COVID-19's Effect on a Hotel Construction: A Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has unprecedented impacts on different sectors around the globe. The effects observed in developing countries are even more severe. Some projects stopped while many have cost and time overrun issues. This paper conducted a case study on the COVID-19's effects on a hotel construction project in Nepal. The study reviewed the literature on COVID-19 and its impact on construction sectors and conducted a semi-structured interview with the project's personnel. The interview response was analysed and the contributing factors that impacted the project and its performance were identified. The paper found financial, operational, contractual, safety, and risk management issues in the hotel project. Overall, the project cost increased by 32% where the material cost increased by 35% and labor cost increased by 28%. This research discusses causes, measures, and provides a broad perspective of the problems, significant challenges, and opportunities associated with the effects of COVID-19 on the construction industry. The Owner as well as the Contractors incurred added costs because of COVID-19. The paper identified contributing factors and presented the challenges which could be used as opportunities to minimize unforeseen impacts of the pandemics in near future. The lesson learned from this case study was that the labor cost and materials cost could have been minimized if the Owner and the Contractor had established alternative resources such as using locally available labor, materials, and alternative suppliers.