What is schedule delay and time impact analysis?
Schedule delay and time impact analysis measures how many calendar days a project lost, which activities caused the loss, and whether those days sit on the critical path. It compares the baseline schedule to the as-built schedule, inserts fragnets for each change or event, and separates excusable, compensable and concurrent delay.
Our Professional Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis
A delay claim fails on arithmetic more often than on merit. We rebuild the job from the baseline schedule, each monthly updated schedule and the as-built schedule, then measure what each event actually did to the controlling work. Every delay day we report is traceable to a specific activity, calendar day and source document.
The method follows the AACE 29R-03 framework for forensic schedule analysis. We test each delay event against the critical path method logic in the schedule, separate excusable from non-excusable delay, and flag concurrent delay where two causes ran on parallel paths in the same window. Daily reports, RFIs, change orders and pay applications supply the dates; the schedule supplies the sequence. Where the native schedule file is available, our Primavera P6 schedule support keeps the fragnet logic and calendar assignments intact through each window analysis.
Quantities behind the delayed activities
For the physical work behind a claim, we measure the quantities the schedule was built around: cubic yards of concrete placed, square feet of formwork, tons of structural steel, linear feet of pipe and duct, and the crew-days each activity consumes. Units follow the CSI MasterFormat division of the work so a delay in Division 03 concrete is traceable to the pours it affected.
Each takeoff carries the measurement rule used, the drawing sheet or specification section, and the quantity of work performed inside the disputed window. That gives the time impact analysis construction claims depend on: how much installed work a lost week actually represents.
Labor hours priced at contract wage rates
We convert delayed and disrupted work into labor hours by trade, then price those hours at the wage rates in the contract, including burden, overtime premiums and shift differentials. Where a delay pushed work into a less productive sequence, we describe the productivity loss driver rather than asserting a percentage.
BLS wage data for construction laborers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and first-line supervisors anchors the base rates, adjusted to the project location and the labor agreement. The output is a labor cost table by trade and by delay window, with hours, rate and extension shown on separate lines.
Extended general conditions and escalation
When a time extension request support package needs a number attached, we assemble the extended general conditions: supervision, temporary facilities, equipment standby, escalation and the cost of acceleration if the owner directed it. Each line is priced from the contract schedule of values or, where none exists, from current published price data.
PPI series for lumber, ready-mix concrete, steel mill products and copper wire and cable show which material categories moved and by how much over the claim period; the charts on this page carry the current figures. Deliverables are an Excel workbook, a PDF summary and marked-up schedule and drawing pages. To start, send your plans and schedule through our CPM scheduling team or request a quote.
What Is Included in Our Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Estimates?
A time impact analysis construction claims package has to survive a reviewer who did not build the job. We structure the analysis so the reader can follow the same path we did: baseline schedule, update by update, event by event, to the number at the end. Nothing is asserted without a document behind it. Where the claim depends on how the network was built and maintained, our CPM scheduling support covers the baseline and update discipline the analysis tests. If you have a claim file ready for review, request a quote and we will scope the windows and events with you.
| Window | Calendar days | Owner-caused delay | Contractor-caused delay | Concurrent weather delay | Compensable days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window 1 (Mar–Apr) | 30 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Window 2 (May–Jun) | 31 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Window 3 (Jul–Aug) | 31 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Window 4 (Sep–Oct) | 30 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 122 | 24 | 5 | 6 | 24 |
Baseline, updates, as-built and fragnet comparison
The core components are the schedule documents and the event records that connect them:
- Baseline schedule and contract time, with the data date and calendar identified
- Each updated schedule, showing total float and the longest path at that data date
- As-built schedule reconciled to daily reports, inspection logs and pay applications
- Fragnets inserted for each delay event, with logic ties to the existing network
- Window analysis results, showing delay days per window and who owned the float
- Concurrent delay findings, listed by window with the competing causes named
- Time extension recommendation in calendar days, tied to substantial completion
- Change order and RFI log cross-referenced to the affected activities
- Look-ahead schedule excerpts showing what the contractor planned before the event
Delay days, float consumption and quantity variance
We report the measurements the claim turns on: delay days per event and per window, total float consumed, and the quantity variance between planned and installed work in each period. Crew-days, equipment-days and cubic yards or square feet placed are calculated from the schedule activity durations and the takeoff, not estimated from memory.
