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Scope and changes

Asking for more time: a time extension request with evidence

By Review.LivePublished 3 min readHow we write

The roof trusses for an indoor tennis centre should have gone up last week; they are still in the fabricator's yard. The engineer took 21 working days to return the steel shop drawings; the contract allows 10. Completion now shows 8 working days late, and the owner's representative says, "Put it in writing."

Stack of paper records separated with coloured index tabs.
Photo: Tanja Tepavac on Unsplash

Send a request that shows, in order, the cause and why the contract gives time for it, your notice, the records made at the time, and a schedule analysis of how far completion moved, with each document attached. An extension moves the date you are measured against, so owners grant only what they can check. Wisconsin's transportation department, for one, wants progress schedules and an analysis of the delay with each request, and grants time for an excusable delay only if it affects a controlling item of work.

  1. Read the clause first: which causes earn time, the deadlines, the form, and whether days are working or calendar. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's conditions, for example, want the application before the completion date, with the bonding company's written consent.
  2. Name the cause and the clause: the event, its dates, who was responsible, and the provision that gives time for it.
  3. Attach the notices and the records made at the time: each notice with proof of delivery, then logs, letters, daily reports and suppliers' confirmations.
  4. Attach the schedule analysis, and ask only for the days that moved completion; the method is in showing how a change moved the finish date.
  5. State the request: the days, the new completion date, and whether cost will follow separately.
  6. Send it while the facts are fresh, and update it if the delay grows; UK industry guidance discourages a "wait and see" approach.

Common mistakes

  • Asking for the whole delay when float absorbed part of it.
  • Rounding the days up to leave room to negotiate.
  • Leaving out your own delays in the same period; the reviewer will find them.

Checklist

In every request

  • The cause, its dates and the clause
  • Every notice, with proof of delivery
  • Records made at the time
  • The analysis, showing both finish dates
  • Days in the contract's units, and the new date
  • Cost reserved for a separate claim

Check your understanding

The owner's representative says your request is premature because the steel is not up and the delay may still grow. When do you submit?

Show the answer
Now, for the delay you can measure, and again if it grows. Deadlines do not wait for the steel, and some contracts want the application before the completion date. A request built now on an accepted update is easier to check than one rebuilt later from memory.

Sources

  1. Construction general conditions (GC6.5, Delays and Extension of Time: paragraphs 6.5.1 to 6.5.4)Fisheries and Oceans Canada · Canada (one federal department's construction contracts; shown as an example) · accessed
  2. Construction and Materials Manual, Section 242: Change Orders (242.2.7, Revisions to Contract Time)Wisconsin Department of Transportation · Wisconsin, United States (a public owner's guidance to its own staff; shown as an example) · accessed
  3. Delay and Disruption Protocol, 2nd edition (Core Principle 4)Society of Construction Law (UK) · United Kingdom (industry guidance, not law or a contract) · accessed

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