Causes and Effects of Variation Orders in Construction Projects

The provided content discusses the causes of variation orders in the construction industry, with a focus on Nigeria. The articles explore various aspects of project management, including project variation management, evaluation of construction projects under engineering variation, and the impact of internal vs. external customers on variation. Other topics include spatio-temporal variation of stream-aquifer interaction, understanding the effect of variation in production systems, and severity of variation order factors affecting construction project performance. The content aims to provide insights into the causes and effects of variation orders in the Nigerian construction industry.

Qualitative Assignment
Client causes of variation in construction projects in United Arab Emirates

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research Background..................................................................................................................2
Research Problem........................................................................................................................3
Research Aim...............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................4
Research Scope............................................................................................................................4
Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Conceptual Framework................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
The paper will be focused towards understanding the client cause of variation in the construction
projects in the United Arab Emirates. This aspect has gained prominence in the various project
activities in the country and most of the associated parties seem very much impacted, particularly
owner, consultants, and the contractors. This has created certain risks and loss of time and the
money. The paper will try to delve deeper into this area and would try to come up with certain
solutions. As per United Arab Emirates is concerned, it is the combination of seven states in
total. The country is ruled by the Supreme Council of Rulers. The seven emirates of the country
are Abu Dhabi, Um al-Qaywayn, Fujayrah, Sharjah, Ajman, Dubai, and Ra’s al-Khayma. The
country’s economy is mostly oil run – almost 90 percent of the economy is driven by oil and gas
production Moreover there are numerous construction projects going on in the country ranging
from civil construction to building various architectures. The government is oriented towards
investing in various civil construction projects which will eventually improve the condition of
the country in the long run. These civil construction projects have been confronted with
numerous small and big issues concerned with either managing them effectively or providing
fund from the private investors. The sub-sections ahead will detail the research areas and the
reasoning behind the consideration of the same.
Research Background
The presence of variation in construction projects seems almost an evitable aspect which have
usually impacted the associated individuals with the project, particularly, owner, consultants, and
the contractors. The variation is referred to the difference between the time when certain activity
or project was to be initiated and the actual commencement of the project. There are multiple

tasks within the civil construction projects which needs attention. Moreover each of the activities
related to the project need to be finished before the commencement of the further projects. This
is where the role of the three important individuals – owner, consultants, and the contractors –
comes into play. Moreover, the presence of risks in the project becomes prevalent when the risk
management team fails to coordinate effectively with the employees who are not expert in the
construction projects.
Research Problem
It has been observed that the construction project cannot progress effectively if the coordination
between the owner, consultants, and the contractors are proper. Some of the situations directly
blame the client for the variation for the construction projects. Moreover, this situation leads to
certain associated risks with the construction project.
One can witness the limited study that has been conducted in towards understanding the cause of
variation in the construction project, and specifically which is associated with the client side.
Identification of the cause for such problem is an important aspect to ensure the construction
projects progress seamlessly. Sighting this situation, this paper will be considering various
aspects of the cause of variations in the construction projects and would try to understand the
level of involvement of owner, consultants, and the contractors towards the variation.
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to understand the cause of variation in the construction projects in the
United Arab Emirates. During the assessment of the research aim, the major focus will be kept
towards the civil engineering.

Research Objectives
There are certain research objectives that have been identified for this research. These research
objectives will guide the whole research progress and the analysis. Mentioned below are the
research objectives that have been identified for this project:
- Understanding the main reasons or the causes of variations in the construction project
(specific towards the civil engineering projects)
- Understanding the factors that are the most prevalent towards creating the variations
- Understanding the impact of these causes on the construction project (specifically
oriented towards the civil engineering projects)
- Identification of the strategies that can be adopted to ensure that less variations occur in
the construction projects (specifically oriented towards the civil engineering projects)
Research Scope
The scope of the research would help the researcher in understanding the premise within which
the research needs to be conducted and the areas that need not be considered during the research.
Mentioned below are some of the research scopes in relation to this research:
- To utilize the previously conducted study by the researchers and the scholars to
understand the studies that have been conducted in relation to the area of the research
- To understand the research methodology that is suitable for application on this research
- To understand the types of respondents needed for the conduction of the research
- To understand the statistical tools and techniques that can be applied on the collected data
- To analyze the collected data using the statistical tools and techniques

- To reach certain conclusions that is beneficial for the industry and other researchers in
general
- To recommend ways to improve the problems related to variations in the construction
projects.
Research Questions
The research questions for this project will help the researcher in conducting and guiding the
research ahead. The research being conducted will try to understand the answer to these research
questions. It is possible that some of the research questions would be answered through the
qualitative research and some of them would need quantitative analysis. Mentioned below are the
research questions related to the research topic:
- What are the causes of variations in the construction projects particularly in relation to
the civil engineering?
- What are the factors that are the most prevalent towards creating the variations in the
construction projects?
- What are the impacts of these causes on the construction project?
- What are the strategies that can be adopted to ensure that fewer variations occur in the
construction projects?
The next chapter considers reviewing research work of the various researchers who have
conducted the study in relation to this research topic. A conceptual framework has been
developed based on the study. Moreover, this research will be taken further by understanding the
various research methodologies that are suitable for this research. The application of statistical

