materials being on hold have the lowest mean value of 1.44.

The factors “shortage of materials on site” and “poor site management” seem to be the second-ranked factors that cause delays in construction projects in Malaysia. Consequently, factors such as “construction mistakes”, “delays in the delivery of materials to site” and “co-ordination problems” were ranked third, fourth, and fifth respectively. The last three variables can be due to “equipment and tool shortages on site”.

The next factor that causes delays in construction projects in Malaysia is on-site labour. For instance, the factors “shortage of site labour”, “low labour productivity” and “poor skill and experience of labour” have mean values of 1.85, 1.86 and 1.96, respectively, and are ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

The last factors due to contractors that cause delay in construction projects includes “lack of subcontractor’s skills” and “lack of site contractors’ staff”, which show mean values of 1.96 and 2.10, respectively, and are ranked ninth and tenth.

Owner’s factors causing delay in construction projects The owner of the project is also considered to be a factor that can cause delay in projects. Table II presents the result of data analysis of the items on the owner’s part that cause delay in construction projects. As on the contractor’s side, financial problems such as delayed payments, financial difficulties, and economic problems

Factors Mean SD Rank

Lack of materials on the market 1.63 0.76 1 Poor site conditions (location, ground, etc.) 2.01 0.80 2 Lack of equipment and tools on the market 2.12 0.88 3 Poor weather conditions 2.12 0.85 3 Transportation delays 2.12 0.82 3 External work due to public agencies (roads, utilities, public services) 2.23 0.94 4 Poor economic conditions (currency, inflation rate, etc.) 2.27 0.95 5 Changes in laws and regulations 2.54 0.92 6

Table IV. Ranking of external factors causing delay in construction projects

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seem to be the major owner factor that causes delay in construction projects in Malaysia. The results presented in Table II show that financial problems are ranked first.

The management ability of the project’s owner is the second important factor causing delay in construction projects. All the respondents seem to agree that “slowness in making decision” on the part of the owner of the project is an important factor that causes delays in construction projects. It is ranked second, with a mean value 1.78.

The factor “contract modification: replacement and addition of new work to the project, change in specifications” is ranked as the third factor that causes delay in construction projects in Malaysia. The factors “lack of coordination with contractor” and “lack of working knowledge” on the part of the owner are ranked fourth and fifth, with mean values of 1.95 and 2.05, respectively.

Consultant’s factors causing delay in construction projects As consultants are very important in construction projects, this factor is also considered to be one of the most important factors that can cause delays in construction projects. Table III presents the results of the analysis of items of the consultant factors that cause delays in construction projects.

Table III implies that the first component that seemed to capture the respondents’ general attention was “supervision too late”. The factors “slow to give instructions” and “lack of consultant’s experience” are the second and third factors causing delay in construction projects.

The next factor refers to the respondents’ preception of weakness in consultant management as a factor that cause delays in construction projects. For example, the factors “incomplete documents”, “lack of consultant’s experience” and “absence of consultant’s site staff” were ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.

External factors causing delay in construction projects The results of the data analysis of the external factors that cause delay in projects are presented in Table IV. Based on the mean values presented in Table IV, the most important external factors causing delay in construction projects are lack of materials and lack of equipment and tools. The factor “lack of materials on the market” was ranked first. Construction projects are physical projects, and the timely availability of materials is very important.

The factor ranked second in Table IV is “poor site conditions (such as locations, ground, etc.)”. The importance of poor site conditions is the same as the lack of materials and lack of equipment and tools, since poor site conditions may determine whether the speed of a project is fast or slow.

The factors of “lack of equipment and tools on the market”, “poor weather conditions” and “transportation delays” are ranked third as factors that cause delays in construction projects. This finding implies that climatic conditions are considered an important factor that causes delays in construction projects in Malaysia. Climatic conditions can influences whether the project proceeds quickly or slowly. Singh and Huat (2003) argued that construction projects offer the opportunity to incorporate

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climatic factors into the building system. Consequently, it is necessary to carry out multidisciplinary research that extends into the relationship between people and the environment, specific studies of building types, and incorporating architectural history and heritage. This implies that the environment is a very important factor in construction projects.

Transportation delays are also considered an important external factor that causes delay in construction projects. Transportation is a very crucial condition that should be on time in projects. It is the factor responsible for the transportation of the materials, equipment, and tools that are needed in projects, and in this study, it is ranked third.

Moreover, the factors “external work due to public agencies (roads, utilities and public services)” and “poor economic conditions (currency, inflation rate, etc.)” are considered as the next ranked external factors that cause delay in construction projects. They were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively. This finding can be understood since the “external work due to public agencies (roads, utilities and public services)” and “poor economic conditions (currency, inflation rate, etc.)” are not to be considered to be an issue in Malaysia. This implies that the laws and regulations are not the major factors that cause delays in construction projects. This is due to the Malaysian Government, which has created a very conducive environment for investment. Recent Malaysian Government policies have made the country an attractive place for investors. The Government has been very supportive and responsive in its pro-business policies and liberal investment policies. Malaysia also offers a wide range of tax incentives projects under the Promotion of Investment Act 1986 and Income Tax 1967.

This condition is supported by the fact that “poor economic conditions” and “changes in laws and regulations” were ranked sixth.

