Keep the time case and the money case in step
Prolongation money, the cost of being on site longer, is only as strong as the time case under it. Price it on an old version of the delay analysis, and your main contractor only has to lay the two side by side.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
Prolongation money is valued over a period. That period comes from someone else's delay analysis, or from an extension of time already granted. The two are usually built by different people on different timetables. When they drift apart, the surveyor prices weeks the delay analyst has since moved, or values an event the analysis no longer says delayed completion. Your main contractor only has to lay the two documents side by side. The answer is not for the surveyor to do delay analysis, which is a job for a programming expert. It is to agree early which events carry money, and over which weeks. Then record which version of the analysis the money is built on, and keep it current.
How to do it
- Agree with the delay analyst at the start which events are said to carry money, and over which periods.
- Record the version and date of the delay analysis or extension of time behind the claim, and show it on the valuation's front page.
- Ask to be told of every change to the analysis, and revalue the affected periods when one arrives.
- Check every period and event in the claim against the latest version of the analysis before it goes in.
- Say so in the submission if a period has moved and there is no time to revalue it, instead of sending a mismatch.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
On a subcontractor's claim, a delay analyst prepares the time case and a surveyor builds the prolongation cost. The analyst's first version puts the critical delay, the delay that pushed back completion, in a 14 week period. The surveyor builds £98,000 of preliminaries on those weeks. The analyst then revises the period.
What happens
- At the outset, the surveyor and the analyst agree that every revision is copied to the surveyor, with the changed periods marked.
- The revised analysis moves the period 4 weeks later and shortens it to 12 weeks. The surveyor receives it the same day.
- The preliminaries are rebuilt from the allocation sheets for the 12 revised weeks, coming to £84,000. The version number of the analysis is recorded on the valuation.
The outcome
The claim goes in with the money and the time on the same version. The response cannot open with the mismatch it would otherwise have found on page one.
To have this done for you, see our Delay & Disruption Claim service.