Analyzing Construction Project Delays in Melbourne, Australia

This report investigates the pervasive issue of construction delays in Melbourne, Australia, exploring the multifaceted factors that contribute to project setbacks. The study delves into various aspects, including the complexities of construction processes, economic risks, and the impact of disputes. It examines the common law framework in Australia and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, such as Dispute Review Boards (DRB), to mitigate delays. The report identifies key problems like rising project costs, capital constraints, labor shortages, reduced workplace productivity, and safety concerns. Furthermore, it analyzes the significant impacts of delays, including time and cost overruns, disputes, arbitration, and litigation. The research aims to understand the importance of delay factors, analyze the main causes, and recommend suitable strategies to reduce delays in Melbourne's construction projects. This report is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand and address the challenges of construction project management, and is available on Desklib, a platform offering past papers and solved assignments.

Running head: DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION IN MELBOURNE
Delay in Construction in Melbourne
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author Note-

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
The process of construction is an activity that is highly complex with all uncertainties like
economical, physical and financial risks (Newton, Skitmore and Love 2014). There are also
complexities that include documentation and variations complexities. Researchers of the past
stated that while a construction is going on, the risk that comes in the constructing process can
lead to any delaying factor that arises between the parties that are involved in the construction.
About 50 percent of the construction projects are delayed from 500 million projects that are held
in Australia (Al-Werikat 2017). The main requirements that lead to delaying of processes in the
construction projects are mainly based on justice and the methods are impartial and fair.
Australia has some common law regarding the construction process. For the litigation process,
the law is based on adversary system that consists of a number of statements regarding
arguments and facts that are taken forward by groups or parties that faces challenge from the
opponent parties or groups (Regan 2014). The other delaying mitigating processes involves ADR
(Alternative Dispute Resolution) which is a non-binding method which acts as a contract
between the parties that are involved in the construction. Dispute Review Board mostly known
as DB or DRB is a method known as Dispute Avoidance Procedure to mitigate different delays
that arises in the construction process (Wang et al. 2014). There are also other techniques that are
involved in mitigating the factors that delays the construction process of buildings. This process
is known as the voluntary negotiations between all the parties that are involved in the process.
The third party that is involved in the construction process assists negotiations that involve
adjudication, conciliation and meditation (Boateng, Chen and Ogunlana 2015). There are also

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adversarial approaches which are litigation and arbitration. The construction industry of
Melbourne is mainly based on the relationship with compare to all other industries. So the
solutions that leads to ADR methods which involves flexibility to mitigate the technical issues
and also preserve the relationships to minimize the adverse publicity (Hyari, El-Mashaleh and
Rababeh 2015). The attention is directed to dispute resolutions when the contract is prepared and
negotiation is done to avoid the cost of construction.
1.2 Problem Statement
The problem that lies in the construction of the Melbourne construction is mitigating the
delaying factor that arises in the construction process. There are many problems that lie behind
the delay construction of the housing projects in Melbourne. The strategies that help to mitigate
the problem that lies in housing construction of the projects in Melbourne.
1.3 Research Aim
The aim of this research is to find out the importance of all the factors that effects in
selecting the delaying methods in the city of Melbourne when they are compared with the (DRB)
Dispute Review Board and also the current delay resolution process efficiency in Melbourne.
1.4 Research Objectives
 To investigate the different types of factors associated with the delay in construction
projects.
 To analyze the major reasons behind the delay in the construction projects in Melbourne.
 To understand impacts of the delay in the construction projects in Melbourne.

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 To recommend suitable strategies for reducing the delay in construction projects in
Melbourne.
1.5 Research Questions
 Why it is important to investigate different types of factors that are associated with
delaying factors in construction projects in Melbourne?
 How to analyze the main reasons that are behind the delay in construction projects in
Melbourne?
 What are the impacts that lie in delay in construction projects in Melbourne?
 What are the recommended suitable strategies for reducing the delay in construction
projects in Melbourne?
1.6 Rationale of the Study
The issue that lies in this research is that the factors that involves in the construction
process in Melbourne. The issues that arise in construction process are mainly with the
increasing cost of the project. The cost of the project is rising tremendously in Australia which is
the main issue of the constructing sites (Adeleke¹, Bahaudin and Kamaruddeen 2015). The rising
of construction increases mainly because of the rise in cost of metals that are needed in building
process, Australian dollar value increase and also the rising in the interest rates of the loan. The
second issue that arises in construction rates is about the quality control. The quality of
construction is decreasing day by day because there is no rules and regulations which are
established by the government of Australia to maintain the best standard of quality (Sidawi and

