Assessing the causes of construction projects delays in the developing countries: Case of Iraq

The research proposes a modified Fuzzy- Failure Model and Effects Analysis model to assess the level of significance of the root causes of construction projects delays. The proposed model considers the Expected Cost Level (E.C.L) which measures the expected level of the financial cost needed to overcome the risky event. The assessment was performed under a fuzzy environment to resolve the ambiguity that comes with human knowledge and decision-making process. When compared to the conventional Fuzzy-FMEA model, results indicated high accuracy in the assessment for the Root Causes of Construction Projects Delays (RCCPD). It was found that the top five RCCPD based Fuzzy-FMEA model are lack of testing facilities (F-RPN=0.80), followed by site accidents (F-RPN=0.79), environmental factors (F-RPN=0.69), poor communication and site coordination (F-RPN=0.67), and lack of skilled and unskilled workers (F-RPN=0.65). On the other hand, it was found that the top five RCCPD based on the Modified Fuzzy-FMEA model are site accidents (MF-RPN=0.98) followed by lack of skilled and unskilled workers (MF-RPN=0.91), lack of testing facilities (MF-RPN=0.90), escalation in materials prices (MF-RPN=0.87), and material shortage (MF-RPN=0.86). Furthermore, the proposed model should encourage construction professionals and researchers to adopt it when assessing the causes of delays and other causes of system failures in different engineering contexts.