Construction industry on the brink: The COVID-19 impact.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all industries globally, including the construction industry. As a result, the construction industry is experiencing several challenges in terms of delivering projects on time and on budget. However, a few studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has a positive impact on the construction industry. Hence, analysing the issues caused by COVID-19 is vital to lessen the effects of the pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry. Accordingly, a detailed literature review was carried out to gain a theoretical understanding of the topic. A quantitative research approach was used to collect data. The questionnaire survey was conducted using snowball sampling with a total of one 108 respondents. Statistical Package for Social Science" (SPSS) was used to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed 86 negative impacts for the construction industry owing to the pandemic, which was classified as resources-related issues, project management issues, quality issues, financial issues, contractual issues, safety issues, technology-related issues, and other issues for the construction industry. An increase in the price of materials and equipment, project cost, exchange rate, and inflation rate were noted as significant negative impacts to the construction industry. The research further identified twelve (12) favourable impacts for the construction industry as a result of the pandemic. Encouraging risk assessment and collaboration and encouraging Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) were highlighted as the significant positive impacts. Therefore, strategies need to be identified to neutralise the negative impacts using the positive impacts caused by the pandemic. This study contributes to the body of knowledge to advance the construction industry towards the next level during the post- COVID-19 scenario, which will be the focus of the next phase of this research.