1. An understanding:

Sometimes it’s impossible to avoid delays on construction projects. Contractors and subcontractors frequently incur higher expenses as a result of delays, and owners may be exposed to claims for liquidated damages for delays. Some delays, such as those brought on by events beyond the contractor’s control, can be considered excused delays and grant the contractor time extensions, preventing the need for liquidated damages. Certain forms of excused delays, such as those brought on by the owner’s activity or inaction, may also be regarded as compensable delays, giving the contractor the right to reimbursement for the additional expenses of the delay as well as an extension of the project’s completion date.

However, establishing and demonstrating that a delay is acceptable and compensable can be difficult and fraught with pitfalls for the unwary. In the event that construction project delays occur, this articulation is intended to help contractors and subcontractors position themselves to successfully pursue claims for additional time or compensation. It does this by offering five essential practical advice.

“Remember, waiting time is detrimental here in delay claims process”.

 2. Negotiate, not negate the terms of the contract before start

It is impossible to overestimate the significance of the contract language for the final success of recovering additional time and compensation for construction project delays. In the end, the contract will essentially determine what kinds of delays provide the contractor a right to relief and the conditions the contractor must meet to get that relief. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully evaluate the contract’s delay and claims provisions up front, and where it is possible, negotiate for language that will allow for acceptable delay relief.

Contractors should, for instance, carefully examine the list of circumstances that may qualify them for exemption from delays to make sure that it is sufficiently inclusive and not unduly restricted. In order to increase the likelihood that an unexpected delay event may qualify the contractor for relief, the list of acceptable delay events should ideally include catch-all language like “or any other event or occurrence outside of the contractor’s control.” If at all feasible, avoid contract language that provides no consequences for delays. If not, the contractor should attempt to limit the scope of such wording such that it only applies to specific sorts of delays, such as those brought on by other parties, and hold the owner accountable to the contractor for delays brought on by the owner.

The contractor should also strive to get rid of any clauses that say claims are waived if they are not made within a specific amount of time. In order to provide everyone a fair chance to be able to perceive and give notice of a delay, the contractor should endeavor to acquire a reasonable time period to offer notice of a claim, such as 21 or 30 days after the incident that caused the delay, if such waiver wording cannot be avoided.

 3. Time line, the schedule, an importance

The contractor must be able to identify an occurrence that will delay the project in order to effectively establish a delay claim. The project schedule lists which tasks are on the critical path and only delays that affect those activities will put off finishing the work. In order to predict when an event can result in a critical path delay and to give timely warning of the delay, contractors must actively update and use the schedule. By comparing the initial as-planned critical path to the then-current as-built critical path as a result of the delay, the schedule is also crucial for detecting and illustrating the impact of the delay.

A contractor’s ability to recognize, prove, and ultimately recover from delay claims can be severely hampered by inaccurate or outdated schedules. Additionally, it might be advantageous to hire a third-party scheduling consultant early on to help with the development of the delay claim in order to try to best position the claim for success by allowing the consultant to provide contemporaneous input and analysis of the schedule and the delay rather than having to retrace what happened.

 4. Salute the law and claim protocols as defined

The contract’s notification and delay claim obligations must be understood and followed by contractors, and especially by their project management employees. They must specifically adhere to the terms of the contract governing the time of notice, the right way to give notice, to whom notice must be given, and what information must be included in the delay claim notification. To properly establish the claim, it is also necessary to carefully analyse and adhere to the temporal requirements for substantiating the delay claim.

 A delay claim that otherwise has merit may be fatally damaged if proper and timely notice is not given. Due to inadequate notice, courts in many states, including Florida, have rejected claims outright. Avoid relying exclusively on verbal exchanges with the owner or architect because there is a good chance that they won’t be sufficient to defend a claim for which timely and accurate written notice was not given. Follow the best practice’s, lessons learned earlier success stories and good references, “As you think so you become”.

 5. Book keeping on delay events causes, and contemporaneous records

Documentation of the delay and costs incurred throughout the course of the project, in addition to timely and appropriate notice of the claim, is essential for a successful recovery. This entails recording not only the delay events that gave rise to the claim, but also the communications pertaining to the claim, the consequences of the delay, the actions taken to lessen the delay, and the losses sustained as a result of the delay. It is crucial to record such events verbally through letters, meeting minutes, and daily reports. When appropriate, it is also vital to record events on camera or with a video camera (as allowed)

 As similar to this, it’s critical to track and segregate out specific additional expenditures incurred as a result of delays in order to separate out and independently track damages. Schedule analysis is another crucial tool for doing this. As contemporaneous documentation made and tracked around the time of the events is always going to be more powerful and effective proof than attempts to remember or recreate what occurred after the project has concluded, this should be done during the project while events are occurring rather than at the end.

 6. Be with in the present, do not delay on delay claims

Contractors could be tempted to notify the client of the claim for a delay in order to keep the project on schedule, only to deal with it later. This may be harmful to the claim’s viability for a number of reasons. First, as was already mentioned, it will be more challenging and probably less successful to try to reconstruct and establish the claim at the end of the project if the contractor fails to contemporaneously document the consequences of the delay and the damages attributable to the delay. Secondly, most important, if the contractor waits to pursue the claim until after the project is complete, he or she may lose the leverage that will allow them to successfully resolve the delay claim when the owner is also under pressure to finish the project. Finally, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, and the contract language at issue, there is a chance that the contractor may unintentionally waive the claim if it fails to timely pursue it.

 Conclusion

These are only a few of the most important recommendations for improving the likelihood of a successful settlement for a construction project delay claim. Of course, there are many other crucial factors to take into account and steps to take in connection with a delay claim, and it is necessary to take into account the unique circumstances of a certain project and the delay in question. As a result, for specific inquiries and legal counsel on any particular construction project delay claim, a lawyer with experience in construction law should be engaged.

Remember, the claimant is the architect of his claims fortune, or misfortune.