Case Study - A Real Life Example of Reviewing a Contractor's Delay Claim

Overview

In this article, we'll review a real life case study for a delay claim that I reviewed and provided the recommendation for. The case study format will allow you to see what the Contractor was claiming, the analysis performed to review their claim, and whether or not the Contractor was awarded any time or compensation based on their claim. The parties involved will be hidden along with the project name as the information is sensitive in nature.

The project is for a middle school and includes the renovation of several existing classrooms, construction of a new gymnasium, new library, renovation of an existing administration building, and updates to the sitework.

To give some perspective, the longest path as shown in the Baseline Schedule began with setting up interim housing during Phase 1, followed by Phase 2A which consisted of constructing the new Gymnasium and Library. This was followed by modernizing a classroom and finally removal of the interim housing and restoration of the site. Also worth noting is that the data date in the Baseline Schedule was set to June 12, 2017.

Review of the Contractor's Claims

The Contractor submitted a TIA (Time Impact Analysis) claiming that they were delayed by 267 calendar days due to design changes to the door frames. These design changes resulted in the ordering of new door frames which allegedly held up installation of the door frames and ultimately delayed the project by 267 calendar days.

TIA # 01 - Door Frame Design Changes

Claim Overview & Contractor's Methodology

The Contractor claims that due to structural revisions to the door openings, the project was delayed by 267 calendar days. The methodology used for reporting the delay was to insert the delay events into the Baseline Schedule file to show the net affect on the overall completion date.

When adding the delay sequence to the "pre-impacted" schedule, the Contractor constrained the first activity in the sequence (IMP650: RFI #129- Openings for Frames & Doors) to start on or after January 16, 2017 with no predecessor relationship. See below for the "post-impacted" schedule as reported in the Contractor's TIA.