Extension of Time claim on a FIDIC Red Book highway project
A tier-2 civil contractor faced repeated delay events on a major highway package. Notices had been issued inconsistently and the delay analysis method hadn't been chosen. Ashforte rebuilt the record base, selected an appropriate method and prepared a defensible EOT submission.
The situation
The contractor had experienced multiple delay events over a 14-month period — late employer approvals, changed geotechnical conditions, and third-party utility interface delays. Some events had been notified, others hadn't. Notification quality was uneven.
The Engineer had issued preliminary determinations denying entitlement on three of the notified events, primarily on the grounds of insufficient particulars. The contractor's internal claims team had drafted responses but they were being rejected in the same terms.
The commercial director engaged Ashforte after concluding that internal capacity would not produce a submission the Engineer would accept — and that if the situation escalated to the DAB in its current state, the contractor's position would be materially weaker than the underlying facts warranted.
Ashforte's intervention
The engagement was structured around the following workstreams, delivered by a senior-led team operating to Ashforte's standardized delivery protocols.
Diagnosis and method selection
- Audit of programme record and notice history
- Selection of Windows Analysis as the appropriate delay analysis method
- Concurrent delay treatment agreed against contract and jurisdiction
- Record-base gap identification and reconstruction planning
Record reconstruction
- As-built programme reconstruction from surrounding records
- Correspondence chain reconstruction
- Site diary and instruction linkage
- Cost record consolidation for time-related preliminaries
Submission
- Full particulars submission with methodology, causation and quantum
- Concurrent-delay treatment explicitly documented
- Prolongation cost build-up with site and head-office overhead
- Reservation-of-rights on further disruption pending record analysis
The result
The Engineer accepted the methodology and issued a determination granting the full extension of time claimed, less a modest concurrent-delay deduction consistent with the analysis.
Prolongation cost recovery was accepted at approximately 85% of the claimed value, with the residual driven by cost record disputes on a specific category that were reconciled through supplementary submission.
The contractor engaged Ashforte on a Portfolio Retainer covering three further live projects, with pre-mobilisation setup work commissioned on a fourth.
Lessons
The lessons from an engagement are usually more transferable than the specific results. What Ashforte's clients typically take away from case studies like this one:
Notice discipline had failed at the outset — but the underlying entitlement was substantial. Method selection and record reconstruction converted a weak-looking position into a defensible one.
Windows Analysis was the right method for this contract, this evidence base and this jurisdiction. Method selection is not a neutral technical choice; it determines outcome.
The contractor's internal team was capable but stretched. Senior claims capacity added at the right moment produced a materially different result.
This engagement sat within Claims & Dispute Support.
Entitlement identified early. Claims built on evidence. Defence positions ready before they're needed.
Explore Claims & DisputesInitial Commercial Risk Assessment
By invitation, Ashforte provides qualified contractors with an initial commercial risk assessment on one live project. A structured senior review of contract, claims and commercial-control exposure, delivered as a documented briefing with a 30-day action plan. Qualification is determined in the first conversation.
A structured review of one live project — offered by invitation, at no cost, to qualified contractors.
Request an initial assessment- 01Review of selected project documents (contract, correspondence, variations, programme)
- 02Identification of key contract and commercial risk exposures
- 03Short maturity assessment across notices, variations, claims and payment controls
- 04A practical 30-day action plan
- 05Findings call with the project or commercial lead
- Contractors with active commercial pressure on a live project
- Variation or claims exposure requiring senior review
- Payment or certification issues affecting cash
- Stretched commercial teams needing external senior view
- Final account or close-out situations
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A civil contractor completed a metro civils package with significant unresolved variations and claims. The internal team lacked capacity to build the final account under time pressure. Ashforte assembled the account, negotiated close-out and unlocked retention.
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A buildings contractor received a LD notice of USD 8.5M on a hospital project completed six months late. Ashforte built the defence position, quantified concurrent-cause exposure and negotiated a settled resolution.