Delay · disruption · quantum
When a project runs late, the programme is only the beginning.
A construction project can miss its completion date for a dozen reasons at once. Drawings arrive late. Access is partial. A subcontractor underperforms. A variation changes the sequence. Crews stay longer and install less each hour. The dispute begins with one question, who caused the delay, and it cannot be answered in one step.
This publication follows the chain from contract to conclusion. It does not treat a colourful schedule as a verdict, it does not use professional guidance as though it were law, and it does not pretend an answer from London transfers unchanged to Sydney, California, Riyadh or Dubai.
Every legal proposition on this site carries its source class
A judgment, a contract clause and a consultant’s article are not the same currency. Law and editions checked as at 3 August 2026.
Choose your route
Six audiences, one chain of proof
- I am new to delay and quantumLearn the difference between delay, disruption, prolongation and damages, in that order.
- A live project is slippingCapture defensible records now, and link every event to notice, programme and cost.
- I need to analyse an eventChoose a method by the question you have to answer and the records you actually hold.
- I am researching the lawStart with the jurisdiction, then trace every proposition back to its source.
- I want the analysis to move fasterWhat AI genuinely changes in claim preparation, and what it must never be allowed to decide.
- I hold the commercial positionThe executive series: quantum and delay as lifecycle disciplines, read for the board rather than the tribunal.
The claim chain
Break one link and an impressive model proves nothing
Exact contract, governing law and forum, event and notice, factual causation, critical-path or productivity effect, legally recoverable loss, reliable evidence. Every guide on this site sits somewhere on that chain, and every case study shows what happens when a link is missing.
- 1
Contract
Which clause allocates the event, and what does it require?
- 2
Notice
What started the clock, to whom must notice go, and what happens if it is late?
- 3
Fact
What changed on site, when, where and because of whom or what?
- 4
Time
Did the event affect the critical or contractually relevant path?
- 5
Money
What additional cost or lost productivity did that event cause?
- 6
Law and forum
Which rules govern interpretation, evidence and remedy?
The library
Where everything lives
DelayCritical path, float, concurrency and prevention, treated as questions of fact before questions of law.- MethodsEight method families, what each assumes, the records each needs and how they fail.
- QuantumProlongation, disruption, loss and expense and damages, with the double-recovery controls.
- RecordsThe operating system that makes all of the above provable, written for site teams.
- ContractsNotices, time bars, extension-of-time machinery and liquidated damages across the main forms.
- JurisdictionsEngland and Wales, the United States, Australia and the GCC, kept carefully apart.
Current legal watch
The UAE Civil Transactions Law changed on 1 June 2026
Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025 took effect on 1 June 2026 and repealed Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, subject to transitional questions that need advice. Any resource still describing the 1985 code as the current mainland civil code needs review, and that includes templates, precedent bundles and training material.
Built by AI Metric
Bespoke AI and automation for delay and quantum teams
The analysis on this site is only as fast as the evidence behind it. AI Metric builds bespoke systems for consultancies, contractors and claims teams: document and correspondence triage, event registers assembled from the project record, programme and cost reconciliation, and drafting support that always cites the document it came from. Built for review by your own experts, never to replace their judgement.