Every figure shows its unit and its arithmetic. A 12-day window with 4 days of owner-caused delay and 3 days of weather delay on the same path is reported as 7 days of compensable impact, with the reasoning written out.
Materials, labor, equipment and cost breakdowns
Costs are broken out by category so each can be tested separately:
- Labor: hours by trade, wage rate, burden, overtime and shift premiums
- Equipment: standby hours, rental rate, mobilization and demobilization
- Materials: quantities delayed or stored, priced at invoice or current PPI-adjusted rates
- General conditions: supervision, temporary facilities, utilities and site overhead by month
- Escalation: material categories that moved during the delay, with the index used
- Acceleration and disruption: the directed or constructive cost of recovering time
Each line carries a source reference, and the summary ties back to the detailed sheets.
Who Needs Our Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis?
Delay work is commissioned by the party that has to prove something to someone else: an owner withholding time, a contractor facing liquidated damages, or a subcontractor whose crew sat idle. Each needs a forensic delay analysis report that names the cause, the window and the cost, and each reads it differently. The same schedule delay and time impact analysis also feeds the cost side, because construction cost estimates support the day counts once the critical path is settled.
Specialty trade subcontractors
A mechanical, electrical or concrete subcontractor usually owns a small slice of a large network. We isolate that slice, trace its total float in each update, and show whether the general contractor's sequence pushed the work or whether the sub was already late. Resource loading from the sub's own schedule supports the crew-days claimed for standby and remobilization.
General contractors and home builders
General contractors use the analysis to build a time extension request support package and to defend against back-charges. The as-built schedule versus baseline schedule comparison shows which owner decisions, RFIs or late owner-furnished equipment moved substantial completion, and by how many calendar days.
Developers, architects and suppliers
Owners and developers need to know whether a delay claim is real before releasing funds or granting days. Architects and suppliers use the same record to show when a design response or a delivery was actually required by the schedule, which is often later than the contractor asserts.
Types of Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Projects We Estimate
The schedule logic and the cost drivers change with the project type, and so does the way a delay claim is framed. We adjust the window structure, the activity level and the cost categories to the job in front of us. Each window closes on a schedule update, so the delay days counted in one period are not counted again in the next. Where the contractor's own scheduler maintains the file, we can work from the same native format through our MS Project scheduling services and keep the activity IDs intact. The output is a forensic delay analysis report that names the fragnet, the calendar day count and the contract clause each time extension request rests on.
Residential projects
Production housing and custom homes run on short, repetitive networks where a two-week framing delay cascades into drywall, trim and closing dates. We work at the activity level of the builder's own schedule and tie delay days to closing date impacts. Our construction estimating services team can price the recovery scope alongside the claim. Because the networks are small, a single out-of-sequence update can distort total float, so we check each update against the daily reports before accepting it.
Commercial buildings
Office, retail, healthcare and education projects carry cost-loaded schedules and multiple prime contracts, so the updated schedule becomes the backbone of the analysis. We track float ownership across trades and separate owner-directed changes from contractor performance in each window. On these jobs the analysis usually turns on concurrent delay: two trades late in the same window, only one of which is compensable. We test that by comparing the as-built schedule versus the baseline schedule activity by activity.
Industrial and infrastructure projects
Process plants, treatment works, bridges and roadway jobs run long durations with heavy equipment and seasonal restrictions. Here the longest path often shifts between structural, mechanical and electrical work, and the analysis has to follow it rather than assume the original critical path held. We rebuild the driving path at each update and mark where resource loading or a change order moved it. Seasonal windows, such as paving or crane picks, are carried as calendar constraints so the delay days reflect the real working calendar.
