Whether you’re a construction project manager or a client waiting for completion of a new build, there’s one word you dread hearing: Delay.
When work stops, not only does it push back anticipated deadlines and deliverables, it also results in unexpected or unintended expenses. If delays are extended, it may send the project over budget. And that could shutdown work indefinitely.
What causes construction project delays?
Although delays are an almost inevitable part of the construction process, there’s not one contributing factor to this problem.
Below we’ll examine several of the most common causes of delays in the construction industry.
Construction Delays Cause #1: Unexpected Circumstances
In many cases, construction delays cannot be predicted or avoided.
Why?
Delays are often caused by factors that cannot be controlled.
Weather emergencies can stop construction projects in their tracks. Not only can flooding or blizzards stop work until the conditions improve; these weather emergencies can also keep work from resuming if it takes days or weeks to clean up the aftermath of the storms.
Sometimes delays are caused by construction supply chain shortages or delivery issues. Many construction projects dealt with a material shortage and/or shipping delays caused by the recent global pandemic.
Uncontrollable events such as mandated quarantines or unstable economic conditions with construction inflation can contribute to workforce shortages that negatively impact projects.
Even though construction teams and their clients are not responsible for these and other unforeseeable and uncontrollable factors, they do bear the financial burden of these delays.
Construction Delays Cause #2: Human Errors
While the unpredictable factors listed above contribute to construction delays, there are times when the problems are avoidable.
Issues such as failure to obtain the required permits, poor project management or planning, or design flaws in the architectural plans are just a few of the common mistakes that lead to construction delays.
When these mistakes are made by less experienced team members, they’re unfortunate but excusable. Yet, when seasoned professionals make these types of mistakes, it’s less likely that other team members will be as forgiving for encountering delays.
Construction Delays Cause #3: Potential Damage Stemming From Nearby Active Construction Sites
It may sound strange but a construction project itself may be a contributing factor to delays.
How?
Certain construction activities such as demolition, underpinning and excavation may produce vibrations that are strong enough to damage neighboring buildings and structures.
If nearby buildings and structures have existing issues such as foundational cracks, vibrations that pass the established thresholds can cause those cracks to expand.
Construction-related vibrations, if large enough, can also cause structural movements in surrounding properties.
In either of these scenarios, the construction activities could impact the structural integrity of the buildings, bridges and other structures in the construction zone.
To prevent further damage and reduce the potential for any additional risks, all construction activities need to stop until the issues are resolved.
Help Reduce Delays With Construction Monitoring Services
As you can see, construction delays happen for a variety of reasons, including forces of nature, lack of oversight and the daily activities of the construction project itself.
While Saltus can’t help with most of these contributing factors, we can help minimize delays caused by excessive vibrations and other construction-related activities that could potentially damage neighboring buildings and structures.
Our existing conditions documentation services identify and record all foundational cracks and other concerns in surrounding properties. With this knowledge in hand, construction crews can plan their activities accordingly, reduce the risk of impacting the structural integrity of nearby buildings, and avoid liability for causing conditions that already exist.
Teams can rely on our vibration monitoring services to help ensure that construction-related vibrations do not exceed the established threshold for acceptable movement in nearby structures.
Our optical structural surveying services employ specialized equipment such as automated motorized total stations (AMTS) to monitor and record any movement in surrounding structures that occurs during construction.
Additionally, our crack gauge monitoring services help inform teams when their construction-related vibrations could cause existing cracks in a nearby building to contract or expand. This knowledge allows them to take immediate corrective action and avoid any further damage.
Separately and together, all of these services can help firms avoid delays in their construction projects.
To learn more about these and any of our other construction monitoring services, we invite you to contact our team today