BUSN20016 Research Proposal: Construction Delays & Cost Overruns

This research proposal investigates the causes of construction delays in India and their impact on project costs. The proposal includes a problem statement highlighting the prevalence and negative consequences of construction delays, particularly cost overruns. The research aims to identify the factors responsible for delays, analyze their relative importance, and propose mitigation strategies. Objectives include examining delays caused by owners, contractors, location effects, schedule modifications, and slow decision-making, using the Relative Importance Index (RII) to determine root causes. The study justifies its importance by addressing the financial losses and disputes arising from delays, contributing theoretically by determining root causes, and practically by helping construction professionals manage factors affecting project completion time and cost. The conceptual framework reviews literature on time delays, project disputes, delays in large construction projects, cost overruns, and the impact of poor decision-making. The proposal also outlines the research methodology, including data collection methods, analysis tools, and a project budget and schedule. The target respondents of this study will include the construction site engineers and project managers.

Research Proposal

Contents
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................3
Research aim, objectives and research questions.......................................................................4
Justification and Possible Output of the Research Project.........................................................4
Conceptual Framework..............................................................................................................6
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................9
Research Strategy.....................................................................................................................10
Organisation of the Study, Project Budget and Schedule........................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

Problem Statement
Construction delays are one of the major concerns in the construction world. Delays can be
referred to as an events or acts that increase the overall time needed to perform the tasks of
the contract in a specified period of time. (Arya & Kansal, 2016). Delays are characterized by
additional days of work or starting the activities. The delays in construction are also be
referred to as the time taken to complete construction project beyond estimated completion
date specified in contract or date agreed by parties involved in the contract. Project delays are
the project slipping over the scheduled plan and is one of the major concerns of the
construction project (Thorat, Khandare, & Kanase, 2017). When a construction project is
delayed the parties involved in the construction project have to bear huge losses as the
planning and activities have to be postponed which results in cost overruns. The construction
delays have a negative impact on the parties that are involved in the project such as the
contractors, consultants and clients. There is a huge financial loss for the customers and there
is a loss of profit for the contractors involved in the project because of high overhead costs. It
has been reported by the Indian Government that 251 out of 782 construction projects in
India are delayed with a time overrun of 1 to 261 months (Rathod & Dhall, 2017).
In this research, the focus will be on identifying the reasons behind construction delays in
India along the effects of the delay on the completion cost. This study attempts to overcome
the gap in the research by determining the different factors that are responsible for delays in
the construction project along with impact of delays on the cost of the project. The target
respondents of this study will include the construction site engineers and project managers.
Construction in India has significantly increased and the issue of delays in the projects has
also increased. Therefore, it is important to determine root cause of these delays so that each
factor can be addressed. The time and cost of a construction project have a parallel
relationship, as the time for the project will increase, cost of the project will also increase

(Fugar & Agyakwah-Baah, 2010). It is crucial to control and monitor the time taken by the
projects to complete so as to control the cost of the construction project.
Research aim, objectives and research questions
The aim of this project is to determine the causes of delays in the construction projects in
India along with their impact on the cost of the project.
In this context, the objectives of the research are as a follows:
 Objective 1: To find the problems related to the delays caused by owners,
contractors, location effects, modifications in the schedule or plan, and slow decision
making.
 Objective 2: To determine and analyze the main reasons of the problem stated above
with R.I.I factor calculation.
 Objective 3: To propose solution that can mitigate the problems listed in the above
objective.
The major research questions for this research are as follows:
Research question 1: What are the factors responsible for delays in the construction projects
in India?
Research question 2: What is the main reason of delays in the construction projects in India?
Research question 3: How can the problem of delays be mitigated?
The above listed research objectives and questions will help in providing a direction to the
research.
Justification and Possible Output of the Research Project
This research project focuses on determining the causes related to delays in the construction
project. Delays are insidious in nature and result in cost overruns, disputes, abandonment of

the projects etc. The delays of construction projects in India are a major concern that needs to
be addressed. The delay inconstruction projects causes huge financial losses. This study is
important in terms of determining the causes and root cause of the delays in the construction
project. The findings of this study will help the contractors, project managers and project
engineers involved in the construction projects to manage the factors that have a direct effect
on the completion time of the project. There are a number of studies that have highlighted
multiple reasons of delays in the construction projects; there are however few studies that
focus on determining the root causes of the delays in the projects (Braimah, 2013). This study
is therefore theoretically important as it will determine the root causes of the delays with the
help of the Relative Importance Index (RII). RII is one ranking technique that helps in
determining the root cause of the delays in the construction project. RII will help in
determining the relative importance of the factors that contribute in the delays of the
construction project (Megha & Rajiv, 2013).This study will be one of the major contributions
in the area of delays in construction. Practically this research will help a number of
professionals involved in the construction projects who are constantly concerned about the
cost overruns caused by the delayed project (Frimpong, Oluwoye, & Crawford, 2003).The
causes determined in this study will help reducing the expenses of the projects along with the
overall cost by helping the professionals determine the areas that are leading to the overrun.
The project managers, contractors and engineers can then focus on addressing each cause of
the project delay individually. This research will be a highly potential research in terms of
determining the impact of factors such as delays caused by owners, contractors, location
effects, slow decision making and changes in the schedule or plan on the time and cost
overruns. Once the root cause of the delays in the construction projects is determined it will
help in solving the issue of delays in the construction projects.

