A Project Report on Planning, Scheduling, and Delay Analysis of a Construction Project during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

Abstract

Time delay is one of the biggest problems faced by the construction industry in India. Completing projects on time is the key factor of the project, but the construction process is subject to many variables and unpredictable factors, which result from many sources such as the availability of resources, external factors, the performance of parties, and the type the structure. Delay in the project, leads to loss of productivity, increased cost, contract termination, and disputes between contractor and owner. These types of unrealistic exceptions are usually avoided by using a clean and efficient planning mechanism, which specifies the work and timetable to be used. This project aims to examine the causes and effects of delay on a building construction project during the construction phase and to provide control measures for time overrun in the project. A study was carried out on construction schedule, delays an,d various delay analysis techniques and methods to evaluate the causes of delay and their impacts on the construction project. The current study is based on a residential building, “Savali Saffron” located at Mundhwa, Keshav Nagar, near the old Orbis School, Pune, developed by Sapthasiddhi Associates. Studying the A-Wing, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a delay of 42 days has been observed, with a sum of RS 8,26,500/- added to the original budget of the construction project. The effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Constructiontion Project is studied. The major factors identified in this study are delays due to government restrictions such as weekend curfew, strict half-day lockdown, restrictions on travel & transport, and work approval problem from the government, due to the COVID- 19 Pandemic. Changes in the staff, lack of human resourcand delays in procuring materials, the untimely release of funds, and lems in RCC drawings and una,vailability of RCCan consultants are some other factors affecting the construction schedule. The major effects of delay are cost impact, postponement in work, change in labor allocation, etc. Not all delays can be rectified, but a few of them can be overcome by improving management responsibilities.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The Construction industry has a major impact on the overall economic development of India. The construction industry is the second largest employer of labor in India. It is the second largest economic activity preceded by agriculture. Construction in India has accounted for more than 40% of investmein on development over the past 50 years. Nearly 16% of India’s working population depends on construction for its livelihood (TIndo-Italianian chamber of commerce and industry, 2008). It contributes about 78% he gross capital formation (Iyer and Jha, 2006). The Indian construction industry’s impact on employment, interconnection with other sectors, and major contributions to GDP highlight its importance and also stress that any further inefficiencies could contribute to the economy’s eventual decline. India’s rapid economic growth over the last decade has placed tremendous stress on its limited infrastructure and increasing demand. Investment in construction is on the rise, with more than US$ 500 billion worth of investment planned to flow into India’s infrastructure. The planning commission of India has proposed an investment of around US$ 1 trillion, doubled since the last plan. This illustrates the demand and funds committed fortovethe lopment of the infrastructure in India and the future growth in construction projects.

From an economist's point of view, construction is a service, which has a demand to improve the economy. The construction industry has certain special economic characteristics that are given below:

1. Construction projects take a relatively long time to be planned and considered.
2. The lifefe of construction projects is very long; some may take decades.
3. Constructions are always allotted to lands, the normal economic laws, like import-export goods, do not apply to construction,
4. Public infrastructure, such as roads, brid,ges and dams, which in a major portion of a cotruction, cannot be studied with the usual concept of profit maximization. Special economic theories are essential to value these facilities.

These characteristics have led to the growth of special problems and solutions in the construction economy.

The construction industry is generally much fragment several of features of the industry generally created favorable conditions for the establishment of new firms. These factors have made the construction industry very competitive. The profit margin is lower than, that of other industries. The average profit margin tends to be low and is generally assumed as 10%. However, the actual gross book profit may be lower than 10%. In some cases, big firms have registered below-profit margins and were at loss. It is here where proper management comes into the picture. If proper management of work is done the company could be saved from making lossesss. Ithe n construction in,dustry there was a time when all the projects were labor intensive and management in those days meant proper utilization of labor to make optimum progress in construction in the most economical manner. But now-a-days technological advancement and new scientific inventions have added in new dimensions to the construction industry. A project is now considered as a group of activities, having inter- relations, which may include the role of specialists and specialized work using the latest knowledge and skill available, to be undertaken in most systematic manner, failing which the project may be stalled or progress may be hampered. The "most systematic manner" involves adoption of techniques commonly known as Critical Path Method “(CPM) or Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) are being applied for the management of the project. The use of plant and machinery and expert workers has improved the quality of construction and reduces the time for construction. New techniques and methods are now adopted in construction with aid of these plants and machinery, the construction is easier, well within time schedule, and of high quality.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Many authors and researchers have conducted their own experiments on different ongoing projects using different techniques and methods to reduce the factors that have major contribution towards causing delays in the project along with rise in the actual budget of the project which was fixed during the start of construction.

