Ch. 19 - Delay & Impact Claims

Question 1

Delay

Answer 1

an event that causes extended time to compete all or part of a project. Adversely affect all project participants & cause additional construction costs, loss of revenues, & time & energy costs in appointing blame for the delay and who should pay damages. \Entitlement for a time extension is often easier to prove than damages.

Question 2

Impact

Answer 2

(aka disruption) the effect of an event that detrimentally affects a project but which may or may not extend the completion time of a project. Large amounts of money are often at stake.

Question 3

Acceleration

Answer 3

an increase in labor or equipment that shortens the completion time or mitigates the effects of an impact or delay. Claimable. Usually costs less than a delay. Claim for the cost of making up lost time.

Question 4

Compensable Delays

Answer 4

a delay for which one party is contracturally entitled to recover damages from the delaying party.

Question 5

Excusable Delay

Answer 5

a delay that isn’t attributable to the fault of any party & which may/may not be compensable, but it entitles the parties to extend the time for completion

Question 6

Contractor-caused delay

Answer 6

a delay caused by the contractor or by a party for whose actions the contractor is responsible; it is almost always non-excusable & non-compensable

Question 7

Force majeure delay

Answer 7

generally means events beyond the control of the contracting parties, although these events are usually specifically defined in the contract. E.g. fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.

Question 8

Concurrent delays

Answer 8

a delay in which two or more independent delays occur at the same time and delay the same activities. apportioning responsibility becomes either difficult or impossible and, therefore, absent a clause to the contrary, neither party can recover damages over the period of concurrency.

Question 9

No-damages-for-delay clause

Answer 9

a contractual limitation that protects the owner from the claims for damages associated with delay & acceleration; but it doesn’t stop the contractor from insisting on an extension of time. Considered limitation clauses. Courts construe them very strictly against the party they are intended to protect. Courts may refuse to enforce at all in extreme cases.

Question 10

Constructive Acceleration

Answer 10

occurs when the contractor has been forced to accelerate the work without any acknowledgement by the owner that the contractor is being asked to accelerate. These claims are harder to recognize than normal acceleration claims. Usually occurs when the contractor has been delayed and is entitled to an extension but the owner refuses to extend the project, creating constructive acceleration and entitling the contractor to additional compensation for accelerating work.

Question 11

Impact claim

Answer 11

a claim for costs that arise from inefficiency created by delay, interference, and changes in the sequence of the work. Claimant has a responsibility to disclose impact costs at the time of the delay or change.

Question 12

Total cost approach

Answer 12

values a delay claim by calculating the difference between the expected & actual cost of a project. involves beginning & end of project costs. Argument in claim is that difference in cost is due to owner breaches of contract (like a delay) and the claimant is to prove that the total increase in the project cost is recoverable as damages. Advantage is its simplicity. Disadvantage is hard to claim since owners can almost always claim that contractor error and excusable but non-compensable caused contributed to the delay.

Question 13

Measured mile approach

Answer 13

involves using a portion of the contract unaffected by delays as a yardstick to compare productivity for the rest of the contract. Used by contractor to demonstrate what could have been achieved in absence of owner’s breaches. Can also be used defensively by owners. Suitable for projects with repetitive tasks.

Question 14

Bar chart

Answer 14

Gives each activity a start and end date. Don’t show interrelationship between activities but is simplistic and easy to follow.

Question 15

Critical Path Method (CPM)

Answer 15

A type of network diagram that identifies the activities that must be achieved and in what order to realize the most efficient schedule. The critical path is a series of activities for which any delay will cause a delay to the project completion (have no float).

Question 16

Float

Answer 16

An individual activity that can be delayed without delaying the final project completion date has float.

Question 17

CCDC (Canadian Construction Documents Committee) 2 summary

Answer 17

If a contractor is delayed in performance of the Work by the Owner…, then the Contract Time shall be extended for such reasonable time as the Consultant may recommend. The contractor shall be reimbursed by the Owner for reasonable costs incurred by the contractor as a result of such delay. Does not specifically address the issue of contractor-caused delays. Does provide that a contractor is entitled to an extension of time for excusable delays, including causes beyond the contractor’s control. Delay section requires the contractor to give notice of a delay claim within 10 working days of the commencement of the delay in order to be entitled to claim an extension.

Question 18

Heads of Damage

Answer 18

Recoverable categories of damages. Include:

1) additional labor costs
2) travel and related expenses
3) costs associated with lost productivity and loss of profit
4) additional site and head office overhead (more difficult to prove)
5) costs associated with extending warranties and obtaining additional bonding
6) loss of interest in holdback
7) costs associated with paying subcontractors.

Question 19

First docs in prep for a delay claim?

Answer 19

project schedules. Schedules should be updated on a regular basis to avoid difficulty attempting to reconstruct the delays and their effects on completion date, as this is their main purpose in court.

Question 20

required docs in delay claim

Answer 20

The claimant should generate detailed documentation as soon as the delay is anticipated and identify the cause & consequence of delay. Docs include delivery slips, labor records, correspondence, diaries, minutes of meetings, photographs, telephone records, possibly productivity & job cost reports.