The construction industry is central to the socio-economic and infrastructural advancement of developing countries; however, it continues to face persistent performance challenges, most notably recurrent cost overruns. While systematic cost risk management is recognized as a critical approach to improving project outcomes, its adoption across the industry remains limited. This study seeks to identify and rank the critical obstacles that hinder contractors from integrating systematic cost risk management into building construction projects. A comprehensive methodology was employed, including an in-depth literature review and three rounds of Delphi. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to evaluate the severity of the identified barriers, and Holm-corrected Spearman’s rank correlation analysis was applied to examine the relationships among them. The findings reveal that the most influential barriers include the absence of structured risk management frameworks within organizations, insufficient top management support, the lack of collaborative risk management mechanisms among stakeholders, limited technical knowledge and skills in risk management, and inadequate client support. The strong positive correlations among these barriers highlight their interdependent nature and underscore the systemic challenges facing contractors. This study contributes to the broader field of civil and structural engineering by providing evidence-based insights that can support the development of targeted strategies to enhance cost risk management practices in developing-country construction environments.
Belihu et al. (2026) studied this question.