Causes of Construction Delays of Apartment Construction Projects: Comparative Analysis between Vietnam and Korea

Construction delay caused considerable losses to project parties. Avoiding construction delays is important to save costs for project stakeholders. The main objective of this paper is to identify major causes of construction delays of apartment construction projects in Vietnam. Sixteen causes of delay were identified through a questionnaire survey of 166 professionals. Factor analysis was employed to categorize these causes. The results of the survey revealed the main causes of delay of apartment projects in Vietnam are: (1) owner's and contractor'S financial difficulties; (2) lack of experienced contractors; (3) late delivery of materials; (4) late construction site handover; (5) owner's late payments for completed works; (6) low bid prices; (7) inappropriate construction method; and (8) defective works and unnecessary reworks. Factor analysis uncovered that causes of delay can be grouped under five categories labeled the five INs: incompetence, ineffectiveness, inadequateness, inapplicableness and inconceivableness. Comparative analysis between the Vietnam construction industry (VCI) and the Korea construction industry (KCI) has been performed to infer valuable lessons for researchers and practitioners in the VCI and the KCI. Comparative analysis indicated that main causes of delay in the VCI somewhat differ from main causes of delay in the KCI. However, "contractor'S financial difficulties", "late construction site handover", "unnecessary rework", "incapable designers", "site clearance difficulties" are common causes of delay in the VCI as well as the KCI. The findings of this research can be used as a guideline to overcome problems in the VCI as well as in other construction industries. Since Korea has emerged as the first largest foreign investor in Vietnam, the results of this study may be useful not only to practitioners and researchers in Vietnam but also to participants in Korea.