Conceptual Framework
Time delay and project dispute
It has been seen that many times due to several reasons a delay is experienced while
completing a construction project. There are different types of delays in a construction project
like delay because of the owner, or delay due to the contractor. Delays due to the owner are
excusable, whereas,delays because of the contractor are inexcusable. Some delays are
concurrent in nature and occur in almost every construction project (Hamzah, Khoiry,
Arshad, Tawil, & Ani, 2011). In order to deal with such delays, proper decision making is
required on part of the contractor. Project delays are also categorized on the basis that if the
delay causes a shift in the project completion date, it is considered as a critical delay,
whereas, when the project completion date is not extended because of any delay then it is
considered as a non critical delay (Salunkhe & Patil, 2014). Twana Ahmed in his article has
mentioned that labour as well as legal disputes also pose serious impacts on the finishing of
the project on time. According to the research conducted by the author it was found that
labour disputes as well as strikes were one of the major causes behind the delay of road
construction projects. Legal disputes sometimes require penalties in order to settle the manner
affecting the budget of the project and also on the completion time of the construction project
(Ahmed, 2015).
Delay in large construction
The research conducted by Assaf and Al-Hejji has concluded that there are more than 50 to
60 causes for the delay of large construction projects. The authors have concluded that some
of the common causes for the delay in large construction projects include owner’s excessive
involvement, poor performance of the contractors, improper planning as well as design of the
project. Making amendments or changes in the design of the project is also considered one of
the major reasons behind large construction project delays. Financial constraint is also one

reasons behind the delay of projects. Getting approval from the owner also requires certain
time and at times because of a delay from theowner’s side, effectsare seen on the completion
of the project. Gaining work permit is a time consuming process and at times this takes a lot
of time, resulting in delayed construction project. Also, improper communication is a major
reason which is listed in very few research works. Delays in decision making is reflected on
the completion of the construction specific project as the time of completing the project is
usually extended (Assaf & Al-Hejji, 2006). According to the survey conducted by Chan and
Kumaraswamy, in order to know the causes of delays in construction projects of Hong Kong,
it was found that poor risk management as well as poor supervisory activities were the major
reasons behind the delayed construction projects in the country. Work variations as well as
variations initiated by the owners are also major causes of large scale construction project
delays (Chan & Kumaraswamy, 1997).
Delay due to cost overruns
Delay due to cost overruns is occurred more frequently as compared to time overruns
according to Kaming. The main reasons that cause cost overruns mentioned by the authors
include an increase in material cost due to inflation. Another reason mentioned was related to
improper estimation of the material cost or material required estimation. Also, the degree of
complexity is also considered as one of the reasons behind cost overruns. Cost
overrunsadverselyimpact the construction project hence, efforts should be invested in order to
reduce cost overruns (Kaming, Olomolaiye, Holt, & Harris, 2010). One other research work
has also mentioned that cost overruns is the most common issue that is being found for
causing the delay of construction projects. The research has mentioned that unpredictable
weather conditions along with poor planning also add to cost overruns. Design changes as
well as fluctuation in the prices of construction material are also important reasons behind
cost overruns. It is very essential to have detailed knowledge of the problems that can be

faced in a construction project and future planning needs to be done in order to avoid such
situations and its impact on the finishing of the construction project (Shah, 2016).
Delay due to poor decision making
Decision plays a key role in the construction project. Decisions are required to be taken for
the smallest to the most complex issues and the decision to deal with such issues decides the
future of the project. Decision making starts from the very first step, hence, it is said that
decision making has a great role to play in deciding the completion time of the project (Toor
& Ogunlana, 2008). Proper decision making can eliminate many risks before starting the
project as well as during the project, proper decision making helps to deal with the issue
quickly and reduce its negative impacts. Poor decision making has an impact on the financial
budget of the project as the estimates may be wrong or the process selected may not be
supportive enough. This may result in a delay in the completion of the project. Hence, it can
be said that decision making is related to the completion of the construction related project
and hence it is very important to stay focused and take effective decisions so that delays can
be avoided in the completion of the projects (Alsendi, 2015). Slow decision making is also
equally liable for delays in the construction projects. Hence quick decision making is an
important attribute that should be present in the contractor of the project (Arantes, Silva, &
Ferreira, 2015). It has been seen that due to poor or delayed decision making on part of the
owners, a considerable delay is experienced in the construction of the project (Civitello &
Locher, 2002; Daba & Pitroda, 2018). Many commonly occurring issues as well as
unidentified issues arise in front of the contractor. It is the responsibility of the contractor to
be ready with the solutions related to common issues whereas, being quick in taking
decisions related to unexpected issues, only then can success be achieved on time as well as
according to the estimated budget (Tafazzoli, 2017).

