Abstract
M.Ing.(Engineering Management)
Delays are a major problem faced by construction companies. The majority of the leading delays factors found from reviewing other studies were avoidable delay factors. The avoidable delay factors are factors caused only by the contractor. The reviewed studies gave recommendations for addressing the delay factors; however this study found that projects nevertheless still failing in South African construction industry and other countries even after the various studies made recommendations on how to avoid the delay factors.
The objectives of this study were to establish the top ten avoidable delay factors and their
mitigation measures in various countries and also to establish which of the proposed mitigation measures for each of the top ten avoidable delay factors were believed to be the answer in South African construction industry. A questionnaire was developed with questions that will probe the respondents to select the mitigation measures that will address each of the ten avoidable delay factors. The option answers were specifically designed to be close-ended. The size of the sample required was 80 and this
study managed to get 82 responses. The survey was launched using SurveyMonkey which is an online survey platform. The data received was analysed for reliability and validity. The reliability was determined using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and was applied using the testretest approach. All questions had a coefficient greater than 0.6 which meant that the responses were reliable (strong). The validity was established using face validity. The responses were analysed to establish which mitigation measures have more frequency of selection. Some of the questions had some mitigation measures receiving more than 80% of the selection and some questions had some mitigation measures getting almost the same percentage selection. Most (60%) of the provinces of South Africa agreed on which mitigation measure must be used for addressing the avoidable delay factors.