The Journal of Science and Engineering Applications (JSEA)

Abstract

Construction projects in Iraq, as in many developing countries, suffer from a diverse risk that affect the final cost of projects. Most disputes between the employer and the contractor occur because of this risk. A survey on published literature in international and Iraqi scientific journals dealing with the subject of cost deviation in Iraqi construction projects has been done. It was found that the five most important reasons for cost deviation in Iraqi construction projects are; poor project management, poor cost control, poor site management, additional work, poor planning approaches and delay in paying the amounts to the contractor. There is no agreement among Iraqi researchers on the degree of importance or sequence of reasons for the cost overrun in the projects. About (89%) from the researchers used the method of expert questionnaire in obtaining these reasons and accordingly to rank them. Despite the enough number of researches in this field, Iraqi construction projects still suffer from deviation in costs. The researcher recommends to conducting research based on documents of completed projects and not on questionnaires so that the real data may contribute to helping project management avoid disputes due to cost deviation.