Abstract. This paper presents identification of significant delay factors encountered by Makkah's construction industry using quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire developed based on literature review was verified through pilot study involved selected construction experts. Questionnaire survey was conducted amongst Makkah construction practitioners include contractors, consultants and project management consultancy. The survey managed to collect 100 valid responses which were used to rank the factors using average index approach. Results of the analysis for 10 most significant factors causing construction delay in Makkah construction industry are Difficulties in financing project by contractor, Poor coordination between parties, Shortage of manpower, Delays in producing design documents, Improper planning and scheduling of the project, Delay in progress payments, Low productivity level of labour, Poor communication between parties, Unqualified workforce and Poor contract management. This finding is helpful to Makkah construction's community particularly projects' stakeholders in avoiding potential delay for their future projects.

Abstract. Large construction projects in Yemen face many impediments and challenges to be completed successfully. This article presents an investigative cases study of three mega construction projects which are considered failed to achieve their assigned plans and objectives. An exploratory interview was implied in this study via telephone to three construction experts who involved directly in these mega projects at the managerial level. Semi-structured questions based on literature were designed as guide for the interview where the scope was mainly on causes of the mega projects failure. Outcomes from this study found that Yemen construction industry lacks of proper accrediting system to accredit construction stakeholders (contactors, consultant); improper planning for cost and time, lack of effective communication and coordination platforms and lack of advanced technology which are considered amongst the crucial challenges faced by industry. Hence, Yemeni construction industry is in dire needs of an effective platforms and system to administer project communication, information and coordination. Findings of this study can be useful for Yemeni construction community to understand causes of the failure and suggestions provided by experts are also very helpful in creating better quality works.

Makkah city in Saudi Arabia is the holiest place for all Muslims across the world due to the presence of Masjid Al-Haram where the “KAABA” is located. In the holy city of Makkah, mega construction projects are currently under construction to accommodate the increased numbers of pilgrims. These mega projects faced many impediments and challenges to be completed successfully. Hence, this paper presents an investigative study on failure factors of mega Makkah construction projects, particularly from the site management viewpoint. The insight issues are based on interview with senior manager having 15 years of working experiences in handling mega construction projects. The interview was carried out on open-ended mode where ample time was given to the respondent to express his experienced in handling Saudi’s construction projects. This study uncovered that 50 % of project failure is due to contractor, 30% is due to client/PMC (Project Management Consultant), 15% is due to supervision consultant and 5% is due external factors. It also identified 58 failure factors and clustered in 4 groups in which the group are Client Instigated Factors with 17 failure factors, Contractor Instigated Factors with 27 failure factors, Consultant Instigated Factors with 10 failure factors and External Instigated Factors with 4 failure factors. The findings are helpful for construction community as well as to researchers to understand the insightful issues engulfing construction projects in Makkah city.

Changes during construction is one of the critical issues faced in the construction industry. Effective management of construction changes will reduce the financial burden faced in construction projects due to cost overrun, and practitioners will be able to complete projects on time. On the other hand, construction changes exert severe effects on project performance. Hence, this paper uncovers several changes occurring in construction projects. It also evaluates the effect on various parameters of project performance due to changes. This was done by uncovering the underlying causes and effects of changes through the PLS method of structural equation modeling technique. SmartPLS software was used to develop and evaluate the study model based on 58 change causes and 48 change effects that were identified from the literature review. Causes of changes were categorized into three constructs which are client-related causes (CLE), consultant-related causes (COS), and contractor-related causes (CON). At the same time, the effects variables were grouped as Time Overrun (TO), Cost Overrun (CO), and Quality (QA). The survey data for generating the model was collected from 218 practitioners working on construction megaprojects of the UAE. Assessment on the constructed model found that the contractor (CON) group is the most influential group of causes with the highest values of the model’s predictive explanatory power (accuracy), which is 0.396, 0.339, and 0.410 to time overrun, cost overrun, and quality assurance of the effects groups, respectively. At the same time, the Quality Assurance (QA) group is considered the most substantial parameter which are affected due to changes occurring in construction projects of UAE. This model is deemed beneficial for the UAE construction industry in facilitating the effective recognition of possible causes and effects of change among the UAE construction projects. As a result, the practitioners will make necessary arrangements to control the potential changes in future projects.

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Abstract. This paper presents the development of PLS-SEM Path Model of delay factors of Saudi Arabia construction industry focussing on Mecca City. The model was developed and assessed using SmartPLS v3.0 software and it consists of 37 factors/manifests in 7 groups/independent variables and one dependent variable which is delay of the construction projects. The model was rigorously assessed at measurement and structural components and the outcomes found that the model has achieved the required threshold values. At structural level of the model, among the seven groups, the client and consultant group has the highest impact on construction delay with path coefficient β-value of 0.452 and the project management and contract administration group is having the least impact to the construction delay with β-value of 0.016. The overall model has moderate explaining power ability with R² value of 0.197 for Saudi Arabia construction industry representation. This model will able to assist practitioners in Mecca city to pay more attention in risk analysis for potential construction delay.

One of the important factors for construction project success is managing the workers. It requires good leadership qualities in handling the workers’ issues. This paper presents a study on associating good leadership qualities with the workers issues of Saudi Arabia’s construction industry. The study was conducted within Makkah development region where all the construction workers are foreigners. A questionnaire survey involved 203 construction leaders who were asked to rate the degree of importance of each the identified leadership qualities in handling several construction workers issues. Collected data from this survey was used to develop PLS-SEM model which relates structural relationship of leadership qualities with the worker issues. Validation of the model shows that it is fit with Goodness of Fit (GoF) value of 0.30. The validated model indicates that problem solving group of qualities is the most dominant in handling workers issues.These findings are helpful for Saudi Arabia’s construction practitioners in handling workers issues effectively and thus ensure completion of construction projects timely.