Construction delay claims are perhaps the most common types of disputes in the construction industry. Claims related to schedule delays often lead to construction dispute resolution forums such as mediation, arbitration, and/or litigation because of their propensity to be some of the most complex and least understood disputes in the construction field. Additionally, schedule impacts can result in large delay damage figures that can threaten the economic viability of a project and/or the existence of a party to the project.
In the mediation, arbitration, and litigation arena, schedule delay claims typically relate to unanticipated project events and/or circumstances which extend the project and/or prevent work from being performed as originally planned. There are many common causes for schedule delays on a construction project, which include, but are not limited to, mismanagement and maladministration, site access restrictions, differing site conditions, permits and approvals, financial problems, defective plans and/or specifications, changes in the work, labor productivity issues, document review/approval, testing/inspections, inclement weather, and force majeure events.
Courts, arbitration panels, and mediators often rely upon scheduling experts to analyze construction schedules in conjunction with the project record to identify schedule delays, quantify their associated impacts on the critical path of the project, and provide root-cause analysis relative to delay causation. A clear understanding of the basic elements necessary to substantiate delay claims is invaluable. Interface Consulting’s scheduling experts have advanced hands-on knowledge of CPM schedule analysis and extensive practical experience in the contract claims environment involving construction delay claims. Additionally, our consultants also serve as construction scheduling experts and have testified in US federal and state courts and numerous arbitrations administered under AAA, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and ICC forums involving schedule delays and delay damages.
Interface Consulting provides contemporaneous and forward-looking CPM schedule analysis to facilitate the early resolution of time extensions, as well as forensic delay analysis for the preparation and/or defense of construction delay claims. Our scheduling experts have extensive experience in CPM schedule analysis by means of the following industry-recognized methodologies:
It should be noted that the selection of a particular schedule analysis methodology depends on the project facts, the nature of the events being analyzed, the nature and extent of available as-built information, and the available progress data, and may vary from project to project. Each of the above-referenced schedule analysis methodologies has inherent advantages and disadvantages. Interface Consulting is experienced in handling construction delay claims and our construction experts are skilled at tailoring our schedule analysis approach to suit a project’s needs and constraints.