Construction Delay Analysis, Simplified

CONSTRUCTION DELAY ANALYSIS, SIMPLIFIED…
Presented By: Michael A. Pink

www.construxsolutions.com 2
ABOUT THE PRESENTER: MICHAEL PINK
 Founder of Construx Solutions, LLC
 Inventor of SmartPM: Data Capture, Storage and Analysis Technology
 15 Years of Advisory Experience in Commercial Construction Industry
 Specialization in Project Controls, Risk Management, Dispute Avoidance
 Advisory Board Member for the School of Building Construction at Georgia Tech
 Certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP)
 Certified Cost Engineer (CCE)

COURSE OBJECTIVES
 Why is Delay Analysis Common in Construction?
 Important Steps to Developing a Delay Analysis
 Summarizing the Baseline Schedule
 The As Planned versus As-Built Schedule
 Identifying and Tracking the As-Built Critical Path
 A Simplified Analysis for a Trade Contractor

WHY IS DELAY ANALYSIS NECESSARY IN CONSTRUCTION?
 Most Project Bids and Baseline Schedules are “Best Case” Scenarios
 Project Master Schedules are typically complex, with a lot of moving parts
 Schedules and Budgets are generally impacted for multiple overlapping reasons
 Lack of strong controls in Scheduling, Work Flow and Data Management
 Construction is Expensive and there is a lot of money at stake.
 A majority of Budget overruns are caused by Delay/Impacts issues
Crossed With
Crossed With
Crossed With
Crossed With
Crossed With

ENGINEERS &
ARCHITECTS
OWNERS
CONSTRUCTION
MANAGERS
CONTRACTORS OTHER
• Poor Design
• Incomplete Design
• Slow Response Time
• Excessive Changes
• Delayed Approvals/
Permits
• Prolonged Planning
• Delayed Payment
• Poor Planning/
Scheduling
• Poor Contract
Management
• Coordination Issues
• Unachievable
Schedule
• Poor Data
Management
• Mismanagement of
Resources
• Unachievable Bid
• Poor Productivity/
Performance
• Mismanagement of
resources
• Labor Shortages
• Default
• Unanticipated
Weather
• Changing Market
Conditions
• Unforeseen
Conditions
• Force majeure
WHAT IMPACTS THE SCHEDULE IN CONSTRUCTION?

Steps in Performing a Delay Analysis (on a master schedule)
 Locate and Summarize the “Baseline” Master Schedule (Level 2).
 Gain an understanding of the Planned Critical Path of the Master Plan.
 Gain an understanding of the intended trade flow throughout the project (the order of
construction by area, crew and trades).
 Generate an As Built Schedule (in the same ordering/level as the As Planned).
 Compare the As-Planned Schedule to the As-Built Schedule (Level 2) .
 Perform a holistic review to pinpoint delayed areas/issues; Try to find a theme.
 Review contemporaneous information to determine the Historical (or “As-Built”) Critical Path.
 Choose a methodology to highlight / prove “Critical Path” delay.
 Measure Critical Path Delay to the Project over time.
 Determine Causation for Critical Delay identified.

SUMMARIZING THE BASELINE MASTER SCHEDULE
QUESTION:
Why is this Necessary?
ANSWERS:
• A summary of the Master Schedule makes it more simple to
digest the planned work flow of the entire job (ie. Logic).
• Comparisons at a Summary Level makes it easier and quicker to
pinpoint delays
• A summary is much easier to explain than a full CPM Schedule

STEPS TO SUMMARIZING THE BASELINE MASTER SCHEDULE
 Review the Schedule and figure out the “Trade Flow” of the Project.
 Create a baseline summary that essentially divides the project by
area/location, and has a line item for each trade (Level 2). This will
become the basis for ANALYSIS. NOTE: “Areas” can be levels, site
locations, structures, etc. It depends on the project and the schedule.
 Distinguish the Planned Critical Path in the Baseline Summary.
 Prepare a Level 1 summary of that schedule for graphical purposes.
This will become the basis for DISCUSSION.
 Study the Summary Schedule to understand the flow/logic of crews/
trades/resources

SUMMARIZING THE BASELINE SCHEDULE – LEVEL 2

SUMMARIZING THE BASELINE SCHEDULE (AGAIN) – LEVEL 1
NOTE: The Level 1 schedule needs to fit on ONE (1) page, whereas the Level 2 Schedule
can be spread out across multiple pages.

QUESTIONS?

THE AS PLANNED VS. AS BUILT ANALYSIS
 Find the latest contemporaneous schedule update.
 Summarize “as-built” data points in latest schedule update to mirror
the Level 2 Baseline Summary. Compare.
NOTE: If no schedule update exists, use other sources to determine start and finish
dates for summary level activities (ie. payment applications, photo’s, dailies, etc.)
NOTE: Seek start dates and “substantial completion” dates for each activity.
 Begin to analyze duration variances in each area, measure delay
from completion of one trade to the next and try to determine if there
appears to be a theme. (See example on next slide).
 Overlap Areas, and see if a particular trade is impacting workflow
and driving delays
 Begin to highlight delay issues for future analysis

LEVEL 2 COMPARISON EXAMPLE – BUILDING F
59 cd delay
81 cd delay
(net 22 cd)
160 cd delay
(net 79 cd)
288 cd delay
(net 128 cd)

QUESTIONS?

