DELAY MANAGEMENT IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Construction projects are one-time endeavors with three strong constraints i.e., time, cost and quality. Construction management pursues success through the balanced accomplishment of the target levels of these. Since construction management has been and is still being performed to some extent by architects, AIA’s guidance has a strong influence on the profession. Thus, AIA’s “A201-2007 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction” is widely preferred among owners and contractors in the U.S. In Turkey, on the other hand, the government is the owner of a large number of public building projects with a total contract value that accounts for a sizeable portion of the national construction activity. Thus, the “General Conditions for Construction” that is issued by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization is widely used in the industry. Delays have an important effect on both the owner and the contractor; while the owner experiences cost overruns as a direct result of delays, contractors suffer from excessive overhead. A201-2007 addresses the issue in “Article 8-Time”; the Turkish General Conditions addresses it in “Clause 30-Job Duration and Time Extension”. A literature review is performed in this paper to understand the importance of the deviations from the project duration specified in the contract. The objective of this study is to determine the similarities/differences in the management of delays, as mandated by the general conditions commonly used in the U.S. and Turkey. Recommendations are made in the light of the findings to improve delay management.