The construction industry is responsible for causing a large adverse impact on the environment. To minimize these impacts, sustainable practices are being sought mainly in the area of the wastage of and the waste from raw materials. Many obstacles and difficulties are encountered when trying to implement sustainable practices in civil construction. Thus, a study to identify what the obstacles are to implementing such practices is necessary. Therefore, the objective of this study is to present an assessment of the main obstacles to implementing sustainability in civil construction for which the bow-tie tool is used. Three cases were analyzed: construction material waste, the wastage of plaster and planning a sustainable construction project. Results showed that the lack of planning for sustainable construction projects, the lack of compliance with technical standards and the lack of technical knowledge of the workforce and of standardization are among the main obstacles to implementing sustainability in civil construction. This study offers a structured methodology to identify causes, consequences and obstacles related to events that affect the implementation of sustainable practices. It provides a visualization of the scenario investigated through the diagram generated, facilitating its understanding and analysis.