The main contractor is passing its delay costs down to me

Your subcontract has no damages rate, or your main contractor says the rate is not the whole story. Your account has come back cut by the damages its client took from it, plus its own extended site costs. The whole project's delay has been put down to you.

Where there is no rate, your main contractor can claim only the loss your late finish actually caused it. That loss is measured from your completion date as extended, not the project's. It has to prove the loss, and show that your delay caused it rather than its own or another trade's. Where several trades were late, it has to show how the cost was shared. Accept the charge as it stands and you carry the whole project's delay.

Ask for the breakdown of every charge. You need the damages paid to the client, the site costs, the period each covers and the record that puts it down to you. Then set it beside your completion date as extended and your delay notices.

Delay Damages Claim tests each charge for evidence, amount and your share. It puts the reduced figure to your main contractor, and takes it to adjudication where the sum justifies it. Where the charge turns on who caused which weeks, a programming expert assesses it, and we value each answer in money. Delay Damages Prevention keeps the notices and records that fix your own completion date, so the next charge is measured against it.