For everyone new to this
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Construction claims have a vocabulary problem. Delay, disruption, prolongation, loss and expense, damages, quantum: these are used loosely on site and precisely in a dispute, and the gap between the two costs real money. This route fixes the vocabulary first, then the mechanisms, then the proof.
- 1. Delay, disruption and quantum explainedThree words used interchangeably on site, which mean three different things in a claim.
- 2. How a delay claim actually worksThe chain from contract to conclusion, and the point at which most claims fail.
- 3. Critical path and float without the jargonWhat the critical path is, why it moves, and who owns float.
- 4. An extension of time is not automatically moneyThe single most expensive misunderstanding in construction contracts.
- 5. Build the claim while building the projectThe records field guide, which is where the theory meets a live job.
- 6. Choosing an analysis methodHow the question and the records decide the method, once you know the vocabulary.
One example runs through all of it
A contractor planned to finish on 30 June and completed on 30 September. The 92 days are not the answer. They are the problem to be explained. The employer issued structural revisions in February. The steel subcontractor was already behind. Heavy rain interrupted earthworks in March. A late switchgear delivery constrained commissioning in August.
Some of those effects overlapped and some did not. Some may qualify for time but not money. A contractor-caused event may have consumed float without moving completion at all. A late event may be irrelevant because a different path was controlling. Every page in this route takes one piece of that example and shows what has to be proved.
What you should be able to do at the end
- Say precisely what kind of claim you are looking at, and what it needs to prove.
- Read a programme well enough to ask why the critical path changed.
- Recognise when a record is worth something and when it is decoration.
- Understand why the same facts can earn time without earning money.
- Ask an expert a useful question instead of an expensive one.
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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.
General explanation of how contract mechanisms, analysis methods and legal principles generally work. It is not legal or contractual advice, not an opinion on any project, and no standard-form contract wording is reproduced anywhere on this site. Standard forms are routinely amended, so every default described here, including every time period, can be different on your project. Your executed contract, as amended, and the governing law and forum always control. Deadlines may already be running: if an event has occurred, preserve your position and take qualified advice.