What Causes The Delays in Most Construction Projects?
Deadlines are always tight within the construction industry, and as we know, time is money. So it makes sense for construction company owners, as well as onsite supervisors, to do everything in their power to avoid costly construction delays. Unfortunately, though, not all potential delays are predictable, and not all issues can be avoided. In these instances, it pays to be prepared.
What are the most common reasons for delays in construction projects? We highlight six of them below.
Poor management
There are many different aspects to a construction project – from material suppliers to the construction workers themselves – and it's vital to ensure constant and consistent management of each and every one of them to streamline operations and keep everything on track.
If a single small detail is overlooked (such as neglecting to ensure that all workers' shifts align correctly), your hard work could be completely thrown off, causing delays of anything from hours to weeks. This is the reason why many construction companies rely on both construction managers and construction project management software to get the job done.
Environmental factors
Nobody can control the weather, and there's little you can do to avoid delays that a downpour or early snowfall could cause, especially when it comes to longer-term projects spanning a year or more. Unfortunately, when it rains, it often pours (literally), and this could result in week-long delays that could lead to the project falling behind schedule.
For this reason, it's essential to factor in potential weather-related problems when drawing up your construction project plan. Start by considering the average amount of rainfall and snowfall in the area for the time period you’ve allocated to the project, and extend the period as needed.
An ineffective design phase
The design phase that takes place before the execution phase is essentially the theory of how the construction is set to happen. The reality is that things can look and work a lot differently in theory vs in practice. So, no matter how in-depth the design of the project is, it's still worthwhile putting it to the test before the project kicks off – usually via shop drawing.
Economic factors
Economic factors are common causes of delays in large construction projects. This is because it's challenging to predict what the economy is going to look like over the course of many months or years. There could be a dramatic difference in exchange and inflation rates from one year to the next, making accurate budgeting difficult.
If something happens to cause a downturn in the economy, a construction project can be negatively affected, resulting in delays when the budget runs low. These delays can be quite lengthy, as there may be a need to obtain additional financing before work can resume. Planning for economic volatility is therefore essential in every construction project's contingency plan.
Problems with supply
You can’t get the job done without the right materials. Ensuring a smooth and steady supply of the necessary building materials and equipment for your construction workers is key to successful and timeous project completion.
Most projects begin with a plan in place that dictates when more materials will need to be ordered and delivered. However, these dates won't always be accurate due to other variables that could come into play (such as working ahead of schedule). Because of this, someone needs to be monitoring material supply closely from one day to the next, making quick calls to speed up procurement if it becomes clear that more materials will be required earlier than expected. Neglecting to do this will lead to delays.
Another reason why a construction site may run out of building supplies is due to an inefficient or unreliable supplier. Avoid mishaps of this nature by always having a backup supplier within close proximity.
Health issues
You need your construction staff to be in tip-top shape to ensure they're able to work to their full capacity. Project delays are inevitable if one or more of your construction workers falls ill and can't make it to work. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this even more complicated because there's always the concern that the virus could be the cause when one worker feels poorly.
There’s a further worry that if the worker tests positive for COVID-19, they could pass the virus on to their co-workers. Partnering with a company that provides rapid onsite COVID-19 testing helps site managers take health precautions to prevent the virus from spreading should a worker test positive.
COVID-19 testing for the construction industry
While we at Cignpost Diagnostics can't protect you against all the possible causes of construction delays, we can promise to assist you in maintaining health and safety standards on site!
Not only is it your duty to provide your workers with a safe workplace, but there's also no denying that healthy workers are more productive workers! This is why it's a great idea to invest in onsite COVID-19 testing. At Cignpost, we use Gold Standard technology to give you accurate results. Get in touch now for more details on health testing for construction sites.