tools and techniques on the collected research data will be followed by the conclusions and
recommendations that can be applicable to the construction industry.
Literature Review
This section discusses the theoretical aspect of the research topic by following through the
various researches.
The project management that is concerned with the construction projects has witnessed
numerous variations and now one expects the variations to be an integral part of any construction
project. Variations refer to the difference in the scope, time or budget of the project from the
actual and what was planned in the beginning. John further defines the variation as the
alternation or modification that occurs in a project that needs to be completed by the assigned
contractor (Sears et al, 2015). It can be stated from the study of the various researches that the
variations are not limited to certain aspect of the construction project. It can be observed in
abundance in almost all aspect of the construction project. The initiation of the construction
project from developing the project objectives and scope to the project completion, one can
observe variety of variations. Another way to define the project variation is “the work situation
that has deviated from what it was meant in the beginning”.
There are three main players who drive the construction project, namely, owner, consultants, and
the contractors. The owner refers to those who owns the whole project and has financial stakes in
the construction project. The consultants are those who act as a bridge between the owner and
the contractor (Memon et al, 2014)). The consultants help the contractor understand the
requirement of the project from the owner’s point of view and get the job done on time. The
contractors are those who undertake the various activities within the project. It has been

identified that there exists various contractual issues or the risks that concerns the stakeholders.
The risks associated with the construction projects are either points towards the owner,
consultants, or the contractors (Mubarak, 2015). All these stakeholders impact the level of
variations within the project in some way or the other.
The reason behind the occurrence of variations can be pointed towards the change in the terms
brought on the paper in the beginning of the project. The subsequent changes in the terms and
conditions related to the project – if there was no mention of expected changes in the future –
impact the level of variations (Walker, 2015). The initiation of the changes can be from any of
the associated parties; it can be from the owners, consultants or the contractors. The cause of the
change within the project can be anything however it has been classified into three divisions,
namely, originator, impact on scope, and procedural. The cause that is brought in by the
originator comes when there is some design change, or change in the fabrication. The changes in
the designs are normally induced by the owners (Alzahrani and Emsley, 2013). The owners
either change their mind to introduce some new design into the project or the owner wants to
omit some errors that occurred while presenting the design to the other stakeholders in the
beginning. The second cause is associated with the impact of the change on the scope. The
variations generally lead to either subtraction of some scope areas or the addition of the scope
areas. In some cases, the scope varies due to the rework that comes up based on the quality of the
work done by the contractor. The third area of cause is the change in the procedures adapted to
for the construction project (Sudmant et al, 2015). It has been observed that the procedures
adopted by the contractor are not sufficient to complete the project on time and, therefore the
owners insist to either improve the procedure or change the procedure completely.

There are certain legal aspects associated with the variations in the construction project. If the
project variations have been caused by specific stakeholder that is not agreeable by the other
stakeholders, then it impacts the level of variations in the project. The legal aspects covers
selection of the right format of the contract, including the clauses where the changes are expected
in the future, documentation of the change orders (Cheng et al, 2013).
Variations are the most common element that can be observed in almost all construction projects.
The variations impact the project progress in some way or the other. The level of variation
decides whether certain project would be a failure or success. The variations lead to delay in the
project time or increase in the project cost (Hwang and Ng, 2013). Most of the researchers have
identified that the projects with frequent variations rarely finishes on time. Late material
delivery, the damaged supplies, improper planning, failure of the equipment, failure of the
supplier to turn up on time, poor fund, and the absent employees are some of the causes that lead
to the project variations (Yan and Chen, 2013; Halwatura and Ranasinghe, 2013; Guo and
Shang, 2013; Muhammad et al, 2015). Some of the researchers have identified that absence of
proper facilities on the project, work practices that are not suitable, attitude of the employees,
failure of the seniors to monitor the project, less personnel available on the construction project,
failure of the management to control the strikes, failure to make timely payment, improper
communications, and use of wrong procedures while working with the construction projects
some other reasons for the variations in the project (Hobbs and Besner, 2016; Wambeke et al,
2013; Bhadmus et al, 2015; Kang and Kim, 2016; Taroun, 2014). There are certainly some more
factors that contribute to the project variation such absence of resource, inclusion of traders that
should not be there, and the low motivation level of the employees on the construction projects

are some other cause of concerns (Ambinbaksh et al, 2013; Lindhard, 2014; Fellows and Liu,
2015; Yi and Chan, 2013; Lee et al, 2015).
Mentioned below are the factors those have been identified from the study in relation to the
construction industry:
Identified Cause of Variations Rankings of Each Cause (Expected)
Late Material Delivery 1
Damaged Supplies 2
Improper Planning 3
Equipment Failed 4
Failure of Supplier to Turn up on time 5
Poor fund 6
Absent employees 7
Absence of facilities 8
Work Practice not suitable 9
Attitude of employees 10
Failure of seniors to monitor the project 11
Less personnel available 12
Failure to manage strikes 13
Failure to make timely payment 14
Improper communications 15
Wrong procedures 16
Absence of resource 17
Inclusion of traders that should not be there 18
Low motivation 19
Contactor failure to perform 20
Inability of contractor to make field delays 21
Untimely contractor submission 22
Engineers not of right qualification 23
Payment challenges among contractors and 24

clients
Slow order request processing 25
Project progress not under control 26
Challenging finance 27
Construction not up to the mark 28
Quality of external resources not up to the
mark
29
Safety rules not present 30
Communication not appreciable 31
Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework has been developed from the above study which will guide the study
further:
References
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