Causes of Delays in Construction Projects in Turkey

426 Copyright © 2012 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press Technika
www.tandfonline.com/TCEM
JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
ISSN 1392-3730 print/ISSN 1822-3605 online
2012 Volume 18(3): 426–435
doi:10.3846/13923730.2012.698913
CAUSES OF DELAYS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN TURKEY
Aynur Kazaz1, Serdar Ulubeyli2, Nihan Avcioglu Tuncbilekli3
1, 3Civil Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Akdeniz University, 07058 Antalya, Turkey
2Civil Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Bulent Ecevit University, 67100 Zonguldak, Turkey
E-mails: [e-mail] (corresponding author); [e-mail];
[e-mail]
Received 18 Aug. 2010; accepted 25 Mar. 2011
Abstract. In both developing and industrialized countries, deviation from a planned time schedule is one of the most fre-
quently encountered problems in construction investments. Various factors faced with during construction period prevent
systematic flow of work, which causes time-based anomalies as a conclusion. Considering the vital importance of the con-
struction industry on the macro-economic structure of a country, it is inevitable to be aware of considerable effect of the
timely completion on the allocated project budget. In this study, causes of time extensions in the Turkish construction in-
dustry and levels of their importance were examined together. In total, 34 factors affecting project duration were taken in-
to account. A questionnaire survey, including these factors, was then applied to 71 construction companies in Turkey, and
the outcomes were evaluated by means of statistical analyses. According to the results, “design and material changes” was
found to be the most predominant factor, followed by “delay of payments” and “cash flow problems”. In terms of im-
portance levels of factor groups, financial factors were found to be the first group, while environmental factors were the
least effective group. It should be also noted that managerial causes of time extensions are encountered in developed and
developing countries, whereas financial causes are experienced in developing countries only.
Keywords: delay, time extension, construction projects, Turkey.
1. Introduction
Time extensions are very serious and chronic problems in
construction projects (Kazaz, Ulubeyli 2009). The late
completion of a project results in the overrun of the con-
struction budget allocated at project inception as well as
the delay of the potential income that could be obtained
with the operation of the constructed facility. Similarly,
the early completion of a project likely causes cost exten-
sion due to complications of overstaffing. Although some
changes in a time schedule can normally be made accord-
ing to client’s demands, construction projects are de-
scribed as “successful” on condition that they are com-
pleted in the planned time, budgeted cost, and specified
quality (Ritz 1994). According to Enshassi et al. (2009),
delays are one of the most important factors affecting
project performance. In practice, total project duration
may potentially go beyond the calculated limits of the
scheduled time because of the owner, contractor, subcon-
tractors, or some technical, legal, and natural difficulties.
As a common problem of the construction domain,
time extensions have been observed in many developed
and developing countries to date (Sullivan, Harris 1986;
Kaming et al. 1997; Long et al. 2004; Lo et al. 2006; Sa-
mbasivan, Soon 2007). Similar to global construction in-
dustries, time-based overruns have been frequently expe-
rienced in the Turkish construction sector as well (Arditi
et al. 1985). Therefore, the objectives of the study are:
− to determine factors that cause time extensions;
− to find out how much important these factors are
in practice;
− to compare, in this respect, the current position of
Turkey with those of other countires around the
world.
2. Methodological background
For this study, related literature was initially reviewed to
expose possible delay factors in construction projects
(Kazaz, Tuncbilekli 2009; Tuncbilekli 2009). In total, 49
factors were gathered. These factors were then investigat-
ed by interviewing with representatives of members of
TCA (Turkish Contractors Association) face to face to
reveal whether the factors have been observed in the
Turkish construction sector. This sample group was cho-
sen since it is an accepted list of contractors within the
Turkish construction industry. The member firms of TCA
perform approximately 70% of total investments made in
Turkey, and they have undertaken 90% of the work done
abroad in the field of construction. There are 149 contrac-
tor companies, and 71 (47.65%) of them positively re-
sponded to the survey request. The number of companies
interviewed (n = 71) is called as “large sample size” and
statistically adequate (n ≥ 30) to represent the whole.
After the first questionnaire survey, a total of 34 fac-
tors remained. In other words, 15 factors were eliminated

Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 2012, 18(3): 426–435 427
since each one of them could be represented by a similar
or more comprehensive one among 34 factors. For
example, “heavy rain” and “flooding” were removed
from the factor list in favor of “adverse weather condi-
tions”. At the second round of the questionnaire survey,
importance levels of these 34 factors were asked to the
representatives of 71 contractors. Of these industrial pra-
ctitioners, 55.6% were project managers and 44.4% were
site managers. In terms of their professional backgrounds,
48.9% have experience more than 10 years, 13.3% have
been working for 6−10 years in the industry, 26.7% have
been working for 2−5 years, and 11.1% have experience
less than 2 years. Respondents’ titles and work
experiences are critical issues in evaluating outcomes of
this survey, since they directly influence the reliability
and validity of research results.
In the analysis of the data obtained in the second su-
rvey, the relative importance index (RII) technique was
employed. In this method, the following equation was
used:
5
1
5
1
i i
i
i
i
a x
I
x
=
=
⋅
=
∑
∑
,
where: I shows the relative importance index and i indi-
cates the index of answer category, such as 1 (not im-
portant), 2 (somewhat important), 3 (important), 4 (very
important), and 5 (extremely important). In the numera-
tor, ai represents the numerical value of answer of the
related i, changing between 0 and 4 (i = 1 → ai = 0; i = 2
→ ai = 1; i = 3 → ai = 2; i = 4 → ai = 3; i = 5 → ai = 4),
and xi denotes the frequency of the related answer of i in
total answers given to i. The concluding intervals of nu-
merical values obtained in the analysis are presented in
Table 1.
Table 1. Resultant index intervals
Not
important
Somewhat
important Important Very
important
Extremely
important
0.00−0.80 0.81−1.60 1.61−2.40 2.41−3.20 3.21−4.00
3. Research findings
In this study, 34 factors that cause time overruns in con-
struction projects were gathered under 7 factor groups.
These were classified as follows.
Environmental factors:
− adverse weather conditions;
− geological problems;
− site location and layout;
− work accidents.
Financial factors:
− cash flow problems;
− contractor’s financial problems;
− delay of payments;
− fluctuation in material prices;
− inflation.
Labor-based factors:
− construction defects;
− poor labor productivity;
− shortage of skilled workers.
Managerial factors:
− conflicts between the parties in site;
− contract related disputes;
− contractor’s excessive work load;
− design and material changes;
− estimation problems;
− lack of contractor’s experience;
− manager-worker relations;
− poor coordination between the parties in site;
− poor quality control;
− poor site management.
Owner-based factors:
− bureaucracy;
− management faults.
Project-based factors:
− lack of feasibility studies;
− old construction methods;
− poor maintenance of works, materials, and
equipment;
− project scale;
− rarely used construction methods.
Resource-based factors:
− improper material selection;
− material storage problems;
− poor material management;
− poor resource productivity;
− transportation problems of resources.
Considering the views of participants, the most pre-
dominant ten causes of time overruns out of 34 factors
were determined as can be seen in Table 2. The first five
factors were described as “very important”, alerting the
industry considerably against to the time extension threat.
Three of them belong to financial factors, and this shows
that the main notion behind the endemic timing problem
in the sector depends largely on economic conditions of
owners and contractors. Overall, the most significant
factor was found to be “design and material changes”,
followed by “delay of payments”, “cash flow problems”,
“contractor’s financial problems”, and “poor labor
productivity”, respectively.
Financial factors include five items of which rela-
tive importance values are shown in Fig. 1. Among them,
“delay of payments”, “cash flow problems”, “contractor’s
financial problems”, and “fluctuation in material prices”
were ranked second, third, fourth, and tenth in the general
standing, respectively. Although “inflation” is the 16th
factor, it was also described as “important”, such as “fluc-
tuation in material prices”. The first three factors were
found out as “very important” causes of time overruns
and are closely connected with each other. Cash flow
problem of an owner may probably cause delay of month-
ly progress payments that will be made to the main con-
tractor. Thus, this owner-based monetary problem

A. Kazaz et al. Causes of delays in construction projects in Turkey428
Table 2. The top ten causes of time extensions
Factor Groups Factors Rank Importance Level
Managerial factors Design and material changes 1 Very important
Financial factors Delay of payments 2 Very important
Financial factors Cash flow problems 3 Very important
Financial factors Contractor’s financial problems 4 Very important
Labor-based factors Poor labor productivity 5 Very important
Managerial factors Estimation problems 6 Important
Project-based factors Lack of feasibility studies 7 Important
Labor-based factors Construction defects 8 Important
Labor-based factors Unbalanced number of workers 9 Important
Financial factors Fluctuation in material prices 10 Important
directly and negatively affects contractors’ financial
strengths. Similarly, inflation and the constant increase of
material prices are the other two factors having a close
relationship. This connection can be explained by the fact
that unstable inflation likely has a great effect on material
prices. In reality, the first three factors in this group indi-
cate budget problems in the project-level, whereas the last
two factors denote financial matters in the country-level.
However, it is evident that overrun-based financial prob-
lems in construction projects essentially arise from pri-
vate owners and public institutions, and to some extent,
from general contractors. It can also be claimed that a
country’s financial atmosphere has indirect impact on the
time extension issue of a construction investment. These
arguments clearly point out that a sound time planning
and projection is not made by the parties in a project, and
that owners are not utilized professional project manage-
ment services and consultants.
There are three labor-based factors, and their index
values and importance levels are illustrated in Fig. 2.
“Poor labor productivity”, “construction defects”, and
“unbalanced number of workers” were located in the
fifth, eighth, and ninth rank of the general standing, re-
spectively. Of them, the first one was called “very im-
portant”, while the others were “important” causes of
time overruns. Considering that the entire constuction
trades are almost totally performed by workers during the
erection phase, it is obvious how much important labor
productivity, the number of workers, and the quality of
workmanship are. A low level of worker productivity
may probably result in activity-based time extension, and
thus, delay of total project duration. In addition, lack of
concentration of workforce can lead to the defected and
poor quality production. Defected works, in turn, cause
rework and the loss of time, money, and motivation. On
the other hand, the number of workers is essential to bal-
ance the capacity allocated for the project. Sudden and
large variations in this capacity can have negative effects
on the adaptation process of crews to each other, and
thereby on their productivities. In this context, labor-
based factors such as poor productivity, poor workman-
ship, and poor human resources planning can be per-
ceived as bad signs of the Turkish construction sector.
Fig. 1. Relative importance of financial factors
Fig. 2. Relative importance of labor-based factors
Fig. 3. Relative importance of managerial factors
As can be seen in Fig. 3, “design and material chang-
es” was found to be the most significant factor both in ten
managerial factors and in the general ranking. It is also the