Time Delay and Cost Overrun in Construction Projects

The impact of cost and time overruns on construction projects is an undesirable experience both to the clients and stakeholders in the industry. This has regularly led to dispute, unfriendly working relationship, abandonment, low quality and environmental nuisances. This paper evaluated factors contributing to overruns of highway projects and their impact on projects performance at Tamil Nadu in India. It involved a cross questionnaire administered to sixty four found seven major factors influencing time delay and cost overruns in highway construction projects. Data were collected through questionnaire administration on professionals in the industry. Frequency index were employed to analyse data collected. Increase in material cost, inaccurate materials estimation and underestimating of project costs among others are the most significant cost factors while the most significant time factors include unexpected site condition, increase in project scope, lack of timely progress payment and inadequate planning.