An Economical Analysis of the Effect of Delays on Project Costs

When a delay occurs in a project, there are basically two options: prescribing overtime work and injecting additional resources, in order to meet the project schedule of certain activities. This paper uses economic analysis to demonstrate that a decision maker will select the most suitable alternative by considering productivity losses in overtime work and the relative unit costs between different labor and resource inputs. The paper also suggests some avenues for future empirical research in construction overtime work.