An empirical study of schedule delay causes based on Taiwan's litigation cases

Many uncertainties can cause construction projects to be delayed, resulting in conflicts between the two parties to a construction contract. This paper employs an innovative technique of analyzing the contents of legal cases that relate to schedule delays in construction projects and using the results of this analysis to construct a comprehensive causation model that appropriately categorizes the causes of these delays. Using case study and content analysis methodologies, this paper analyzed 79 litigation cases in Taiwan to identify the main causes of schedule delays in construction projects, which are "change orders," "changed scope of the work," "delayed site handover," and "weather." Terminology that is used to discuss causes of schedule delays and the causes of delays that have been identified in previous studies are reviewed. In this study, these causes are organized into a causation model to provide a reference for preventing schedule delay.