Contractor-Based Evaluation of Construction Cost Overrun Factors Using Matrix Analysis

The construction cost overrun is an important issue that should be addressed, as it directly impacts many construction companies. Our research objective is to study and rank the impacts of empirical attitudes on construction cost overruns using the matrix analysis method. The research began with a focus group of 78 respondents, including 40 project engineers from contractor construction companies, 18 heads of government sectors related to construction projects, and 20 construction academicians. Based on expert interviews and the focus group discussion, 13 relevant factors were identified, and a questionnaire survey was subsequently conducted for data collection. The results showed that labor shortages were the most important factor influencing construction cost overruns, with the highest eigenvector value of 0.1687. The ranking of factors based on the percentages of average construction cost overruns includes labor shortages, variation orders, financial capacity, material price fluctuations, and drawing conditions, accounting for 18.3%, 15.7%, 12.8%, 10.2%, and 9.0%, respectively. These findings demonstrate the applicability of matrix analysis as a systematic approach for prioritizing empirical managerial attitudes influencing construction cost overruns, thereby providing a structured basis for decision-making in construction cost risk management.