Who owns the float: the positions contracts take and the records that support the decision
The owner asks for an activity to move and points to the float shown beside it. The contractor says that time is reserved for its own risk. Neither has brought the relevant agreement wording, and the printed programme is from before the last update.
Treat float calculation and float ownership as different questions. The Government Accountability Office’s guide describes total float as the flexibility before the scheduled finish is affected; its amount depends on a reliable programme. The UK Society of Construction Law’s protocol discusses differing ownership positions and gives way to the governing contract and law. Neither source supplies a universal Canadian rule. Find the agreement’s words before claiming that a displayed number belongs to one party.
Find the wording and preserve the timing record
- Identify the programme and float measure. Ask the scheduler which revision, status date, calendars and constraints produced the value. Clarify the reported measure and affected path before discussing a number copied from an old printout.
- Read the actual agreement. Locate relevant scheduling, change, time-extension and float wording with the responsible contract administrator. Record the clause references and any unresolved interpretation rather than substituting a rule remembered from another job.
- Separate positions from agreed rights. A party may argue that flexibility is reserved for the contractor, the owner or the project. Record those as positions unless the agreement and responsible interpretation establish otherwise; do not assume first use creates ownership.
- Track the changes chronologically. Keep successive programme issues and the dated events, instructions and decisions connected with the affected activities. Preserve what the team knew at the time, not just a reconstruction made after the flexibility disappears.
- Ask for a checked effect. Have the scheduler examine the changed logic, status and linked paths. Timing flexibility can be shared along a path, so moving one activity may affect another even where both previously displayed float.
- Use the required decision route. Refer disputed rights or proposed changes to the authorized commercial and scheduling people. Keep required notices and directions separate from informal meeting discussion, and record the resulting decision without erasing the earlier programme.
Checklist
Before making a float claim
- Current programme and measure confirmed.
- Relevant agreement wording identified.
- Party positions distinguished from agreed rights.
- Dated changes and evidence retained.
- Calculated effects and contractual interpretation reviewed separately.
Check your understanding
The programme shows five days of float. Does that prove you can delay the activity by five days without consequences?
