I know the delay happened, but I can't prove it
The work was stopped and the delay was real, but the paperwork that would show it never got made.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Everyone on site remembers the late handover, the late drawing or the gang standing. But a claim needs evidence that can be found and tested. A programme, photographs nobody can place and people's memories may not show who did what, when, where, or what the event changed.
Your subcontract, and the evidence, decide what you must show. Emails, delivery tickets, payroll, drawing registers and other firms' logs can help rebuild events. Gaps, contradictions and unknowns stay part of the picture. Label anything rebuilt as rebuilt, and never pass it off as a record made at the time.
The longer it is left, the harder the surviving records are to find. There are two jobs, and they can run together. Save and value what survives for the claim you have, and start a routine for the work still to come. The first recovers what can be proved. The second cuts new gaps, though no routine can promise every event will be proved.
The solution
Find and index what survives, and keep the originals untouched. Sort the facts the records support from the material that contradicts them, and from the gaps still needing a decision. Write up any memories gathered now separately, dated when written and labelled as rebuilt.
Delay & Disruption Claim starts from that index and rates each head on what the surviving records can carry, before anything is valued. Delay & Disruption Loss Prevention starts a routine for the work still to come, so the next event is recorded when it happens. Any notice or time-limit question goes to your solicitor.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A piling subcontractor's contracts manager wants to claim 11 days of rig standing at £3,500 a day: £38,500. The piling platform was not ready. The event was 9 months ago, and there are no diary entries for the period.
What happens
- What survives is found and indexed, with the originals untouched. It includes the rig hire invoices, the delivery tickets, the payroll, the rig operator's daily logs and the site photographs.
- The index separates the supported facts from the contradictions and the gaps.
- The logs show the rig on site and no piles installed for 8 days. The payroll shows four operatives paid for those days.
- An email from the foreman confirms that work restarted earlier than the manager remembers. The 11 days become 8.
- Nothing in the file says why the platform was late. The memories gathered now are written up and dated as this month's work, not passed off as a diary.
- The claim is restated at 8 days, £28,000, built on the rig operator's logs, with the gap on cause stated plainly. Whether the subcontract needed a notice at the time goes to the solicitor.
- A recording routine starts the same week on the second block, so the next standing day is recorded when it happens.
The claim in figures
| Position | Days | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| As remembered | 11 | £38,500 |
| As the records support | 8 | £28,000 |
| Accepted at the account | 6 | £21,000 |
The outcome
The main contractor accepts 6 days, £21,000, at the account, on the strength of the logs. The claim had started at 11 days from memory.