# Critical Factors behind Construction Delay in Petrochemical Projects in Saudi Arabia
## 7 Discussion of the Results
### Contribution of the Experts to the Results
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**S/n**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Potential Delay Factor**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Owner**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Contractor**} & \multirow{2}{*}{} \\ \cline{3-3} \cline{5-8}  & & **FAIL** & & **Rank** & & **FAIL** & **Rank** & **d** & **d\({}^{2}\)** \\ \hline
1 & Poor site management and supervision by contractors. & 54.49\% & 2 & 42.26\% & 6 & -4 & 16 \\
2 & Conflict between main contractor and subcontractor. & 41.47\% & 9 & 30.27\% & 20 & -11 & 121 \\
3 & Poor planning and scheduling of projects by the contractor. & 49.92\% & 3 & 42.01\% & 7 & -4 & 16 \\
4 & Delays in material or equipment delivery. & 57.29\% & 1 & 47.07\% & 4 & -3 & 9 \\
5 & Delays in handing over construction site to the contractor. & 40.26\% & 11 & 41.46\% & 8 & 3 & 9 \\
6 & Shortage of skilled laborers for the contractor & 49.45\% & 4 & 36.77\% & 11 & -7 & 49 \\
7 & Weather effects. & 29.40\% & 18 & 35.83\% & 13 & 5 & 25 \\
8 & Changes of scope/design during construction & 44.06\% & 7 & 43.01\% & 5 & 2 & 4 \\
9 & Delays in getting work permits. & 45.95\% & 5 & 57.70\% & 1 & 4 & 16 \\
10 & Lack of effective communication between the parties involved. & 40.09\% & 12 & 37.32\% & 10 & 2 & 4 \\
11 & Inaccurate design drawings/documents by the designer. & 37.87\% & 13 & 47.40\% & 3 & 10 & 100 \\
12 & Lack of experience and knowledge of contractor staff. & 41.47\% & 9 & 35.72\% & 14 & -5 & 25 \\
13 & Rework due to errors during construction. & 37.17\% & 14 & 34.52\% & 15 & -1 & 1 \\
14 & Delays in progress payment by owner. & 23.81\% & 22 & 39.08\% & 9 & 13 & 169 \\
15 & Governmental and political related issues. & 23.83\% & 21 & 22.14\% & 23 & -2 & 4 \\
16 & Delays in contractor payment to sub-contractors and suppliers. & 36.04\% & 15 & 28.27\% & 21 & -6 & 36 \\
17 & Long time for approval and decision making by owner. & 45.32\% & 6 & 48.48\% & 2 & 4 & 16 \\
18 & Shortage of materials or equipment. & 34.08\% & 16 & 36.39\% & 12 & 4 & 16 \\
19 & Unforeseen (unexpected) site conditions. & 29.61\% & 17 & 30.07\% & 20 & -3 & 9 \\
20 & Wrong construction methods. & 29.14\% & 19 & 28.21\% & 22 & -3 & 9 \\
21 & Inflation and escalation of material prices. & 25.05\% & 20 & 32.08\% & 16 & 4 & 16 \\
22 & Delays related to sub-contractors' work. & 41.25\% & 10 & 31.53\% & 18 & -8 & 64 \\
23 & Low productivity by contractor labor. & 42.90\% & 8 & 31.73\% & 17 & -9 & 81 \\ \hline \multicolumn{2}{c}{Total} & & & & & & 815 \\ \multicolumn{2}{c}{Spearman rank correlation coefficient} & & & & & & 0.4 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: The Spearman’s rank correlation factor between the Owner and Contractor. on a daily basis and different work permits for different type of activities such as hot work, cold work, confined space entry, and so forth. Indeed, delaying the issuance of the work permit has a negative impact on the project completion time, especially for those activities in the critical path. Poor site management and supervision by contractors (49.4%) was seen to be the third critical factor. This is true as poor management is always a risk for any project. Poor management can affect the project schedule by not managing the critical activities and assign the required resources on time, reporting the progress and taking the corrective action timely. Furthermore, the project cost can be also be impacted if the cash flow is not managed and the resources are not utilized effectively in order to avoid idle time. On the other hand, good project management can have a positive impact on both the cost and schedule. The fourth critical factor was found to be the poor planning and scheduling of projects by the Contractor (47.1%). Indeed, failure in planning is just planning for failure. Poor planning and scheduling is a result of underestimating the activity duration, ignoring the productivity factor, overconfidence, and so forth. Subsequently, the overall project cost and the schedule are affected.