A Survey on the Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic at Construction Sites

Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in substantial disruptions and hardships across nations and industries. Like others, the construction industry has also been impacted by the pandemic in a number of ways. Reported adverse impacts include significant delays in projects, failure to deliver materials on time, decreased productivity rates, and increases in material prices. Declining revenues and increasing project delivery difficulties due to the current crisis have also affected the industry. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic at the construction sites from the perspective of the employer, contractor and the employees. A survey has been conducted with the construction professionals to explore the measures taken against the pandemic, how these measures were financed, suspensions, delays, disruptions, non-payment and cash flow issues, employee motivation, procurement and recruitment problems, interpretation of the force majeure clauses in the contracts, extension of time and additional payment claims arisen due to the pandemic. The findings are expected to be useful to all construction industry stakeholders and researchers for identifying the prominent problem areas and seek relevant solutions to decrease the adverse effects experienced during the pandemic.