Delays, Float, Recovery & Schedule Analysis

Welcome

Hello, and welcome. This is Super Structures General Contractors — a national general contractor headquartered in Powhatan, Virginia — here to help you and your clients build something that lasts. We're glad you're with us, and we look forward to connecting with you.

Roll up your sleeves — we're getting into Delays, Float, Recovery & Schedule Analysis. Cut through everything, and it's this: Classify every delay (excusable/compensable?), know who owns the float, and watch for constructive acceleration; recover by re-sequencing or accelerating (which costs money), and prove delay with real-time documentation and a recognized method like contemporaneous time-impact analysis. This is how the pros pull ahead — and now it's yours.

When a job slips, you must diagnose it, recover if you can, and prove it if there's a dispute.

Delay types (recap) and recovery

• Excusable & compensable (owner-caused — time + money), excusable non-compensable (weather — time only), non-excusable (your fault — neither), and concurrent (both at once).
• Recovery: re-sequence, accelerate (add crews/shifts/overtime), or fast-track — all of which cost money.

Going Deeper (Intermediate)

Know who owns the float — it's contract-dependent, but often "project float belongs to the project" on a first-come, first-served basis. Watch for constructive acceleration: being forced to speed up after a wrongly-denied time extension for an excusable delay (it may be compensable). Always submit a time extension request (TER) with schedule support, and document delays in real time — memory and reconstruction lose claims.

Advanced / Pro-Level

Forensic scheduling uses recognized methods — as-planned vs. as-built, impacted as-planned, collapsed as-built, and time-impact analysis (TIA / windows). Owners and courts generally favor contemporaneous TIA (analyzing each delay against the schedule update in effect at the time). You must prove causation and untangle concurrency, and the updated CPM schedule is your primary evidence. Recovery schedules can help — but an unrealistic one you can't meet becomes its own liability.

Practice Challenge

The owner delays your foundation 3 weeks with a design change, then denies your time extension and insists on the original finish date, forcing overtime. What is this, and is it compensable? (Answer: constructive acceleration — being compelled to accelerate to overcome an excusable, owner-caused delay after a wrongly-denied time extension. It's generally compensable if you gave proper notice and the delay was excusable — so document the delay, the TER, the denial, and the acceleration costs.)

Takeaway: Classify every delay (excusable/compensable?), know who owns the float, and watch for constructive acceleration; recover by re-sequencing or accelerating (which costs money), and prove delay with real-time documentation and a recognized method like contemporaneous time-impact analysis.

Educational overview — methods, contracts, and laws vary by project and jurisdiction; follow your specific contract and consult professionals.