Research Methodology
Primary versus secondary research
Primary research is the one in which the first hand data or the original data is collected by a
researcher using data collection tools such as interviews and focus groups. The primary
research that will be done in this research will help in addressing the specific objectives of the
research. The secondary research is the one in which the data from other sources is collected
by the research. The secondary research that will be conducted in this research will help in
building a conceptual framework of the theoretical background for thestudy. Moreover,
secondary research will be used in this study to determine the causes of delays that have been
running since decades.
Data collection tools
 Primary research
Questionnaire – Questionnaire is one widely used data collection toolfor the primary data.
Questionnaire can be defined as a set of questions related with a specific objective. The
questionnaire will be used for collecting the responses of the respondents regarding their
experience with the delays in the project. This data collection tool will help in collecting the
data from a large number of respondents in a limited time. (Long, 2014)
Delay in
Construction
Projects
Poor Decision
Making
Cost Overruns Improper
Communication
Gaining Work
Permit

Interviews – Interviews can be defined as face to face or telephonic interactions in
context of a specific objective. In this research interviews will be conducted with the
project managers, project engineers and contractors. The interviews will help in
determining the causes in detail.
 Secondary research
The secondary research in this study will be conducted with the help of peer reviews and
journal articles along with reports and books. These sources will help in gaining a large
amount of data for the research which can be further analyzed so as to determine the causes
and impact of the project delays on the cost of the project. (Kulkarni & Pavan, 2014)
Qualitative versus quantitative research
Qualitative research is the research in which an exploratory research is done. This type of
research helps in understanding the opinions, behaviors, motivations and reasons behind
certain phenomenon or problems. The qualitative research helps in gaining a deep insight of
the problem or developing the hypothesis or ideas for the same. (Daniel, 2016). Quantitative
research on the other hand is the research that involves numbers or numerical data that can be
transformed into statistics. In this research both the qualitative and quantitative researches
have been used, the qualitative research will help in exploring the views of past researchers
and respondents in detail. The quantitative research will help in quantifying the opinions and
attitudes of the respondents along with understanding the reasons of delay with statistical
data. (Pavan & Kulkarni, 2014).
Research Strategy
There are different types of research strategies from which the researchers can choose for the
research. The research strategy is chosen according to the research topic. In this research the
explanatory research will be used for achieving the objectives of the research or determine

the causes of delays in the construction project. (Fishe & Ziviani, 2016). In this research,
explanatory research will be conducted and the focus will be on explaining the causes of
delays in the construction projects in India. The explanatory research strategy will be used in
this research because it is essential to explain the causes of the project delays before
determining the root cause of the problem and its impact on the cost of the projects.
Explanatory research helps in properly acknowledging the ideas that are essential for
determining the causes of the delays in the construction projects.
Organisation of the Study, Project Budget and Schedule
This study will be divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction; The first chapter of this research will focus on introducing the
research topic by explaining the problem of construction project delays in India. This section
will also focus on the research aim, objectives and questions that are important in terms of
providing a direction to the research.
Chapter 2 – This chapter will focus on highlighting the past studies that have been done in
the context of determining the causes of delays in a construction project. There are a number
of studies that have been done in this area, in order to effectively understand the causes and
impacts of project delays it is essential to explore the previous studies.
Chapter 3 – In this chapter the methodology used in the research will be discussed in detail.
It is important to define the methodology of the research. The focus will be on elements such
as the type of the research, research strategy, data collection tools, sample design of the
research.
Chapter 4 –In this chapter the data analysis will be done using statistical techniques. The
Relative Importance Index will be used in this research so as to rank the causes and determine
the root cause of the problem.

Chapter 5 –This chapter will present the major findings of the research. The findings from
both primary and secondary research will be presented in this chapter.
Chapter 6 – This is the last chapter of the research which will conclude the research along
with discussion of the findings.
Budget of the research
This research will require funds for different phases; total budget of the project is 10,000 Rs.
The breakdown of the budget is presented below:
Activity Cost (in AUD)
Data Collection 5000
Other direct costs 2000
Project costs 3000
Total cost 10,000
The above table shows that there are three major costs associated with this research. The data
collection involves a cost of AUD 5000, because many journal articles have to be purchased
for this research. Other costsinclude the cost of travelling for gaining the responses of the
respondents using questionnaires and interviews. Lastly the total budget of the research will
include costs such as the cost of printing and formatting.
Project Schedule
References