Investigating the causes of delay in grain bin construction projects: the case of China

Construction delay is a common issue in diverse types of projects and has attracted sustained attention from the industry and academia. However, it has seldom been addressed in grain bin projects which have a stricter requirement for on-time delivery to ensure prompt and appropriate grain storage. The aim of this study is to investigate the significant causes of delay in grain bin construction projects in China. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive literature review and 15 structured interviews were carried out, and a self-administered questionnaire was sent out to 108 respondents with experiences in constructing grain bin projects. Results showed that the top five delay causes for grain bin construction projects were 'shortage of adequate equipment,' 'poor communication among contracting parties,' 'problems with subcontractors,' 'inadequate experience of the design team' and 'frequent change orders by clients.' Also, results showed that the most significant delay cause category in grain bin construction projects was contractor-related causes. This study has provided the industry and academia with a deep understanding of the delay issue ingrain bin construction projects, which has also reinforced the knowledge body of delay research in the construction engineering and management domain.