Dispute Resolution

Forensic Schedule Analysis and Construction Delay Claims

PSC has provided Construction Delay Forensic Schedule Analysis (Dispute Resolution services) for hundreds of construction disputes involving some of the US’s largest Contractors, Subcontractors, Owners, Investment Firms, and Government Agencies. Our primary goal is to resolve disputes amicably and expediently.

Precision’s Projects:

The Construction Industry has always been a relatively high-risk and high-reward field. Even the best-planned projects with the most optimal conditions can experience unexpected events that can cause the project to go awry. Over time, all Owners, Contractors, and Subcontractors will inevitably be involved in a construction dispute.  It’s not a question of if this will happen but when.  Construction delays usually account for most of the damage costs incurred by a project. 

Generally, it is in the best interest of all parties to resolve disputes amicably and quickly to minimize the risks to the project’s success. 

Navigating the waters of Forensic Schedule Analysis can be an arduous task. You must consider:

  • What activities drove the as-built critical path of the schedule for a specific period?
  • What was the magnitude or length of the delay?
  • What were the causes of the delay?
  • Who was responsible for the delay?
  • Were there concurrent delays?
  • Was this a compensable delay or a non-compensable delay?

PSC can help you navigate this process. We provide a phased approach to tailoring our Dispute Resolution (DR) services to your needs.  First, we perform a preliminary assessment to formulate our Construction Delay Forensic Schedule Analysis’s objectives, timeline, and methodology.  Then, we conduct our forensic schedule analysis and develop our expert report and demonstratives for the dispute resolution process.

 Dispute Resolution Services

Causes of Construction Disputes

Sometimes, a fair and amicable agreement cannot be achieved despite your best efforts to mitigate issues and resolve disputes.  This can occur for a myriad of reasons, including:

  • Natural disasters, pandemics, and unforeseen acts of God are usually classified as a Force Majeure.
  • Unforeseen site conditions
  • Defective, conflicting, or incomplete Designs
  • Ambiguous contracts or Unenforceable contracts
  • Under-staffing labor resources or poorly skilled resources
  • Project mismanagement and or poor coordination of trades
  • Poor Change Management
  • Disruptions – death by 1,000 cuts and loss of efficiency
  • Dishonest Parties – One-sided contracts with unenforceable terms and clauses.  This is usually instigated by a large Prime Contractor manipulating subcontractors by awarding large projects.

In addition to the broadest parameters, such as contractual terms and the location of the legal jurisdiction of the dispute, every dispute has its unique set of variables that must be considered when formulating the best course of action or a road map to achieving our objectives.

Forensic Schedule Analysis

A “construction delay forensic schedule analysis” is a detailed forensic analysis of a project’s construction schedules and project records to identify the critical drivers and causes of delays incurred by the project.  The magnitude of each delay is calculated, and the delay is apportioned to the responsible party.  Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule analysis has been used to identify project delays for over 40 years in the US.

“… in the absence of compelling evidence of actual errors in the CPMs, we will let the parties ‘live or die’ by the CPM applicable to the relevant time frames.”

Santa Fe Inc. VABCA Nos. 1943, 1944 and 1946, 84-2 BCA. 17,340

Haney v. United States. United States Court of Claims. Mar 10, 1982. 676 F.2d 584

If you want to learn about Forensic Schedule Analysis, construction case law, and dispute resolution, PSC is developing a library of free podcasts that discuss these ever-evolving issues. These podcasts can provide valuable insight.