Our Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Estimating Process
A forensic schedule analysis starts with documents, not opinions. You send the baseline schedule, every monthly schedule update, the as-built schedule, daily reports, RFIs, change orders, pay applications and the contract's time and notice clauses. We log each file by date and revision so the analysis rests on the schedule version the parties actually worked to, not a later reconstruction. If the file set is incomplete, send your plans and the schedule history you have through the estimate request page and we will tell you what is missing before the analysis starts.
Every step below produces a check the next step depends on, which is why a forensic delay analysis report can be defended line by line.
Submit drawings and specifications
Send the contract documents, the accepted baseline schedule with its calendar and activity coding, all updates through substantial completion, and the correspondence file covering RFIs, change orders and time extension requests. Include the schedule specification section so we know the required update frequency, float ownership rule and any contract-mandated delay analysis method. Missing updates are the most common gap; flag them at intake rather than discovering the hole mid-analysis. If the updates were maintained in Microsoft Project, our ms project scheduling work follows the same revision-logging discipline.
Plan review and digital takeoff
We read the contract time provisions, notice requirements and liquidated damages language before touching the schedule logic. Then we build the comparison set: baseline versus each update versus as-built, with activity IDs mapped across revisions so a renamed activity does not read as a logic change. Each disputed event becomes a fragnet with its own duration, predecessors and successors, inserted at the date the work was actually affected.
Cost calculation, quality checks and delivery
Delay days are converted to cost through the general conditions, extended field and home office overhead, and trade-specific impacts such as productivity loss, standby and acceleration. A second estimator checks the fragnet logic, the calendar day counting and the arithmetic before anything ships. We separate excusable, compensable and non-excusable time, and we test each claimed period for concurrent delay construction claim exposure, since an owner's reviewer will. The workbook and PDF summary arrive with marked-up schedule pages showing where each event enters the critical path.
Sample Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Estimate and Deliverables
The example below is illustrative and uses assumed figures, not a quotation. Assume a 240-calendar-day contract, substantial completion reached on day 268, and a contractor claiming 28 delay days. The as-built schedule versus baseline schedule comparison shows 18 days of owner-caused critical path delay, 6 days of weather, and 4 days of contractor-caused delay that runs concurrently with the owner period. Under the contract's concurrent delay construction claim treatment, the concurrent 4 days are not compensable, so the supported time extension is 18 + 6 = 24 days, and compensable general conditions run 18 days.
A single time impact analysis event illustrates the method: a revised structural package issued at day 95 adds 9 calendar days to the steel erection sequence, which sits on the longest path. That fragnet is inserted into the day-90 update and the projected completion moves from day 240 to day 249. The arithmetic is checked against the calendar, not against working days, and the 9 days are then tested against the other events for overlap before any are summed. Standby labor is priced from the same wage basis we use in our labor cost estimating services, so the crew rate in the table below can be traced to a published source rather than to a negotiated figure.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Unit cost range | Extended range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General conditions — site supervision | 18 | calendar day | $1,150 – $1,450 / day | $20,700 – $26,100 |
| General conditions — temporary facilities and utilities | 18 | calendar day | $260 – $410 / day | $4,680 – $7,380 |
| Home office overhead (per contract formula) | 18 | calendar day | $420 – $640 / day | $7,560 – $11,520 |
| Standby — concrete crew, 5 workers × 8 hr | 720 | labor hour | $34.00 – $38.50 / hr | $24,480 – $27,720 |
| Acceleration — overtime premium, steel erection | 9 | calendar day | $1,900 – $2,600 / day | $17,100 – $23,400 |
| Total supported delay cost | — | — | — | $74,520 – $95,120 |
Excel quantity takeoff sheet
The workbook carries one tab per schedule version and one per event, with activity ID, original duration, revised duration, start, finish, total float and longest-path flag. Delay days are calculated by formula from the dates, so a reviewer can change an assumption and watch the total move. Cost build-ups sit on separate tabs linked to the delay table.
