The True Impacts of Late Deliverables to Construction

Late deliverables to the site continue to be a major impediment to project success. Project teams tend to become reactive when dealing with late deliverable events. In order to understand the far-reaching impacts of late deliverables at the construction site, this research team investigated how various types of late deliverables affect the five project pillars: cost, schedule, quality, safety, and organizational capacity. RT-300 was specifically charged with identifying the most common types of late deliverables and their full range of impacts on projects. The research team developed two main research thrusts: 1) understand and document the full range of potential late deliverables and the impacts and risks asociated with them, and 2) examine how the construction industry currently perceives and manages late deliverables.

The primary benefit of this research is the increased awareness it can provide of the full range of potential impacts and risk arising from the late deliverables. With this deeper understanding, project teams can deploy the suggested prevention techniques to improve project delivery, productivity, and predictability, as well as enhanced safety, quality, and organizational and individual achievement.

The best solution is avoiding late deliverables. In IR300-2 and RS300-1, this team has provided an outline for both recognizing the potential for and actively preventing late deliverables.