My extension of time has been refused or ignored
We notified the delay and sent the particulars. Nothing useful has come back, and the damages clock is running from the original date.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
You notified the delay and sent the particulars. Since then, nothing has come back, or just a one-line refusal with no reasons. Your main contractor's programme still shows your original completion date.
Most subcontracts give your main contractor a set period to decide, and some require reasons. A refusal or silence is not the end of it. Whether the time is due turns on the delay itself, not on how firmly it was refused. That is a question for a programming expert. But if you let it lie, any damages will be counted from your original date.
The solution
Put the file in order first. List each notice and its date, the particulars and records you sent, the period your subcontract gives for a decision, and every chase. It should show what you asked for, when, and what came back. If the period has run out, chase in writing and say so.
Delay Damages Claim presses for the decision your subcontract requires. It works out what each week of extension is worth against the damages. Where the time itself is disputed, a programming expert assesses it. Delay Damages Prevention keeps your future applications inside their periods.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A curtain walling subcontractor applied 11 weeks ago for a 5-week extension for late frame drawings, sending particulars and the drawing register. The subcontract requires a decision within 8 weeks of the particulars, and sets damages at £3,500 a week.
What happens
- The file is put in order: the notice, the particulars, the drawing register and the date each was sent.
- A written chase goes in, citing the period for a decision, which ran out 3 weeks earlier.
- The main contractor replies with reasons: 2 of the 5 weeks overlap with the subcontractor's own late start on site.
- A programming expert reviews the overlap and agrees those 2 weeks are not due. The subcontractor accepts 3 weeks.
The damages with and without the extension
| Position | Weeks charged | Damages |
|---|---|---|
| No extension, 4 weeks late | 4 | £14,000 |
| 3 weeks granted | 1 | £3,500 |
The outcome
The main contractor grants 3 weeks. When the job finishes 4 weeks late, damages are charged for 1 week, £3,500, not 4 weeks, £14,000.