Impact of construction materials on project time and cost in Kuwait

The construction of residential projects constitutes a major portion of the building activities in the State of Kuwait. This paper presents the findings of a research project, which aims to determine the causes of delays and cost-overruns in the construction of housing projects in Kuwait. The owners of 450 residential projects (just completed or near completion), spread over 27 systematic-randomly selected metropolitan districts, were personally interviewed. Data on owners' socio-demographic traits and project characteristics, including those involving time and cost overruns, were obtained. The paper highlights the impacts of construction materials on time-delays and cost-increases. Project-related variables affecting the on-time delivery of materials to the construction site are examined and quantified. The material selection-time, type of materials, their availability in the local market and the presence of a supervising engineer, all demonstrated a statistically significant impact on the on-time delivery of materials to construction sites.