Our current house build got off to a great start with so many things accomplished in the first 2 weeks it looked like we would be in within 3 months. Now as we look back more than 6 months later, still waiting to move in, we see where things began to go wrong.
One day the builder came and put ceiling panels on, that was great. Except the roof truss had still not been moved out of the path of the flue. Now a job that could be done inside without disturbing the roofing tiles, was transformed into an outdoor, invasive, weather-dependent task.
Then the floor of the carport was prepared for concrete pouring before the drains which pass under it had been laid. The drainlayer had to dig across the carport area by hand in order to avoid disturbing the boxing (time consuming).
Next because the drain ditch had been dug before bricks were delivered, the bricklayer was put off for several weeks until it was closed in and access was restored.
Other issues arose when subcontractors were put off from their original schedule because of these delays and then were unable to return until much later. Painters had to paint before carpet went down, some of the paintwork took days to dry (as we had specified oil-based paint for woodwork). These extra days had not been factored in despite the paint type being decided at the outset.
Many of the delays could perhaps have been avoided by better scheduling and greater vigilance on the part of the building manager. In my view, a company that builds homes for a living should be expert at recognising possible delay points and preempting disaster. They should be proactively collecting details of delays and difficulties and incorporating this knowledge into future builds.
Interestingly, many subcontractors and builders recognise that these types of delay are quite common, and yet there doesn't seem to be any great impetus to avoid them in the future, rather a somewhat fatalistic "Oh you always get delays." is the most frequent response.
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