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Al-Sudairi 2014). The issue also involves the construction sector by making the construction in
the hand of corrupt people. The corrupt people are delaying the construction projects to be
completed successfully. Giving a safety to all the laborers on the site is also a big issue problem
in Australia. The contractor does not ensure the safety of all the laborers.
These create a main issue in the construction process in Melbourne because these
delaying factors do not allow the project completion successfully. The safety of the laborers is
the main concern of all the workers in a workplace. But if that is not maintained properly then
the issue becomes big in the construction process in Melbourne.
This research paper sheds light on the methods that are used to mitigate the delaying
factors that lie in the construction process in Melbourne. The main factors that deals with the
delay of construction and to analyze the main issues that arise in the delaying the constructions
of Melbourne. This paper also elaborates the impacts that lies in the construction projects and
also sheds light on the factors that mitigate the delaying factors in the construction projects in
Melbourne.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The conflicts that lie in the process of constructing a building in Melbourne mainly come
from the difference in thinking and different ideas and interests between the parties that are
involved in the construction process. The conflicts may come from the dissatisfaction of
materials, disagreement of the contract, hostility and many more (Hwang and Ng 2013). Dispute
mainly comes after the conflicts that arise in the construction process. Disputes happen when the

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situation comes if one party rejects the assertion or claim that is made by the other party and the
rejection process is not accepted by the other party. The rise in dispute increases the delay
process of construction projects. The construction claims comes in the money form and also
claims time by contractor against project owner for time extension and also additional payment
that arise in the contract after starting the project.
2.2 Issues faced by Construction Industry
The issues that are faced by the construction industry in Melbourne are as follows:
 Cost of project increases: The rising cost of projects is one of the greatest problems that
have emerged in the industry of construction in Melbourne (Arashpour et al. 2016). The
project cost rises because of the rise in cost of metals, rise in interest rates and oil. The
efficiency of construction gets delayed by the cost increase of the materials.
 Constraints of capital supply: The amount of money that is given by contractors as a loan
to all the investors or the contractors because they face difficulty to get money from the
firms that lends money (Seppänen, Evinger and Mouflard 2014). All the services that
gives money to the contractors have lost their confidence in giving their money to the
them.
 Shortage of skilled laborers: There is a great shortage of skilled laborers that are faced by
the construction industry. The nation is not able to produce skilled professionals and
experts those who have the knowledge and ability to handle their job and maintain the
reputation of the construction (Rodrigo and Perera 2016). The number of laborers gets
fewer in Melbourne which leads an issue of delay in the construction process.

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 Workplace productivity is reduced: One of the biggest problems that Melbourne is not
able to handle is that their average working hours remains same or decreases. This results
in less productivity and less progress in the construction process (Adams 2016). Some of
the proficient worker does not have time to give extra effort and time to the construction
process to boost their productivity. This leads to less production in the construction
process.
 Safety of workers: Another problem that rises in the Melbourne construction process is
the safety of the workers who works on the site (Regan 2013). The contractors are unable
to provide safety to all the workers in terms of insurance or the number of compensation
that are claimed for the serious injuries. If also the company spends more money on
providing compensation and insurance to the workers, they are unable to provide money
in the construction process to increase its productivity (Eyiah-Botwe, Aigbavboa, and
Thwala 2015).
 Quality Control: The quality control is the most nagging issue that is faced by the
Construction industry of Australia (Albert et al. 2015). The Australian Government has
no rules and regulations that can boost the productivity of the construction process for
improving the quality of services that is provided to the customers.
2.3. The impacts that lie in delay in construction projects in Melbourne
Time overrun
Time overrun means that the contractor cannot finish the manufacturing of building in
Melbourne in time or within the contract period. The clients set the deadline for the construction
of the project, if does not get finished in time, it can be the effect of construction delay that is

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time overrun (Hay et al. 2017). The time overrun can be classified into two groups- excusable
delays and non-excusable delays. If one phase of the project gets delayed then the entire project
will get a delay. The factors may vary if the delays caused due to external or any weather
calamities then it can be considered, but if it is the fault of the contractors then they have been
ready to pay the price for this.
Cost overrun
Cost overrun occurs at the time of manufacturing of building houses in Melbourne. The
cost overrun effect generally occurs due to the faults of the contractors. The contractors make
wrong budget estimation and thus at the end the cost expenses can increase to a great extent
(Kadry, Osman and Georgy 2016). Also due to time overrun, the expenses increases, due to the
faulty manufacture the expenses also increase, the contractors must take the entire responsibility
for the cost overrun. The contractor must take the responsibility for the cost overrun
Dispute
The housing project in Melbourne can suffer from the cause of the dispute (Boateng,
Chen and Ogunlana 2015). The misunderstandings occur in between the clients and the
contractors; also a difference in opinion can because of the failure of the project. The difference
of opinion occurs among the clients, contractors and the relevant parties. The mediator must
come in between and must solve the issues; if the mediator fails they must appear to the
arbitrator (Gurmu, Aibinu and Chan 2016). If both the parties accept the decision, one of the
parties who has made the fault should pay for all the consequences.
Arbitration

