Construction Cost Overruns of Residential Building Projects in Oman: Root Cases and Mitigation Strategy

Abstract

Characteristics of construction project includes a specific purpose and it must meet the requirements and expectations of the client. The construction project activities are always linked together and the time required for each activity does vary. The working on the project will not complete unless there are experts from different departments ranging from site workers, civil engineers, architects, electricians, designers, project engineer, site engineer, project manager and administrative staff such as procurement department and others. One of the primary objectives is to finish the project within budget. Excess of construction costs has a negative impact on project parties. Therefore, the causes of these abuses must be identified, especially in the Sultanate of Oman. This research investigates and evaluates the root causes of the cost overrun, cost trend and financial risks related to the residential projects in Sultanate of Oman. A questionnaire has been designed to collect the primary data and literatures are studied to collect the related secondary data. The causes are categorized into three groups according to the responses of the specialists with the contractor, consultant and client .Aspects of agreement between groups were identified after analyzing the questionnaire.