Marked-up drawings
Each claimed event is shown on the relevant drawing or schedule page with the affected activities highlighted and the fragnet drawn in. The markups carry the date of the source document, so a reviewer can trace the claim back to the RFI or change order that caused it.
Itemized cost estimate
The cost summary itemizes each delay cost with its unit, quantity, rate and source. Rates for labor-driven items are reviewed against the wage table shown in this section, and the summary totals reconcile to the delay table before delivery.
Software and Pricing Data We Use
A window analysis delay schedule is only as good as the schedule data behind it, so the tool categories matter less than the audit trail they leave. We work in on-screen PDF takeoff for drawing markups, spreadsheet estimating for the cost build-up, and published cost databases for unit rates. Every figure in a schedule delay and time impact analysis carries its source cell, sheet and date, and the same discipline carries into the construction estimates we prepare for the disputed work itself.
The chart below tracks the Producer Price Index series for the materials that most often drive delay cost in this scope, rebased to 100, and the wage table below shows the BLS national medians we start from.
Takeoff and estimating software
Drawing and schedule markups are done on-screen from the PDF set, with each measurement or activity flagged to its source page and revision. The cost model lives in a spreadsheet workbook where every line shows quantity, unit, rate, extension and the formula used. Schedule logic is read from the native schedule file and mapped activity by activity, so a window analysis can be run between any two update dates.
Regional material and labor pricing method
We start from national average unit costs, then adjust for location, prevailing wage requirements, shift work and site conditions. Labor-driven items are benchmarked against the wage table below, and material-sensitive items are reviewed against the chart below, which shows how lumber, ready-mix concrete, steel mill products and copper wire and cable have moved over the period. A disruption or acceleration claim that relies on 2023 pricing is re-based before it reaches a settlement discussion. Confirm the applicable code editions and contract pricing clauses with the project team, since the governing documents control.
Material price movement, Oct 2023 to Sep 2026
| Occupation | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction laborers | $18.57 | $22.66 | $28.72 |
| Carpenters | $23.32 | $29.12 | $36.94 |
| Electricians | $23.76 | $30.38 | $40.36 |
| Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters | $24.13 | $30.67 | $40.92 |
| Cement masons and concrete finishers | $22.60 | $27.41 | $32.15 |
| First-line supervisors, construction trades | $30.48 | $38.42 | $48.78 |
| Cost estimators | $29.40 | $37.86 | $48.97 |
Base wages before payroll taxes, insurance and benefits. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national, all industries.
Why Contractors Choose Our Estimating Services
Delay claims fail on method more than on merit. Our work follows AACE 29R-03 principles, so each delay event is tested for causation, criticality and concurrency before it is priced, and the report states which method was applied and why. That structure is what makes time extension request support usable in a negotiation or a hearing.
We also hold the line between time and money. An excusable delay earns days; a compensable delay earns days and cost; a concurrent delay earns neither without a contract provision that says otherwise. Separating the three keeps a claim defensible when the other side runs its own review. Where the baseline schedule itself is weak, the same team that builds defensible networks through CPM network development and review can rebuild the logic before the delay events are measured against it.
Trade-specific expertise
A mechanical delay reads differently from a structural steel delay, and the cost impact does too. We price standby by the actual crew mix, productivity loss by the trade affected, and acceleration by the overtime and second-shift premiums the trades actually charge. When the claim touches a change order, the schedule impact analysis for change orders is tied back to the same fragnet used in the delay report, and the cost side is built with the same discipline we apply in bid-phase estimate preparation.
Quality control and clear assumptions
Every report states its assumptions on one page: the schedule version used, the calendar, the float ownership rule, the concurrency treatment and the notice dates. A second estimator re-runs the arithmetic and checks the fragnet logic against the source updates. Where the record is incomplete, the gap is named rather than filled with an estimate.