Ranking the top ten factors causing delay in construction projects and the responsibilities Table V presents the result of analysis of the items of the general factors that cause delay in construction projects in Malaysia. A total of 31 factors causing delay in

Factors Mean SD Ranking Responsible

Financial difficulties and economic problems 1.26 0.44 1 Owner Financial problems 1.44 0.68 2 Contractor Supervision too late and slowness in making decisions

1.62 0.61 3 Consultant

Slow to give instructions 1.63 0.74 4 Consultant Lack of materials on market 1.63 0.76 4 External Poor site management 1.67 0.75 5 Contractor Materials shortages on site 1.67 0.75 5 Contractor Construction mistakes and defective work 1.71 0.69 6 Contractor Delay in delivery of materials to site 1.73 0.73 7 Contractor Slowness in making decisions 1.78 0.83 8 Owner Lack of consultant’s experience 1.79 0.71 9 Consultant Incomplete documents 1.81 0.76 10 Consultant

Table V. Ranking of the top ten factors causing delay in construction projects

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construction projects, grouped into four categories by responsibility, were ranked according to the ranking of their mean values. Table V presents only the top ten factors and their rankings. It is clear from Table V that in terms of responsibility for delays, contractors are the first-ranked cause, followed by consultants, owners, and finally external factors.

Though this finding seems to be different from that of Al-Khalil and Al-Ghafly (1999), who determined who was responsible for delaying public utility projects in Saudi Arabia. In their study, the owner of the project was ranked first, followed the contractor and consultant. This may be due to the different kinds of projects and the different conditions in each country. But this finding is in line with the study conducted by Odeh and Battaineh (2002), which found that both contractors and consultants were ranked as the main factors that cause delays in construction. The consultant side is mainly concerned with technical factors such as inadequate contractor experience, delays caused by subcontractors and improper planning, while contractors are more concerned with managerial and operational issues such as site management and construction methods.

In this study, the contractor can be considered as being mainly responsible for factors that results in the delay of construction projects. Five of the top ten factors that cause delay in construction projects are the contractor’s responsibility. For example, the factor “financial problems” had a mean value of 1.44 and was ranked second, while the “shortage of materials” was ranked fifth. “Poor site management” was ranked fifth, “construction mistakes and defective works” was ranked sixth and “delay in the delivery of materials to site” was ranked seventh.

Moreover, the respondents’ response is that the second component causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia is due to consultant factors. Consultant’s responsibility contributes to about four factors of the top ten factors that cause delay in construction projects. The factors “supervision too late: slowness in decision making” and “slow to give instructions” were ranked third and fourth, while the factor “lack of consultant’s experience” was ranked ninth, and the factor “incomplete documents” was ranked tenth.

The third factor causing delay in construction projects is due to owner’s responsibility. “Financial difficulties”, for example, was ranked first, whereas “slowness in decision making” was ranked eighth. Even though only one of the external factors affects delay in construction projects, it is ranked first among the top ten problems. Finally, the last factor that causes delay in construction projects comes from external factors. Only one factor – “lack of materials on the market” – can be considered as a factor causing delay in construction projects.

Turning to the overall ranking results from the data analysis, the findings of this study are the same as the those Frimpong and Oluwoye (2003), who determined that financial problems are the main factor that affects delays in the construction of groundwater project in Ghana. In the present study, financial problems seem to be the first major factor causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia.

Co-ordination problems are the second important factor that causes delay in construction projects, followed by the materials problem such as the ones shown by

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Frimpong and Oluwoye (2003). Plant equipment is considered an important factor that causes delay in construction projects.

Conclusion The important issue focused on in this study is the delay of construction projects. Since delays are considered to be a serious problem in the construction industry for both owners and constructors, this study examines the factors that cause delay in construction projects in Malaysia. The results of the analysis show that from a total of 31 variables examined, separated into four categories by responsibility, the major factors causing delay in construction projects are factors due to the contractor, followed by factors due to the consultant, factors due to the owner, and finally external factors. The main finding of this study is that the financial factor is the most influencing factor in causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia. Coordination problems are considered the second important factor causing delay in construction projects, followed by materials problems.

Further examination of factors causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia based on four categories – contractor, consultant, owner, and external factors – the study shows that on the contractor’s side, financial problems are the major factor in delaying construction projects. Poor site management and, as a consequence, construction mistakes, delay in the delivery of materials to the site, and coordination problem were the subsequent factors causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia. The next most important factors causing delay in construction projects in Malaysia come from the labour side, and finally the contractor’s side, summarized by “lack of subcontractor’s skills” and “lack of site contractor’s staff”.

This study also shows that the main factor on the owner’s side causing delay in construction projects is financial problems. The management ability of the project’s owner is the second important factor causing delay in construction projects. From the consultant’s side, the first component that seems to be the cause of delay in construction projects is ineffective or lack of supervision, followed by “slowness in giving instructions”and“lackofconsultant’sexperience”.Weaknessinconsultantmanagement is the next most important factor that causes delay in construction projects.

Finally, the most important external factor causing delay in construction projects is lack of materials and lack equipment and tools. The next most important factor is poor site conditions (location, ground, etc.), followed by a lack of equipment and tools on the market, poor weather conditions and transportation delays.

Recommendation Based on the findings and discussions of the study, it is recommended that financial support and technical support are a very necessary and urgent step for construction investments, since the results of the analysis show that financial problems are the major factor causing delay in construction projects. Technical support is also necessary since the study shows that coordination problems are the second major factor causing delays in construction projects in Malaysia.

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About the authors Wa’el A. Moghni Al-Aghbari obtained a BSc in Architectural Engineering in 1995. He has worked as a Lecturer in the Architecture Department, Engineering Faculty, Sana’a University, Yemen. He obtaied a MSc in Project Management in 2005. Currently he is a PhD Candidate in Architecture Studies, Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia. Wa’el A. Moghni Al-Aghbari is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Mohd. Razali Abdul Kadir is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Housing Research Center (HRC), Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia.

Azizah Salim is an Associate Professor. She is also Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Design and Architecture, University Putra Malaysia.

Ernawati is a post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Economics and Management, University Putra Malaysia.

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