Investigate the common factors to the conflicts in the construction in the construction industry Sri Lanka

Abstract

The construction industry environment is very complex, very competitive and very sensitive to the financial fluctuation than other industries. The conflict/dispute is any disagreement or argument on contract-related mater. Most of the dispute is a waste of resource, if not managed well. However, the disputes identified and managed well, it may be benefited to the project by alternative design and economical solutions. The objective of this research is to identify the common causes of conflict/disputes in the construction industry which is benefited to the contract management professionals. To achieve this objective, extensive literature survey and thirty number of dispute cases were analyzed related to the construction industry. The questionnaire survey was carried out to validate the causes of disputes with the experience of the professionals in the construction industry. The questionnaires were distributed to 150 professionals in construction industry through google form & e-mails. Out of 150 professionals, 77 professionals were responded which are working for owners, consultants and contractors. The analysis was done comparing the relative importance index of the cause of dispute. Hundred numbers of cause of disputes have been identified from the literature review and shortlisted thirty-seven (37) causes of disputes have been used for the questionnaire survey. The most common causes of disputes base on the experience of the professional are “Delay of payments” and “Delay in works progress”. However, according to the literature survey the most common causes of disputes are “Failure to properly administrator the contract” and “Ambiguities in contract document”. According to the case studies the most common causes of dispute were “Inadequate/incomplete specification” and “Extension of time to the contract”.