What Is Delay Analysis?
Delay analysis is the set of methods for establishing why a project is late, what each cause actually did, and who is responsible — the basis of extensions of time, claims and damages.
Types of delay
Excusable and compensable — caused by the employer, such as late site possession or changes — earns both time and money. Excusable but non-compensable, such as force majeure, usually earns time alone. Non-excusable, the contractor’s own shortfall, exposes them to delay damages. Concurrent delays are the hardest of all to analyse.
The methods
From the simple comparative as-planned versus as-built, through to time impact analysis, which inserts the delay event into a programme updated to the moment it occurred and measures its effect on the critical path — the last being the most widely accepted in formal disputes.
Prevention beats analysis
Daily records, programmes updated regularly with actual dates, delay notices served within their contractual periods, and immediate documentation of events: with that kit, analysis stops being an argument about impressions and becomes an arithmetic of documents.
Worked example
A 30-day delay in approving shop drawings on a critical activity, plus 10 days of exceptional rain: the time analysis shows an entitlement to 30 days with compensation, the employer’s cause, and 10 days without — not 40 days of damages against the contractor.
FAQ
When should I serve a delay notice?
As soon as you know of the event and within the contractual period, usually 14 to 28 days. Missing the deadline can forfeit the entitlement however good the underlying cause.
Put this to work with Project Planning & Scheduling
A realistic project schedule: activities, dependencies and critical path, intelligently generated
Explore Project Planning & Scheduling