Turnaround, communication and revisions
Delivery dates are agreed in writing after we review the schedule set and the correspondence file, because the volume of updates drives the effort. Revisions are handled against the agreed scope, with each round logged so the version history stays clear. Questions during the analysis go to one named contact, and the answer is recorded in the workbook notes. To start, send your plans and schedule files through our quote request.
Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Pricing
The fee for a schedule delay and time impact analysis is quoted per project after we read the contract time provisions, the baseline schedule and the disputed updates. There is no rate card, because a two-month delay on a single-building job and a nine-month delay across two winter shutdowns are different forensic exercises. Send the baseline, the as-built and the monthly updates and we will return a scope and a fixed fee.
The calculator below is a budget tool, not our fee. You enter building area, your own base hard cost per sq ft, soft-cost percentage, contingency percentage and escalation percentage; it returns hard cost, soft costs, contingency, escalation, budget total and all-in cost per sq ft. It has no building-type picker and carries no prices of its own. Use it to test whether the disputed amount justifies a full forensic delay analysis report, and compare the result against the bid estimates already on file for the affected packages.
Delay claim documentation construction work is priced by the volume of records that must be reconciled: daily reports, RFIs, change order logs, pay applications and meeting minutes. The AACE estimate class of the analysis also matters, since a screening-level opinion needs less source verification than a claim submitted for arbitration.
How quotes are calculated
We count the schedules in the set: baseline, each monthly update, the as-built and every fragnet we must build for a change order or excusable delay event. Each schedule is reviewed for logic ties, calendars, constraints and out-of-sequence progress before any critical path delay analysis begins. The count of disputed events and the number of windows drive the effort more than calendar span does.
Records review is priced by volume. A claim resting on 40 daily reports is a different task from one resting on 900, and each RFI and change order cited in the narrative has to be tied to a specific activity and date. Where the contract requires a written time extension request within a stated number of calendar days, we also check that each notice was timely.
What affects price and delivery time
Price rises with the number of schedule files, the number of trades whose float and longest path must be traced, and the degree to which the updates were resource-loaded or cost-loaded. A set of updates that was never statused, or was statused by moving dates without logic, costs more to reconstruct than a clean monthly series. Contract clauses that define concurrent delay, float ownership and excusable versus compensable delay are read first, because they set what the analysis must prove.
Delivery time follows the same drivers: file count, record volume, and how quickly superseded revisions and addenda arrive. A bid or mediation date shortens the window but does not change the work. We confirm the delivery date with the quote, and we do not publish a standard turnaround. If the dispute also needs a cost build-up on the changed work, our construction estimating services can price the same events from the same drawings.
Square-foot budget calculator
- Hard cost
- $444,000
- Soft costs
- $53,280
- Contingency
- $49,728
- Escalation
- $21,880
- Budget total
- $568,888
- All-in per sq ft
- $237
Enter your own base rate from a recent bid, cost book or estimator. The default values are placeholders for the math, not market prices.
Schedule Delay & Time Impact Analysis Across the US
Regional wage levels change what a delay costs, not how the schedule is read. The same lost 30 calendar days on a mechanical rough-in is worth more in a high-wage metro than in a rural county, and on public work the prevailing wage determination for the project county sets the labor rate used in the cost portion of a compensable delay. We start the labor basis from published U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and adjust to the project location, the same way we build rates for professional quantity takeoff services.
Material delivery and climate shift the critical path by region. Steel and copper-driven scopes carry different escalation exposure than concrete and wood, and the Producer Price Index series for those commodities shows how far they have moved over the trailing twelve months. Winter shutdowns, hurricane season and spring ground conditions change which activities sit on the longest path, and local code editions adopted under the applicable CSI MasterFormat divisions can add inspection holds that a schedule from another state does not show.
