Selecting Most Appropriate Delay Analysis Technique Using Quantitative Approach

Abstract

The increasing complexity and magnitude of the projects impose greater impact of delays on stakeholders. Construction delays are a major source of disputes in construction projects. Since a construction project depends on interactions and shared responsibilities among parties, research works were directed towards identifying delay causes, quantifying their impacts, and proposing ways to deal with them. Different delay analysis techniques (DATs) applied to the same project’s delays provide different results, and thus, the selection of technique to use in evaluating delays becomes vital. Reviewing the literature, it has been realized that often there are disagreements, which lead to escalating a claim into a dispute, between engineers and contractors on the technique to be used to evaluate the delay. A dispute results in additional costs, time, and in some cases negatively impacts the relation between the parties as it goes up the ladder of dispute resolution. Some research was conducted to gather experts’ opinions on the best technique to be used; however, little research was done to quantify factors behind the selection and transform them into a numerical model. This research is an attempt to support different parties in selecting the most appropriate DAT to be used for a delay by building a model based on quantifying experts’ opinions to score different factors influencing the selection of DATs. Moreover, a survey based on the Egyptian market was conducted and used to build the model. Results of the survey were compared to surveys, from different countries, that tackle those different factors. This research helps in integrating the efforts that were exerted to tackle this challenge while providing analysis of how different factors are perceived through different law systems. Delay analysts, contract administrators, and other parties can use the model to validate their chosen DAT for a claim.