M.Ing.(Engineering Management) / Delays are a major problem faced by construction companies. The majority of the leading delays factors found from reviewing other studies were avoidable delay factors. The avoidable delay factors are factors caused only by the contractor. The reviewed studies gave recommendations for addressing the delay factors; however this study found that projects nevertheless still failing in South African construction industry and other countries even after the various studies made recommendations on how to avoid the delay factors. The objectives of this study were to establish the top ten avoidable delay factors and their mitigation measures in various countries and also to establish which of the proposed mitigation measures for each of the top ten avoidable delay factors were believed to be the answer in South African construction industry. A questionnaire was developed with questions that will probe the respondents to select the mitigation measures that will address each of the ten avoidable delay factors. The option answers were specifically designed to be close-ended. The size of the sample required was 80 and this study managed to get 82 responses. The survey was launched using SurveyMonkey which is an online survey platform. The data received was analysed for reliability and validity. The reliability was determined using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and was applied using the testretest approach. All questions had a coefficient greater than 0.6 which meant that the responses were reliable (strong). The validity was established using face validity. The responses were analysed to establish which mitigation measures have more frequency of selection. Some of the questions had some mitigation measures receiving more than 80% of the selection and some questions had some mitigation measures getting almost the same percentage selection. Most (60%) of the provinces of South Africa agreed on which mitigation measure must be used for addressing the avoidable delay factors.

Construction management competencies are essential to realise sound practices among and to realise optimum performance by, inter alia, emerging civil engineering contractors. Such competencies enable a clear focus on the business of construction and the management of projects, with increased efficiency and reduced costs as a benefit. The objective of the MSc (Built Environment) treatise study were to determine the current practices and performance of emerging civil engineering construction contractors operating in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole. The descriptive method was adopted in the empirical study. The salient findings of the study are: most of the emerging civil engineering construction contracting organisations lack construction management competencies; construction resources are inappropriately managed leading to construction failures; most of the emerging civil engineering construction contracting organisations lack adequate supervision resulting to poor workmanship; there is a shortage of skilled labour amongst emerging civil engineering construction contractors; procurement processes are inappropriate leading to under capacitated emerging civil engineering construction contracting organisations being awarded contracts; most emerging civil engineering construction contracting organisations lack the requisite aptitude for construction; there is a lack of capacity at all management levels of emerging civil engineering construction organisations in managing the business of construction and that of projects; the nine functions of organisations are not comprehensively represented, and self-ratings indicate inadequacy relative to the management function of control, and relative to certain activities of the organising function. Conclusions include that emerging civil engineering construction contracting organisations need to be comprised of technical teams that possess adequate competencies and that use the construction technology to its full use enabling their organisations to stay abreast of their competitors. Recommendations that can contribute towards improving the status quo include: formal civil engineering and construction management education, resources must be present and training should be promoted throughout the industry at all levels of management to ensure proper supervision and correct use of adequately trained labour, skilled or semi-skilled, incapacitated emerging civil engineering construction contractors should be awarded contracts through appropriately and structured procurement procedures, adequate aptitude in construction should be promoted and enhanced in order to realise conceptualisation and visualisation capabilities, comply with legislation, maintain records and communicate using state of the art technology, optimally manage the finances, have the requisite resources and undertake the work efficiently, interact with the respective publics, and market the organisation to ensure sustainability thereof.