A splendid work by professor ‘Rajshekhar Gopal Rathod (2016)’, where he studied the planning, scheduling and delay analysis on the project named “SANGAM APARTMENTS” located in Whitefield Bangalore, using Microsoft project (MSP), with the primary goal of completing the construction in given scheduled time of 743 days as well as in amounted budget only which was Rs4,93,12,027/-.

This paper revolves around different factors that were held responsible for causing delays and escalating actual price, as according to him the heterogenous weather condition mainly because of rain accompanying with delay in GFC were the major reasons as these both factors alone caused a delay of 6 days each and also contributed towards adding a total sum of Rs 46,750 and Rs 39,000. respectively. Although the one which caused a surplus increase in budget was shortage of materials which alone added up the sum of Rs 1,68,600. though it only caused a delay of 2 days only. In company with three more reasons that led to delay of total 28 days as well as original price was jumped by more Rs3,71,000 approximately.

In another work by prof. ‘Rathod Rajshekhar Gopal (2016)’ he conducted an on-situ performance improvement program which was a case study of three residential buildings (Block A, Block B, Block C) spread over area of 6.3 acre, having main objective of finding out whether the project is overrunning and also to discover which are the main disruptive sources why the construction was delayed. This paper actually revolves around the techniques of estimating the baseline productivity chart with the help of data collected through BOQ and drawings of the construction site. During the planning various assumptions with respect to execution of construction activities, availability of resources, suitability of construction methods.

In which required source (MANPOWER) team was calculated with given formula. Required resource = total quantity / (productivity x duration)

Together with the productivity chart the baseline was also set up after the preparation of schedule model which was used as benchmark to compare the dates, resources and cost to the current schedule

In his compendium he stated that: - The project was behind by 273 days.

Main disruptive parameters were material and manpower. Accompanying with the performance of the project with respect to amount of work done wasn’t also constant.

Therefore, actual productivity of labors was also below the expected baseline productivity.

R Santosh Kumar (2018), used relative importance index method to prioritize the factors which are critical delay and its significance level compared to other factors. Based on these risk factors allocate in the project schedule delay for the duration of whole project can save money and time. Because of difficulty and lengthy time of projects, Investment and risks are more in this industry. From the analysis results, major risks are identified based on relative importance index (RII), Critical risk is delays due to late delivery of material (0.71), Shortage of equipment in construction site (0.68), Poor quality of construction Material affect the productivity (0.66) these are primary risks for delay analysis. 62 days were delayed for the project and the cost due to delay was 7,23,200 (as estimated price was 5,92,750/- Rs.)

Thamer Alenezi in 2020 studied and figured-out Major causes of delays on construction project during covid-19 Pandemic in Kuwait. Where Relative Importance Index (RII) is used to evaluate the major causes of the delay. The following equation of Relative Importance Index (RII) was chosen to evaluate the major causes of delays obtained from the survey.

RII = ∑W/ A*N

where, W = weight given to each factor (ranging from 1 to 5) by the participants,

A = the highest weight (i.e., 5 in this research study), and N = the total number of participants.

The higher the RII value means that it is more important than the others.

The majority of the highly ranked causes for delay in this study, such as delay in approval of completed work (ranked 3) and delay from consultants in providing instruction (ranked 2), can be resolved through proper planning. Others, such as low productivity of workers (ranked 3), might be a management or training issue.

Many delays in construction projects can be eliminated when their causes are clearly identified. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to identify the major causes of delays on construction projects in Kuwait during the covid-19 Pandemic. To do that, a questionnaire survey with 17 factors of delay was designed, based on a literature review. The questionnaire survey was sent to various construction professionals based in Kuwait. 35 respondents evaluated the delay factors and these factors were ranked according to their importance level for delays using a relative importance index. The importance factors were achieved through ranking results.

He suggested that the programs should be re-designed so that there is less labour on site and also follow the social distancing norms, to avoid crowd, while casting on site the pre cast materials should be used.

Ar. Meena V (2015), conducted a questionary survey to calculate the ranking and % of delay caused by various groups. The group which is more responsible for delay in the project is found. Delays were observed and Recommendations were suggested for major causes of delay. The major causes of delay which is found repeating in almost every project are external factors, financial difficulties, shortage of labour, insufficient labour productivity, owner interference and improper planning. After analysing the data, it is clear that the contribution of Contractor in delay of the construction project is high then followed by client then consultant side and others. Resource allocation is the main criteria for doing schedule planning to allocate duration for each activity included in the project so that delay in the construction project can be reduced.

