Framework for minimising time overruns of Malaysian construction projects

Malaysia is a fast developing country in the Asian region which has undergone rapid growth since the 1970s. The construction industry is an important sector in socialeconomic development. It is generally understood that construction project delivery in Malaysia frequently experiences cost and time overruns, leading to many being completed at excessive cost and time overrun, or, in some situations, abandoned. The overall aim of the study, therefore, was to develop a framework to proactively minimise time overrun in Malaysian construction projects. This aim was fulfilled by achieving research objectives, including an investigation of the factors that contribute to time overruns, the relationship between the time and cost of construction projects, and to compare the factors related to time overrun in the 'best' and 'worst' Malaysian construction projects. A four-stage approach was adopted for the study. The quantitative data sets obtained were subjected to a rigorous statistical analysis. The main limitation of this research was due to a low response rate from the respondents. The personal contact with the respondents was used to'increase the response rate in all questionnaire surveys. The study concluded that there is a need to develop a framework for minimising time overrun in Malaysian construction projects. The results from the four stages were found suitable for further use in framework development. From the 84 time overrun factors investigated, 37 significant factors were determined, which were focused on for framework development. The research proceeded to develop a comprehensive framework to minimise time overrun, followed by several mitigation measures being suggested for each of the factors. The use of professionals and experts in the construction industry helped to identify the effectiveness and practicality of the mitigation measures for each factor. The framework came together with the risk management strategy for a construction project. It is anticipated that the framework will encourage the construction industry to understand the importance of minimising time overrun, as well as assisting and enabling the clients, consultants, contractors and others parties involved in construction projects. It is hoped that this will lead to future improvements in the Malaysian construction industry, through a continuous culture of improvement in the industry, and act as a vehicle for change within the industry, which is required to assist in improving current standard practices in delivering construction projects of better quality that fulfill client satisfaction and minimise time overrun.