One team in one place serves all 50 states, so the method behind a schedule delay and time impact analysis does not change at a state line. What changes is the wage basis, the code edition and the weather calendar applied to the schedule impact analysis for change orders. Where a request for information was answered late, the region's permitting and inspection queue often explains part of the gap, and we document that separately from contractor-caused delay. Confirm the local code edition with the building department before relying on any inspection duration in the schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a schedule delay & time impact analysis estimate cost?
The fee is quoted per project after we review the plans, so there is no rate card. Pricing depends on the number of schedule updates and fragnets to be built, the length of the dispute window, how many as-built activities must be reconstructed from daily reports, and whether the work is cost-loaded. Send the baseline, updates and contract to get a fixed quote.
How long does a schedule delay & time impact analysis takeoff take?
Delivery is set by the volume of schedule files and the condition of the as-built record, not by a standard clock. A single fragnet tied to one change order moves faster than a multi-window analysis spanning years of updates. We confirm the delivery date in the quote after plan review, and it holds once the file set is complete.
Do you estimate labor and material costs?
Yes. The delay analysis establishes entitlement and days; the cost side prices the labor hours, equipment standby and material escalation attached to those days. Crew rates follow published U.S. wage data and material movement follows published producer price indexes, then an estimator reviews the build-up. See our labor cost estimating services for how the wage side is assembled.
What drawings do you need?
Send the contract and general conditions, the baseline schedule with its calendar and logic, every schedule update, the as-built or record schedule, change orders, RFIs, daily reports and pay applications. Drawing sets and specifications help tie activities to installed work. Missing updates are the most common reason a window analysis stalls.
Can you use my estimate template?
Send the template with the plans and schedule files and we confirm whether the estimate can be delivered in it. Cost-loaded activity structures, WBS codes and cost code mappings usually transfer cleanly; formulas that depend on your own rate tables need checking first. We confirm the format before the work starts.
Do you sign NDAs?
Clients can request an NDA before sending drawings, schedules or contract documents, and the terms are agreed before plan review begins. Tell us at first contact so the agreement is executed ahead of any file transfer. We do not describe a standard policy beyond that.
What is the difference between a time impact analysis and a window analysis?
A time impact analysis inserts a fragnet for one event into the schedule current at that event and measures the movement of completion. Window analysis splits the record into consecutive periods and compares each update to the one before, which exposes concurrent delay. AACE 29R-03 describes both methods and their variants.
How do you handle concurrent delay in a construction claim?
We identify overlapping delay days on the critical path, attribute each to an owner, contractor or third-party cause, and show the overlap in the window table rather than netting it away. The report states which days are excusable, compensable or non-excusable so the time extension request rests on a documented position.
Can the analysis support a time extension request or a change order?
Yes. Each fragnet ties a specific change order, RFI or owner directive to a measured shift in substantial completion, expressed in calendar days against the contract time. The output is a forensic delay analysis report you can attach to the request, with the logic, float values and arithmetic shown.
Which schedule formats can you read?
We work from exported schedules in Primavera P6, Microsoft Project and Excel, plus PDF bar charts where no native file exists. Cost-loaded and resource-loaded schedules are read with their assignments intact. Where only PDFs survive, activity dates and logic are transcribed and the transcription is flagged in the report.
Do you perform a full schedule delay and time impact analysis on small projects?
Yes, scaled to the record. A single-building dispute may need one baseline, three updates and two fragnets; the same method applies without the multi-window apparatus. The scope is agreed in the quote so you are not paying for windows that carry no disputed days.
How is float treated in the critical path delay analysis?
We report total float and longest path separately, because an activity with float can still sit on the longest path. Consumption of float is shown per update, and the report states the contract's float ownership clause where one exists. That distinction decides whether days are chargeable to the project or to a party.
What does the deliverable look like?
You receive an Excel workbook with the window tables, fragnet logic and day counts, a PDF summary with marked-up schedule pages, and the supporting activity extracts. Every number carries its unit, its measurement rule and the source document it came from. The workbook is built so a reviewer can trace any day back to an update.