Venu K.C., Mr. Rajeeva (2017), in her research paper, the main objective was for planning, scheduling and track the progress of various activities using BOQ and Productivity chart, and monitor the delay. BOQ & Labour productivity chart was designed. Cost incurred due to delay was calculated. Delay of 130 days was observed and the total Project duration was 652days. Major cause of the delay was Column shuttering, reinforcement and concrete work which observed 47 days of delay, and the total cost incurred due to this delay was Rs. 4748880/-. Cost incurred due to delay i.e. Total loss of Rs 8758259.

The study summarizes the reasons that cause the delay in the activities of the construction work. Possible reasons for the delay caused in the activities were tried to identify and the impact that occurred due to delay were analysed. The reasons that cause the delay were identified into: untimely release of funds from the office, approval problem from government more often changes in the staff, deficient management of engineers, lack of human resources and delay in procuring materials. These delays lead to the increased budgeted cost, consuming more time in the completion of the project, The analysis shows that overcome these delays by doing a proper planning, scheduling.

III. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Proper planning and scheduling of construction projects with proper technique is a must, because there have been incidents in the past where, due to lack of proper planning, projects have cost more than what they should have cost and also delayed to a great extent. The concept of scientific planning and scheduling was totally neglected in the construction industry until the late 50's when the concept of Critical Path Method and Program Evaluation and Review Technique made an impact.

Most of the project that begins well gets stuck due to bad planning and scheduling. A good schedule helps the completion of the project within the expected time and with optimum resource and cost. Timely completion of the project is particularly important when the failure to complete the project within the time specified in the contract carries a financial penalty or liquidated damages. It is also seen that for a bigger project, planning and scheduling are done manually which is a laborious task. The unwillingness to use the available project management software, for planning and scheduling has resulted in the production of improper planning and scheduling. It is a sad fact that a though that have the latest tools and techniques for planning and scheduling it is not used to its full potential. In India almost all the construction programs are not planned in a proper way, as a result they finish well after the scheduled time, resulting in wastage of valuable resources. So, it can be seen that for proper use of resources in a project, a proper planning and scheduling has to be done.

The different resources required in a construction project include labor, materials and equipment. Of all the resources that are used in a project the most important is manpower. It is the most valuable asset of an organization. Normally, barring a few large-scale projects, the aspect of manpower planning is usually neglected or not given due attention. Most of the labor work is given sub-contracts. However, the availability of skilled labor of proper quality and in quantity is not pre-judged, with the result at many construction sites costly equipment lies idle for want of supporting labor. This results in postponement of, or delay in executing new projects and expansion programs, which eventually leads to inefficiency and lower profitability. It is seen that; the manpower planning is not done timely or not planned properly for timely deployment of just the required number of workmen of right trade and skill. It can be seen that both over-manning and under-manning in our construction site and also sometimes sudden fluctuations in the requirement of labor strength. In construction industry, operations may not be of repetitive nature hence the composition of work force may change on a given project depending upon the stages of construction.

Therefore, meticulous care has to be taken in manpower planning in order to identify areas of surplus manpower and areas where there is a shortage of manpower. If there is a surplus, it can be re-deployed, and if there is a shortage it may be made good. Our main concern, naturally, is to plan, schedule and allocate manpower in an optimum manner so as to complete the project in stipulated time.

IV. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the project is to plan, schedule, monitor the progress and delay of various construction activities performed at site using Microsoft Project Software, calculating the Bill of Quantity (BOQ) and Productivity of workman along with various equipment’s. Observing the delay reasons for each activity on site and analyzing the cost incurred due to it, also finding the possible cost escalate due to delay. Minimizing the delay of the project by providing best rational possible solution for each activity.

V. PLANNING

A. Introduction

Planning involves listing of all the work packages, activities, tasks that are involved in the construction. Requirement of materials, manpower, machineries and money are determined in this phase. Estimates of costs and duration for the various activities are made. The objective of construction planning is to operations require to be performed for the completion of the work and to produce a time table or proper sequential relationship between the activities, with each activity allocated a start date and finish date and with the assurance that the things necessary to do each activity will be available when required. The steps required to accomplish such a planning include logic (planning), timing, analysis and scheduling. Input for planning comes from the estimating departments, project managers, field engineers, foremen, contractors.

Planning is the base of the whole project and must be based on clearly defined objectives. With proper planning, adequate resources are available at the right moment and adequate time is allowed for each stage in the process and all the various component activities start at appropriate times. planning includes, Estimate, Budget, Time schedule, sequence for completion of each part of work, Cash flow budget, Manpower, Plant and equipment planning, Material planning.

