By Steve Rizer
How should a contractor demonstrate the effect of a weather delay using a project schedule? In answering this question during a recent WPL Publishing webinar entitled “Delays and Time Extensions on Construction Projects: Dealing with [Hurricane] Sandy,” Trauner Consulting Services Inc. Principal Scott Lowe told construction professionals attending the event, “Well, I would suggest three basic [steps].”
For the first step, “identify the critical path when the delay occurred,” according to Lowe, who is an expert in critical path method scheduling, construction claim preparation and evaluation, dispute resolution, technical document development, contract administration, and cost analysis. “In other words, identify the critical path of work on the days when you’ve encountered unusually severe weather. In the Sandy example, identify the critical path of work on the days when Sandy affected the work.”
In the second step, “we want to show that the critical work that would have been performed during this weather event did not occur,” Lowe said. “In other words, ‘We weren’t able to work as Sandy approached. We weren’t able to work when Sandy hit us. And we weren’t able to work because of the effects of Sandy on our project after it left.’”
As a third step, “we then want to look at the effects of that inability to do work on the completion date of the project,” Lowe said. “How did it affect the critical path of work?”
During the webinar, Lowe additionally addressed weather-related language in ConsensusDocs 6.3.1, American Institute of Architects-A201 Standard Agreement 2007-Ed. (4.3.7.2), and comparable standards in New York and New Jersey; forensic schedule analyses; the time-impact analysis; statistics associated with Sandy; and other topics.
The 90-minute program was targeted to a wide variety of professionals within the construction community, including contractors, public and private owners, subcontractors, construction managers, owner representatives, architects, and other design professionals who write contracts or provide project-oversight services. Attorneys representing these parties in disputes also could benefit from the course content.
A recording of the webinar can be purchased via the following link: http://constructionpronet.com/Products/1026.aspx.
