ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REASONS FOR THE DELAYS IN THE PORTUGUESE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The lack of competitiveness of the Portugueseconstruction industry has been recurrently mentioned in thepress and in technical literature. Some symptoms of thishave been stressed by several parties and their causes oftenrelated to the lack of accomplishment of essentialmanagement functions in construction projects. In view ofthis, a research project has been launched to help claritycauses and find possible solutions for the problem. In thescope of the latter, a large survey to Portugueseconstruction stakeholders has been conducted. This paperbriefly reports the results of this, providing someinformation on the survey and commenting results in theshape of preventive measures highlighted by respondents.Understanding the causes of project delays may help incurbing the problem and contribute to an improvement inmanagement and productivity, inevitably making the sectora more productive one contributing to country economicdevelopment.Index Terms ⎯ Portuguese construction competitiveness,construction delays, cost overruns, national survey.