B. Steps in Planning

The following are the step-by-step procedure for project planning. They are, make a detailed list of activities. prepare a network diagram, identify the critical path, allocate the resources or juggle the schedule, consider the tradeoff of time and money, organize the project information, record the status of every activity, compare reported original plan.

C. Planning Methods

Due to the need for planning many methods were developed in order to assist management in the construction field. The most widely used techniques are Bar chart or Gantt chart Method, Critical Path Method (CPM), Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT).

VI. SCHEDULING

A. Introduction

A construction schedule may mean different things to the designers, contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers and the owners involved in the construction process. The schedule may mean the completion date required for phase of the work. The schedule may mean the schedule values the contractors submit against which monthly progress payments will be made. The schedule may also refer to the process of sequencing and phasing individual activities required to complete the project. In this report construction schedule means a graphical presentation, which shows the phasing rate of construction activities with the starting and completion dates are sequential relationship among the various activities in a project so that the work can be carried out in an orderly and effective manner.

B. Scheduling Steps

Construction schedule is a projected timetable/calendaring of construction operations. Steps are, estimation of time required to carry out each network activity. using these time estimates, compute the time period required for overall project completion, estimate time intervals within which each activity must start and finish satisfying the completion date requirement, estimation of quantities of work for each of the component activity involved, identify these activities whose expedient execution is crucial to timely project completion, if the project completion date is not constant with contract or other requirements, shorten the project duration at least possible cost. Utilizing the surplus of float times that most activities possess, adjust the start and finish times of selected activities to minimize resource conflicts and smooth out demands on manpower and equipment, makeup a working project schedule that shows anticipated calendar dates for the start and finish of each activity.

C. Scheduling Method

Scheduling methods are Bar chat method and Ghant chart method generally used.

VII. DELAY ANALYSIS

Delay in construction can be defined as an event or a condition that results in finishing the project later than stipulated in the contract or delay in construction claims as the time during which some part of the construction project has been extended or not executed owing to an unexpected event.

Types of Construction Delays

There are four main groups of construction delays:

1. Critical or noncritical.
2. Excusable or non-excusable.
3. Compensable or non-compensable.
4. Concurrent or non-concurrent.

Firstly, if the delay is critical or noncritical and concurrent or non-concurrent should be determined in the process of analyzing delay effects on the project. All construction delays are either excusable or non-excusable as shown in the figure. Then, excusable delays are classified into compensable or non-compensable delays. This figure presents only one interpretation, since executability and compensability of delays can change according to the contract.

A. Critical and Non-critical Delays

Delays which result in extended project completion are considered critical delays, and delays that do not affect the project completion date are known as noncritical delays. All projects have a critical path and if these critical activities on the path are delayed than the completion date of the project will be extended. The criteria determining the project completion date are as follows

1. The project itself.
2. The contractor’s plan and schedule (particularly the critical path).
3. The requirements of the contract for sequence and phasing.
4. The physical constraints of the project- how to build the job from a practical perspective.

B. Excusable and Non-excusable Delays

Excusable delay, in general, is owing to an unforeseeable event beyond the contractor’s or the subcontractor’s control. Following few excusable delay-

1. General labor strikes,
2. Fires,
3. Floods,
4. Acts of God,
5. Owner-directed changes,
6. Errors and omissions in the plans and specifications
7. Differing site  conditions or concealed conditions,
8. Unusually severe weather,
9. Intervention by outside agencies,
10. Lack of action by government bodies, such as building inspection.

Non-excusable delays as “delays that are either caused by the contractor or not caused by the contractor but should have been foreseen by the contractor”. Following few non-excusable delay,

a. Untimely performance by suppliers,

b. Faulty workmanship by the contractor or subcontractors,

c. A project-specific labor strike caused by the contractor’s unwillingness to meet with labor representatives or by unfair labor practices.

C. Compensable and Non-compensable Delays

Compensable delays are caused by the owner or the designer (engineer or architect). The contractor is typically entitled to a time extension or recovery of the costs related with the delay, or both. Factors which are specified in the contract resulting in delays such as differing site conditions, changes in the work, access to the site are some examples of compensable delays, excusable delays may be compensable. Non-compensable delays as those which despites being excusable do not entitle the contractor or client to any compensation. Excusable non-compensable delays are normally beyond the control of either owner or contractor such as unusual weather conditions, natural disasters, wars, national crises, floods, fires or labor strikes. They add that usually the contractor is entitled to a time extension, but not additional compensation.

D. Concurrent Delays

Concurrent delay includes a combination of two or more independent causes of delay occurring within the same time frame or a concurrent delay often includes an excusable delay and a non-excusable delay or “more than one delay contributed to the project delay, not that the delays necessarily occurred at the same time”. Although this type of delays seems like a simple issue, still there is no clear definition of concurrent delay.

