Construction Claims - Foundation Course

Define a claim as a request for something believed to be a legal right, typically relief in construction contracts through additional time or payment.

Define a claim and outline the general requirements: rights or duties under contract or law, and damaging circumstances that establish a right to claim under construction contracts.

Explore the general purpose of construction contracts, including recording rights and obligations, allocating risk, and defining project scope, as we learn the claims process.

Explain how construction contracts define contractual claims by specifying when to claim, the relief allowed, and the formal process to follow.

Explore how standard form construction contracts define who may claim, what events and risk events trigger claims, and the administrative process for pursuing contractual relief.

Learn how standard form construction contracts translate events into a formal contractual claim through an administrative process: identify the event, notify the other party, and undergo a merits determination.

Initiate the claim process by delivering a written notice that informs the other party, cites the relevant contract clause, and meets timing and formalities to avoid forfeiture.

Initiate the contractual claim process with notice, but success is not guaranteed; a third-party review determines whether the claim is accepted, rejected, or accepted in principle with further evaluation.

Explore how contractual claims arise in construction contracts, detailing claims for relief such as additional time or payment, the claims process, notice requirements, and the determination stage.

Identify common claim events such as delayed site access, late information, design changes, late payments, and inclement weather. Learn how these events trigger the claims process and affect costs.

Identify potential claim events with a claims identification system that records site events in an event register and compares them to contract-based claimable events for timely notification and tracking.

Explore common claim types such as delay, disruption, acceleration, finance charges, and loss of opportunity, and learn how events lead to these categorized claims.

Examine how delay claims arise when events delay work or start times, with examples like late site access or late drawings that extend the construction period.

Disruption claims arise when loss of productivity or hindrance reduces contractor efficiency and adds costs, even without delaying the project, due to events like restricted access or design changes.

Accelerate the works by increasing resources in response to employer failure to acknowledge an extension of time, to complete by the contractual date and avoid liquidated or delayed damages.

Explore finance charges and interest claims arising from late payments under construction contracts, including financing the shortfall and the loss of opportunity to earn interest on certified amounts.

Loss of opportunity claims arise when one party's actions, such as delays, stop the other from redeploying resources and prevent recovery of unabsorbed head office overheads.

Examine how claim events are categorized by the facts that give rise to them, with a brief background and notice that relief and compensation are reserved for the next section.

Identify potential claim events and explain forms of relief and compensation, including time extensions and additional payments, illustrated by a site access clause.

Explore how time governs construction contracts by defining the planned period with start and completion dates, and how on-time completion safeguards costs and commercial interests for employer and contractor.

Explore how delay events impact construction completion, including contractor and employer delays, government delays, and exceptional events such as acts of God, pandemics, with contract relief and compensation options.

Liquidated damages are pre-agreed payments in the contract that compensate the employer for delays caused by the contractor, usually calculated per day from the planned to actual completion.

Extend the completion date when delays are not the contractor’s fault, offset liquidated damages, and learn how claim provisions govern extensions that create a new completion date.

Explore how contractors claim additional payment for delays and other compensable events, detailing cost-based and value-based remedies within standard construction contracts.

Apply the cost based approach to calculate additional payment from actual costs incurred due to a specific event, requiring proof, reasonableness, and not wasteful expenditure.

Apply the value based approach to determine additional payment using preset contract values under a rules-based framework, often for liquidated or delayed damages, prioritizing efficiency over proving actual harm.

Learn how a contractor claims an extension of time and additional payment after a delay, addressing liquidated damages and cost recovery through contract provisions.

Identify when a construction contract entitles a party to a claim by proving the event and its effects, including delays and costs, and quantify relief like additional time and payment.

Identify the delay event, prove who caused it, show how it affected the works with contemporaneous records, and apply an objective test for entitlement and extent of additional time.

Identify events that cause costs and prove entitlement under the contract, then calculate the amount using cost-based (actual costs) or value-based (pre agreed rates such as preliminaries) methods, with documentation.

Maintain thorough records of events that give rise to a claim to support its facts and relief. Adequate documentation strengthens credibility and meets contractual requirements for a successful construction claim.

Understand the foundation of construction claims, why they exist, and how to identify potential claims with a proactive system to avoid missed opportunities.