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The arbitration is responsible to take the necessary decision to mitigate the
misunderstanding and the difference in opinion, if the mediator fails to solve the problems and
fights in between then arbitrator must come forward to solve the problem, must make initiatives
for the steady flow of the project (Hyari et al. 2015). Again if the arbitrator fails, then the
litigator must come forward and then he must try to solve the issues and the problems.
Litigation
If the parties are not satisfied with the arbitrator decision, they must appeal to the court
for justice (Bayram 2017). The parties must attend the trial by jury or maybe by court and issues
are represented for judging again and again, if the parties are not satisfied with the outcome they
have to find new proof or new evidence to prove their justice. If one party accepts the faults then
they have to pay the penalty (Arashpour and Arashpour 2015).
Total abandonment
Total abandonment means sudden halt in the project, the manufacturing of houses in
Melbourne may stop suddenly and this may occur due to various factors, the potential reasons
are the financial issues and the other kinds of issues may arise due to the contractor run away,
poor sales strategies and poor marketing (Shen et al. 2017). This project total abandonment may
cause harm to all the parties associated with the project like the contractors, consultant, and
suppliers (Kadry, Osman and Georgy 2016). The clients can suffer due to project abandonment.

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2.4. The recommended suitable strategies for reducing the delay in construction projects in
Melbourne
The owner must come back, should solve the issues and make strategies so that the
construction issues do not get repeated in future (Gurmu, Aibinu and Chan 2016). The
contractors must be knowledgeable about the construction of hoses in Melbourne.
The owners should remain attentive to the following aspects of the following factors-
i. The owners who are in charge of manufacturing the houses in Melbourne must pay the
contractors on time as that helps the contractors in financing the work (Burr 2016).
ii. The planning of the entire manufacturing procedure must be conducted beforehand and while
conducting the manufacturing procedures planning should not be changed and the contractors
should be allowed to continue the manufacturing procedures according to the design proposed
(Gurmu, Aibinu and Chan 2016). In this way, the time overrun and the cost overrun can be
mitigated.
iii. The resources for the project and the capabilities of the workforce must be well analysed to
avoid any mishaps or dispute affecting project delay (Choudhry 2017).
The contractors should consider the following factors-
i. The contractors must maintain the workforce. The contractors should make calculations and
should predict how many labours are required to finish the project (Arashpour et al. 2016).
ii. Via the progress payment, the contractor must manage the financial resources, via the progress
payment they must regulate the plan cash flow (Nawi et al. 2014).

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iii. The administrative staff and the administrative members must be assigned to monitor the
working of the entire project, they must notice whether the projects' partial tasks or the subtasks
are being accomplished in a proper manner or not, the project is being completed in due time or
not (Gurmu, Aibinu and Chan 2016). The management staff should look at whether the project is
going according to the budget or not. The quality of the project must be measured from time to
time (Choudhry 2017).
Consultants must focus on the following parameters-
i. The responsibility and the duty of the consultants are to review and provides and approves the
plan, design documents and development procedures (Bayram 2017).
ii. The contractors' daily activities must be monitored daily by the consultants and consultants
must be resilient in this case (Kadry, Osman and Georgy 2016).
The architect or the design engineers must be responsible for focusing on the following points
i. The architects must design must prepare and develop design documents timely (Bayram
2017).
ii. The design documents must be reviewed and must be examined to find out the flaws in the
project. If possible the documents must be reviewed carefully and mistakes must be minimized
(Hyari et al. 2015).
A project manager should be appointed and must be given the responsibility to manage
the project team members. He should be focused on solving the critical problems residing within
the system. A well-maintained project management can help to manage the costing required for
the project (Hyari, El-Mashaleh and Rababeh 2015). The skilled consultants and the contractors

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must be employees to cater the best outcome for the project, the skilled employees have the
capability to solve the problem immediately.
The contractor should carry out his duty in most efficient way, they must notice that the
project is being completed within the stipulated time and the deadline should not be missed, the
contractor should appoint extra worker to finish the task within the deadline (Kadry, Osman and
Georgy 2016).
The owner must have the monetary support to carry out the operations, if he lacks that, he
must seek support by taking bank loan (Bayram 2017).
The workers must have the sound knowledge about all the manufacturing procedures and
must focus on enhancing their skills. The contractors and the management team must enhance
knowledge and skills as that can help in accomplishing the project in quick times and the
inefficient way (Hyari et al. 2015). Thus it can increase the productivity that can benefit every
party associated with the project. Thus keeping in mind responsive training delivery system must
be developed so that they can serve well.
2.5. Gaps in the literature
To mitigate the delay in construction in Melbourne the contractors, as well as the
management team, must adopt the information technology system. The information technology
system can be helpful to control and manage the tasks well; the records can help to know the
quality and quantity flow of the products and based on that the management team, as well as the
contractors, can manage the workflow in an agile and effective manner (Hay et al. 2017).
Therefore, many flaws and errors can be mitigated.