WHAT IS THE CRITICAL PATH AND WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• It is the longest “String” or “Path” of activities that logically
connects the start date of the project to the end of the project.
• It is the one and only path on a project that has no float or slack
and will results in a delay to the end date of the project if delayed.
• It is relevant because only a critical path activity can delay the
project a certain point in time.
• Determining the “Historic” Critical path, is the most important step
in building a Delay Analysis / Claim.
• Once Historical Critical Path is identified, one can assess
responsibility for delay and then entitlement.

What is Compensable, Concurrent and Non Compensable Delay?
Once delay is identified, it is typically categorized into the following:
‒ Excusable Compensable – The Contractor was delayed and had no part in
causing the delay (“Out of the its Control’); Granted time and money for
extended GC’s, acceleration and/or impact costs.
‒ Excusable Non Compensable (“Concurrent”) – The Contractor was equally
involved/responsible for a delay, along with another party (ie. owner, engineer,
etc); Granted time, but no money for extended GC’s, acceleration, and/or other
impact costs.
‒ Non Excusable Non Compensable – The Contractor was solely responsible the
delay for a particular period of time; Granted no time and no money.
NOTE: On Projects where multiple delays are identified, each will need to be classified with the above
categories to ultimately prepare a delay claim.

How do we determine the Historical Critical Path?
• Start with reviewing the Contemporaneous Schedule Updates.
• Try to determine if the schedule updates were used to “manage” versus used
to “check the box”; Try these indicators:
‒ See if the project critical path was clearly delayed over time and the end date stayed the same for a long time. This
indicates the schedule is likely not usable to document CP.
‒ A lot of logic changes and shortened durations of activities. This indicates the schedule is likely unusable.
‒ If trades started getting stacked towards the end of the project and the end date stays the same. This indicates the
schedule is unusable for documenting historical CP.
‒ HINT: Create a Database of Schedule Updates with the following fields: Schedule Title, Data Date, No. of Activities,
Project Completion Date, Go Forward Critical Path
• If the schedule updates seem legit, document the critical path and delay
through a “Windows Analysis”.
• If the updates do not seem legit, one will need to either review meeting
minutes, letters of delay, or calculate in an as planned versus as-built scenario.

WHAT IS A WINDOWS ANALYSIS?
 A Technique that measures delay while documenting the historical critical
path through different periods (or windows) of time.
 It essentially allows users to easily decipher what was deemed critical from
one period to the next, as the schedule is updated.
 If properly utilized, it will document shifts in the critical path, from planned to
actual.
 The more periods reviewed, the better. But lets not get crazy. Monthly
windows are best.
 If properly performed it will be easier to digest, and more difficult to argue.
 Windows Analysis should be analyzed in a Level 2 Summary, explained in a
Level 1 Summary.

WINDOWS ANALYSIS EXAMPLE

WINDOW 1 UPDATE
1/1
1/1

WINDOW 1 – SUMMARY OF DELAY

WINDOW 2 UPDATE
1/1
1/1

WINDOW 2 – SUMMARY OF DELAY

OTHER WAYS TO DETERMINE THE HISTORICAL CRITICAL PATH
• As Planned vs. As built Calculation Method
• Determine Variances by comparing Late Dates to Actual Dates
• Chart it out
• Compare
• Review of Meeting Minutes, Emails, Progress Reports to highlight
what appear to be “delaying issues”
• Read Correspondence
• Document Issues
• Highlight time frame

EXAMPLE: AS PLANNED V AS BUILT CALCULATION METHOD
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
8/10/2010 11/18/2010 2/26/2011 6/6/2011 9/14/2011 12/23/2011 4/1/2012
Core Area 1 Core Area 2 Core Area 3
DaysofDelay
Critical Path equals
Highest Line
Concurrent Delay

QUESTIONS?

THE SIMPLIFIED METHOD
• As Planned Versus As Built Method Works Best.
• Step 1: Document the Agreed to Baseline (in Excel)
• Step 2: Document every day worked on which activity using daily
reports (in Excel).
• Step 3: Analyze variances, disruption, delay and even manpower
• Step 4: Determine Causation for budget overruns and delay
• NOTE: The project critical path and the trade contractors critical
path can be different. The trade contractor needs to determine both
for “offense” and “defense”.
• NOTE: If the trade contractors opts not to submit daily reports, this
analysis will become a lot harder.

SETTING UP THE AS PLANNED SCHEDULE INTO A VISUAL DATABASE

ADDING DAILY REPORT DATA INTO A VISUAL DATABASE

CONVERTING DAILY REPORT DATA INTO PERFORMANCE METRICS

PRESENTED BY: MICHAEL PINK
Contact Info:
C: 404 277 4387
O: 404 329 3000
mpink@construxsolutions.com
Feel free to contact me directly if
you have any additional questions
Sign up for our upcoming courses:
— CPM Scheduling
— Data Management and Performance Analysis
— Delay Analysis in Construction
— Construction Claims Review/Prep
Follow us on LinkedIn for more info.

Construction Delay Analysis, Simplified

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