Curtain Wall Delay: Concurrent Delay, Float, and an Overstated Time Claim
A baseline CPM schedule shows 300 workdays to substantial completion. At month 4, the updated schedule forecasts completion at day 328. An owner-caused curtain wall design change delayed submittal approval by 12 days. The curtain wall subcontractor's fabrication shop was closed for 14 days by a hurricane, and that closure overlapped 5 days with the design delay. The contractor also lost 3 days when its own tower crane was repaired. The contract provides time extensions for delays 'not caused by the Contractor' but is silent on concurrent delay and float ownership. The contractor requests 28 days and $240,000 in extended general conditions. The owner's scheduler responds that the contractor already had 8 days of total float on the curtain wall path and that the hurricane was foreseeable.
1. Analyze the delay events and determine the defensible time and cost entitlement.
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Framework. Use a time impact analysis that inserts each delay event into the accepted baseline and measures the change in the critical path. Do not simply add days.
Event-by-event.
- Owner curtain wall design change: 12 days. This is owner-caused and compensable if it affected the critical path. The owner's scheduler says there were 8 days of float. Float is not automatically owned by the contractor; under most contracts the contractor has no right to be paid for owner use of float unless the contract says so. But once the owner delay consumes the 8 days of float and pushes completion, the remaining 4 days are critical and compensable.
- Hurricane fabrication closure: 14 days. This is likely excusable but non-compensable if it qualifies as force majeure or unusually severe weather. Whether a hurricane at a fabrication shop is foreseeable depends on the contract and the shop's location; a generic weather clause may not cover a shop closure far from the site.
- Overlap of 5 days: the hurricane and owner delay ran concurrently for 5 days. Concurrent delay generally supports a time extension but not duplicate money damages. Do not count both events as 26 separate days.
- Contractor crane repair: 3 days. Contractor-caused; no time and no money unless it was itself caused by an owner event.
Preliminary entitlement. Time: the owner delay and hurricane overlap produce roughly 21 days of critical delay before float (12 + 14 - 5). Applying 8 days of float leaves about 13 days of excusable time. Money: only the owner-caused critical portion, approximately 4 days of extended general conditions, subject to proof. The contractor's 28-day request is overstated.
Caveat. The result depends on the actual TIA and whether the delays were truly on the critical path. The contractor should not accept the owner's float argument without testing it.
2. What response strategy should the contractor use with the owner, and how should it handle the risk of constructive acceleration?
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Response strategy. Separate time from money and insist on a joint TIA.
- Request a 13-day time extension and a 4-day compensable extended general conditions claim, with the TIA attached. Show the 8-day float consumption explicitly.
- Do not claim the hurricane days as compensable. Claim them as excusable time only, and document the shop closure with notices, photographs, and the subcontractor's records.
- Address concurrency with a day-by-day window analysis. If the owner argues that the contractor's crane repair was concurrent, show whether it was on the critical path and whether it actually delayed completion.
- Reserve rights for acceleration if the owner refuses the extension and later demands the original date. Constructive acceleration requires a directive to accelerate, a refusal of a proper extension, and actual acceleration cost.
- Mitigate: resequence curtain wall work, prioritize areas not affected by the design change, and document mitigation efforts to avoid a failure-to-mitigate defense.
Recommendation. Submit a revised request of 13 days and approximately 4 days of compensation, not 28 days and $240,000. The 28-day request undermines credibility and invites a total denial.