What is quantum in a delay and disruption claim?
Quantum is the money side of a claim: the amount worked out on the valuation basis that applies.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
It can cover varied work, disruption, prolongation or other money heads. Prolongation is the extra cost of being on site for longer. Each head needs a stated basis. It also needs records that support its quantities, rates and periods, and how its costs are split. The figure may use measured work, contract rates, costs backed by records or suitable forecasts. Whatever it uses, the calculation must show its sources and assumptions, and how it links to what is being claimed. Delay analysis is separate work: it looks at the programme and at time. The period of delay should come from the right specialist or from agreed project records. A checked claim shows what the evidence supports, what still depends on other inputs and what cannot yet be separated out. It does not predict what will be awarded or what you will collect.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor records £120,000 of apparent disruption cost after working out of sequence. Instructions and minutes identify the event. But the one-line total does not separate that event from tender assumptions or changes in productivity.
What happens
- The review compares gang allocations and output before and during the affected period.
- The £120,000 is split three ways: cost caused by the event, cost at the subcontractor's own risk, and cost that is still uncertain.
- The valuation basis for each portion is shown.
The outcome
The one-line total becomes three portions, each with its valuation basis. The figures show how the cost is reconciled, not an award, a settlement or a sum collected.
Our Delay & Disruption Claim service values each head from the records and builds the checked claim.