What does 'time at large' mean for my delay damages?
It means your completion date has fallen away, so the delay damages rate cannot be charged and your main contractor must prove its loss.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
The answer
You then have to finish within a reasonable time instead. The usual cause is the prevention principle. Your main contractor cannot hold you to a date that its own acts stopped you meeting. Most subcontracts deal with that by letting the date be extended for your main contractor's own delays. So time goes at large only rarely. It can happen where your main contractor delays you and the clause gives no way to extend the date for it. It can also happen where no completion date was ever fixed. A delay you failed to notify, where the notice is a condition of any extension, usually does not set time at large. Whether time is at large on your job is a question for your solicitor. The money point is simpler. A charge at the rate needs a completion date to count from. Without one, your main contractor has to show what your late finish actually cost it. In practice, most charges are won or lost on the ordinary points: the notices, the extensions granted and the arithmetic.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A groundworks subcontractor is charged £20,000 of delay damages: 5 weeks at £4,000 a week. It believes time is at large, because the main contractor held back access for 3 weeks.
What happens
- Its solicitor advises that the extension clause covers the main contractor's own delays, so time is not at large.
- The access delay was notified the week it started, and the particulars followed in time.
- The main contractor grants 3 weeks, and the charge is recounted from the extended date.
The charge in figures
| Item | Weeks | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| As charged | 5 | £20,000 |
| Extension for the access delay | 3 | £12,000 |
| Charge from the extended date | 2 | £8,000 |
The outcome
£12,000 is returned. The notices did what the argument about time at large could not.
To have a delay damages charge tested against your notices, extensions and dates, see our Delay Damages Claim service.