Risk management in small construction projects in Iran: Status, barriers and impact

Risk management (RM) should be implemented in construction projects to assure the achievement of project objectives, regardless of project size and dimensions. This study aims to investigate RM in small projects in Iran in terms of status, barriers and impact on project performance. To achieve the objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted and data was collected from 40 projects submitted by 25 experts from 5 companies. The analysis results indicated a relatively low level of RM implementation in the small construction projects, and “shortage of potential benefits”, “not being economical”, “shortage of time” and “shortage of budget” were prominent barriers. Also, the results reported a positive correlation between RM implementation and improvement in quality, cost and schedule performance of small construction projects. Findings of this study can provide an in-depth understanding of RM in small projects in Iran and make benefits of RM implementation convincing to stakeholders of small projects.