In this paper, time is a crucial consideration throughout the project management life cycle and can be considered one of the most critical parameters of a project as well as the driving force of project success. As a result, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an influence on the global economy as well as the building industry in Saudi Arabia. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, many projects experienced time and expense overruns. Work on the site came to a halt, and productivity stagnated.
With that in mind, this study was based on first-hand knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected the construction industry. The consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic on construction projects in Saudi Arabia were explored in this study. This study seeks to identify, investigate, and rank elements considered to impact delays in Saudi building projects in terms of their relative importance in order to provide viable solutions to this phenomenon. To accomplish this goal, the researcher recruited practitioners and experts from a statistically representative sample to take part in a structured questionnaire survey. Brainstorming was used, and a variety of delay reasons in building projects were found as a result. The survey was carried out with the participation of specialists and representatives from private, public, and local general construction businesses. The Relative Importance Index (RII), ranking, and basic percentages were used to examine the data. The impact of factors and categories on delay was indicated by ranking them.