Delay Damages Claim
ClaimTimetable agreed at scoping
Charged for finishing late? We check the contract, dates, notices and arithmetic, then challenge unsupported amounts.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
Delay damages have been deducted from your payment, perhaps without allowing for extensions of time you requested or were granted. Your main contractor may also be passing its own delay losses down to you.
Wider claim or live adjudication? See Counterclaim Defence. Claiming your own delay costs? See Delay & Disruption Claim.
The solution
We deal with urgent notices first, test the charge and recalculate it. You approve the response; we negotiate or prepare adjudication figures.
A programming specialist assesses time entitlement. Your solicitor advises on enforceability. We value the resulting positions.
What you get
You receive a written assessment of the charge and a supported recalculation, together with your response and negotiation records. The final record sets out any settlement, revised completion date and sums still open.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed in writing after we see the charge and subcontract. Each later stage has its own fee agreed before it starts.
Turnaround: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what you are being charged
Start with a free call. Agree the scope, fixed fee and timetable in writing, then send the records listed below.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The signed subcontract
A complete PDF with all schedules and amendments, the damages provisions and their figures included.
Where to find it: The commercial folder or the order email.
Why we need it: It states the rate or basis of damages, the completion dates, any cap, any rule for work taken over early and the notice rules. The charge is held to them exactly.
How we will use it: It sets the rules the charge is tested against.
- B
The charge as made
The Pay Less Notice, payment assessment or final account statement carrying the deduction, with its calculation if one was given.
Where to find it: The payment paperwork for the period the deduction landed in.
Why we need it: We redo the deduction as it was actually made, not a version of it.
How we will use it: It is the calculation under test.
- C
The certificates and notices
Completion, non-completion, partial possession and extension of time decisions, and the notices around them, as dated PDFs.
Where to find it: Your main contractor's formal correspondence, and the contract administrator's issues passed down to you.
Why we need it: The charge usually stands or falls on whether these exist, in the right order, at the right times.
How we will use it: We check each condition off against them, document by document.
- D
Your delay notices and extension of time applications
Every notice and application you sent, and every reply, with the emails that carried them. If none was sent, say so, and send the dated records of what held you up.
Where to find it: The commercial inbox, the site manager's sent items, the formal correspondence file and the site diary.
Why we need it: The completion date the damages run from should reflect every extension properly applied for. Your notices show what was asked for and when. Where none went, the dated records show what a late notice or a review could still say.
How we will use it: We set out what was notified, when, and what your main contractor decided, so the date the damages run from can be tested. Where nothing was notified, we check what can still be done.
- E
The completion dates as run
The dates your works, and any sections, were completed or taken over, as recorded at the time.
Where to find it: The handover records, the completion correspondence and the site diary at the end of the job.
Why we need it: The period is counted between dates, and recorded dates carry more weight than remembered ones.
How we will use it: They fix the period we redo the arithmetic over.
- F
Any costs your main contractor says it has suffered
Where the charge is its own delay costs or damages passed down from its client, whatever breakdown it has given.
Where to find it: Attached to the deduction or in the correspondence about it.
Why we need it: Where your subcontract has no damages rate, your main contractor has to show its actual loss and that you caused it. The breakdown is where that is tested.
How we will use it: We test each item of the passed-down loss for evidence, amount and the share put down to you.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Notice, Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We check whether the charge stands up
We test the charge against your subcontract, your completion date and every request for more time. Then we redo the sums and tell you in writing what stands.
What you get: A short written report on what stands, what does not and what to pursue
You approve what goes out
You decide what to press. Nothing goes to your main contractor until you have said yes, and it goes in your name.
What you get: Your letter and its figures, ready to send in your name
Claim stage: Resolution
We negotiate with your main contractor
We read the reply, answer each point and negotiate. Anything agreed, including your new completion date, is put in writing.
What you get: A written record of what was agreed, with your revised completion date
We prepare for adjudication, if it comes to that
If talks stall, you can take it to adjudication. We prepare the money side for you or your solicitor to run it, and check any decision is paid.
What you get: The figures and evidence for your adjudication
We hand over the charge tested and settled
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Delay Damages Prevention.