Survey shows depth of delays in construction

Time management is something that most people struggle with, from juggling work and family life to trying to figure out the consequences of missing that train. So it will come as no surprise to many that the latest research by the CIOB shows that time management is also something the construction industry struggles with.

In the first research of its kind, the CIOB has found that more than 60% of complex buildings are completed late (see Fig 1), a figure that may be partly explained by the finding that the design team (architect, structural engineer and mechanical engineer) is only consulted about construction methodology in 10% of projects.

For Keith Pickavance, the CIOB’s new president and author of Delay and Disruption in Construction Contracts, these findings are consistent with his experience of the industry. ‘The surprise was that so many projects can be brought in on or before the completion date without sophisticated time management techniques,’ he says, referring to the fact that more than 60% of low-rise offices, commercial, industrial, housing, schools and education buildings and shops and shopping malls were found to have been completed on time or early. ‘This research demonstrates that if you have simple, repetitive, low-rise projects without any sophisticated services, you don’t actually need sophisticated time management,’ adds Pickavance.

This is fortunate for the industry, because the research also found that very few projects are managed by reference to modern methods of time management. In 54% of cases, projects were managed using a simple bar chart for time management and only 14% of respondents had experience of a fully linked critical path network being used to manage the sequence and timing of the work (Fig 2). The report itself states: ‘It can be deduced from this that 86% of all respondents answering this part of the survey did not have the facilities to, and were thus unable to, identify promptly the likely effect upon the completion date of slippage or imposed changes in the work.’

This problem is also evident in the apparent lack of adequate record keeping in the industry. Only 7% of participants had experience of records being kept on a relational database that can produce almost instantaneous reports of trends and their effect on progress. The majority – 53% – said they were used to records only being kept on paper, rendering them useless for managing progress of the works (Fig 3).

Such findings are likely to be of particular interest to contractors as the research found that in 69% of cases it was the contractor that shouldered the majority of the delay-related costs. In almost a third of cases the contractor was entirely responsible for the delay-related expense. However, Pickavance emphasises that time management shouldn’t be seen as purely the contractor’s problem: ‘Contractors are struggling, but it’s a problem across the industry,’ he says. ‘Far too little weight is given to time management at the design level.’

The idea that time management is a problem across the board is lent weight by the fact that the type of contract and procurement method was found to have little effect on the instance of delay. Of all the contracts considered in the research, the most commonly used form of procurement was design and build, accounting for almost a third of projects. Traditional lump-sum contracting came in next with a quarter of the total, while bespoke contracts accounted for 18% (Fig 4). The report concludes: ‘Bearing in mind the incidence of delayed completion across the board, it can reasonably be concluded that whilst different types of contract may shift the risk for default from one party to another, changes in the allocation of contractual obligations alone cannot secure timely completion.’

The CIOB believes the key to tackling poor time management is education. Pickavance says:

‘I think there is a problem worldwide in the construction industry, and it is that our technology outstrips our education and training and we need to catch up.’

To do just that the CIOB is taking a three-pronged approach says Pickavance: ‘First of all we’re going to establish some technical standards; secondly we need to provide an education for those who carry out the job; thirdly we are going to provide some qualifications that demonstrate that they’ve reached a level of competence that is acceptable for the industry.’

As a lot of research into time management education has already been carried out in the US and Australia, the CIOB is hoping that it will be able to use this to put together UK-specific technical standards within the next 9-12 months. From this the educational framework will be put together and Pickavance says the CIOB hopes that the first batch of graduates should receive their post-graduate diploma in time management within the next two years.

Initially, the diploma will be aimed at providing a standard for those already working in time management, but Pickavance emphasises the need for the whole industry to embrace this step. ‘I would hope that major developers and other professionals in the industry would encourage their members to participate. There’s no use getting a contractor to achieve a high standard of planning engineering if nobody else can understand what he’s doing.’

• A full copy of the report is available to download at www.ciob.org.uk/resources/research