Extension of Time Claims
An extension of time claim is the formal case for more time on a contract, showing that a delay was not your risk and that it pushed out completion. A claim stands or falls on the evidence behind it, and on the contract and notices that frame it. Project Scheduling prepares and substantiates extension of time claims for construction and mining contractors across Australia, and tests claims made against you.
When You Need It
You need an EOT claim when an event outside your control delays the work and you face liquidated damages, or when the client disputes a claim you have made. A late claim, or one that misses the notice the contract requires, gets rejected, and an unchallenged claim against you gets paid. Either way, the programme and the records decide it.
What the Claim Sets Out
The delay event and why it was not your risk
The effect on the critical path, shown against the contemporaneous programme
The notice given, tested against what the contract requires
The effect of any concurrent delay, assessed under the governing contract and the project record
Prolongation cost, where the contract gives a separate basis to recover it
The contractual basis for the claim
Supporting exhibits traceable to source records
Built on the Records
Claims are won or lost on the quality of the contemporaneous record. The claim is built from the programme and project records as they stood at the time, using a delay analysis method suited to the contract and the available records, so it is ready to withstand scrutiny in contract administration and, if it goes further, adjudication or arbitration.
Defending a Claim
A claim made against you is tested the same way it should have been built. The analysis checks whether the delay was real, whether it hit the critical path, whether the notice complied with the contract, and whether concurrency or your own entitlement reduces it, so any payment rests on the evidence, not on the claim's assertions.
Independent and Sector-Specific
Project Scheduling works across mining, heavy industrial, civil, infrastructure and commercial construction contracts. The work is independent and delivered directly, so the claim rests on the evidence, not on optimistic assumptions.
On a recent earthworks dispute, an evidenced extension of time claim supported a six-month extension of time and helped resolve the matter without formal proceedings. Read the full case study in our Insights.
Protect your time and cost position, whether you are claiming or defending. Let us look at where your claim stands.
Common Questions
How long do I have to lodge an extension of time claim?
The contract sets the clock, and it is usually short. Most construction and mining contracts require notice of a delay within a set number of days of the event, or of becoming aware of it, followed by a detailed claim within a further period. Miss the notice and the entitlement can be lost even where the delay was genuine, so the first step is always to check the notice provisions and act inside them.
What makes an extension of time claim stand up?
A claim built from the contemporaneous record, not a narrative assembled afterwards. It has to identify the delay event and why it is not your risk, show the effect on the critical path against the programme as it stood at the time, comply with the notice the contract requires, and separate any concurrent delay. A claim with clear causation traced to source records is far harder to reject than one that asserts a result.
Does an extension of time give me my delay costs as well?
Not automatically. An extension of time moves the completion date and protects you from liquidated damages. Recovering prolongation or delay cost is a separate question that needs its own contractual basis, its own causation, and proof the cost was actually incurred. The two run together on many claims, but they are argued and evidenced separately.
How does concurrent delay affect the claim?
It depends on the contract. Where a delay you are responsible for runs at the same time as one that is not your risk, some contracts apportion the time, some grant the extension in full, and some reduce it to the extent of the concurrency. There is no single Australian rule, so concurrency is assessed against the governing contract and the critical path in the contemporaneous record, not by a fixed formula.
Know Where Your Claim Stands
Whether you are preparing a claim or defending one, the position is only as strong as the evidence behind it. Let us review where yours stands before the deadline or the dispute decides it for you.