Ac 2007-2479: the Effect of Sub-contracting on Construction Time for Commercial Projects in Chennai, India

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that effect actual construction time in the context of commercial projects in Chennai, India. One of the factors of particular interest was the extent of sub-contracting in construction projects. The data for the study was obtained from a few leading design and construction management companies in Chennai, India. The sample size consisted of 53 commercial construction projects scattered all over the region. The effect of sub-contracting on construction time was analyzed in conjunction with other known variables of time overrun, such as actual project cost and number of change orders. The results indicated that the effect of use of sub-contractors on construction time was statistically significant even in the presence of actual project cost and change order variables. It was concluded that the extent of sub-contracting could be included in prediction models used for finding out actual construction time of commercial projects, at least in this particular region of India. Based on these findings, a prediction model for construction time for such projects was developed.