VIII. CASE STUDY

The proposed project for case study is a residential apartment named Savali Saffaon located at Mundhwa, Keshav Nagar, near old Orbis School, Pune. Savali Saffaon is a project developed by Sapthasiddhi Associates, Pune. The Savali Saffaon project consists of the construction of 168 flats (G+13).

Type of the project: Residential apartment

The construction of proposed structure is taking place under the supervision of Sapthasiddhi Associates, Pune.

The Savali Saffron is being constructed on an available land of 2.64-acre area at Mundhwa, Keshav Nagar, Pune.

The total time period given for completion of entire project is about 3 years (inclusive of rainy season).

There are three residential blocks A, B and C.

A and C block have same features and configuration.

The residential block with configuration of G+13, is having two staircases for entrance in the building and is also provided with two lifts.

The ground floor is designed as parking area.

Each floor of A and C block of building consists of 4- 2BHK and 1- 1BHK.

Counting both the blocks there are 24 flats of 1BHK and 96 flats of 2BHK.

In B block each floor has 4 flats of 2BHK. Total there are 48 flats in B block.

The salient features of residential block are each apartment with terrace or balcony, power backup for lift and common area, firefighting system and earthquake resistant structure. Each flat is configured with master bedroom, living room, balcony, kitchen and toilet.

IX. METHODOLOGY

The aim of the Study is to plan, schedule and track the progress and delay of various construction activities performed at site using Microsoft Project Software.

A. Phase 1

For planning and scheduling: -

1. At first, calculate the Bill of Quantity (BOQ) using available data from site for every slab level.
2. Gather information from the workers and analyze the productivity of each worker per day.
3. Knowing the manpower available at site, determine the number of days required to execute the particular work.
4. Required Manpower = Total Quantity/productivity x duration

B. Phase 2

1. Planning and scheduling of various construction activities performed at site is executed using Microsoft Project Software.
2. Considering the number of days required to complete a work, estimated time duration is calculated & hence planned start and planned finish is estimated.
3. Comparing the planned start / finish and the actual start / finish, the total number of delays is calculated.
4. Then analyze the main reasons because of which major delay in days were figured.
5. Aim to study the causes and the effects of the delay and identify the major causes of delay occurring at the given construction site.
6. Furthermore, also calculated the increase in budget of the construction for which bar graphs are to be prepared as it gave the estimate regarding the escalating in cost of construction.
7. Histogram is prepared representing the causes of the delay and the number of days lost due to the delay, along with the cost incurred due to the individual factor causing delay.
8. The cause which is more responsible for delay in the project is found along with the cost incurred due to it.
9. Recommendations to control delay during construction work are provided after studying the causes of the delay.

Hence from our study one came to know major causes that were taking major part in delaying the work on construction site for which, also gave the company possible solutions which could reduce the delay in their future projects.

X. PRODUCTIVITY

A. Explanation for Time Duration Taken To Complete 1 Floor

For Concrete in Columns 12 labors can execute a volume of 5 cum per day for column concreting, so by allotting 12 concreting labors per day will execute 35 Cum within 7 days.

For Concrete in Slabs 20 labors can execute a volume of 50 cum per day for slab concreting, so by allotting 20 concrete labors per day will execute 100 Cum within 2 days.

The work breakdown structure of Savali Saffron is mainly divided into 3 parts. This is a residential building and has repetitive schedule followed. It has three blocks and consists of silt floor, ground floor, and 13 floors accommodating 182 flats in total. A & C block in each floor has 5 flats, B block in each floor has 4 flats. The flats here are 2BHK four in number and 1BHK- 1 in number, other amenities provided within the building area. Site clearance and mobilization had taken place on 1st sept 2020 and excavation with anti-termite treatment is carried out. Next part is the major activity i.e., structural work which incorporates tasks like raft foundation, basement columns and shear wall, first floor slab and columns and continues till the 13th floor. The third activity is named as finishes as it includes the left-over work like masonry works, electrical conduiting, internal plastering, and water proofing works, painting works, floor finishes, landscaping works, elevators, firefighting. The main critical activities in structural work are raft foundation, construction, columns and shear walls of basement and the slabs of each floor. The critical activities for finishes are masonry works, electrical conduiting and internal plastering. In addition to the critical activities which cannot be delayed at any cause, there are some other additional activities where the project really experienced difficulties in execution and delay in completion. It has been observed that 42 days delay due to which, extra cost of Rs. 8,26,500/- took place.

XIII. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO OVERCOME DELAY

Conclusion

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Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Prathamesh Y Sasane. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.