Causes of Delay in the Planning and Design Phases for Construction Projects

Problems of delay occur in all phases of construction projects. While most previous studies have focused on finding causes or overcoming delays in the construction phase, few studies have analyzed delay problems in the planning and design phases. The main purpose of this study is to identify and rank delay causes in the planning and design phases. A structured questionnaire was sent to engineers at the A/E companies for public construction projects in Taiwan. Based on 95 valid responses, this study identified the delay causes and analyzed the importance and frequency of delays using the relative importance index. Analytical results reveal that changes in client's requirement are the main causes of delays in both planning and design phases. The finding is good justification for many public clients who usually change their requirements during the planning and design phases that really delay construction projects.