Construction contingency determination: A review of processes and techniques

Contingency provision on a construction project is one of the risk management techniques embraced by project owners to deal with project unanticipated expense (spending) and time overruns. However, contingencies could be overestimated or underestimated. The current study therefore investigated how contingency is determined on construction projects and the benefits of contingency planning. A literature review of literature was undertaken from various databases including Academic Search Complete, Google, Goole Scholar, Ebscohost and others. The materials used were selected based on their possession of the key words related to the study. Thematic content analysis was used to identify themes on cost and time contingency planning process and techniques. The findings revealed that the process of cost contingency determination entails identifying different scenarios of events and risks, and developing the plans based on the potential responses to the identified risks. Further findings revealed that various techniques may be used in the process and practice of estimating cost and time contingencies. The findings are envisaged to be beneficial to construction stakeholders assess and improve on contingency planning process on projects.