One of the most important problems in the construction industry is variations. They occur in every construction project and\r\nthe magnitude of these variations varies considerably from project to project. Hence, the variations orders bear great importance\r\nright from the inception to completion in the construction industry. Most of the road construction projects in Sri Lanka have\r\nexperienced a large number of variation orders. The client had to spend more than what was initially estimated in most cases.\r\nSometimes, disputes and unnecessary delays occur due to variations. This study attempted to reveal the possible causes of variation\r\norders in the road construction projects in Sri Lanka. The data were collected through a literature review, a case study analysis\r\nfocused on 11 road construction projects, and a questionnaire administered to professionals in the road construction industry in\r\nSri Lanka. The study found out that the causes in the local context differ from those in the international context. According to\r\nthe questionnaire survey, poor estimation was the most significant cause of variation orders. Unforeseen site conditions, political\r\npressure during construction stage, poor investigation, and client-initiated variations occupy the 2nd to 5th places, respectively, in\r\nthe ranking. This ranking was further proven through the case study analysis.
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