Factors affecting time and cost trade-off in multiple construction projects

Cash is one of the most critical resources of a construction company that determines survival. Cash-flow management is essential for contractors, as lack of cash resources is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the construction industry, compared to most other sectors. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting time and cost trade-off in multiple construction projects in Iraq. After reviewing a wide range of literature to determine the most common elements, a questionnaire is distributed to owners, consultants, supervising engineers, and contractors engaged in construction projects. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed using the relative importance index, arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The respondents namely assured Seventeen most essential factors; payments delay from client, progress payment due period, payment conditions, advanced payment, project delay, inaccurate project scheduling, variation orders, project duration, inaccurate project duration, profit, risk margin, project cost, cash flow forecasts, retentions percentage, estimating errors, materials cost, equipment cost, and labour cost.