Expert Perspective on Time Overrun in the Malaysian Construction Industry

Time overrun is an incessant problem surrounding construction industry everywhere and Malaysia is of no exception. In fact, the problem has hit an astounding point with delay rates reaching a record high, including many past Malaysia Plans and these include projects profiled as being “sick” (delayed by three months and beyond). The devastating scenario has been alarming and ought to be scrutinized deeply as to what are the contributors. While there have been few studies in the past, rarely studies investigated the perspective of highly experienced experts of the industry thus, this research aimed to fill this gap by performing semi-structured interviews on industry experts with a minimum of ten (10) years of experience. Their experiences ranged from fourteen (14) years to more than thirty (30) years, averaging close to twenty-two (22) years. In reaching target groups, purposive sampling was adopted, which resulted in eleven (11) semi-structured interviews being conducted. Subsequently, interview data were analyzed using content analysis to ensure thorough examination of responses and present them in a meaningful manner. Findings indicated that there were five (5) most significant aspects that cause time overrun, namely project variations, lack of experience among project parties, late/slow decision making, poor project planning and late payment of completed works. The outcome of this research is expected to benefit the overall industry players in better identifying delay contributors and strategizing mitigations. The Malaysian government could also use the findings to improve delay rates of future Malaysia Plans while with some filtration, other developing countries may also benefit from this research.

Construction Industry, Construction Projects, Expert, Malaysia, Time Overrun

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