Retrospective delay analysis

Delay analyses, particularly when undertaken retrospectively, are highly dependent on the availability of contemporaneous records and therefore preparation should be carefully managed by those administrating contracts from the commencement of each project.

Most contractors maintain various contemporary records on construction projects as a matter of policy, as a management tool, because of contract requirements and to comply with statutory duty. Many of these record the progress of the works and what in the event occurred. These types of record include:

• progress meeting records;
• programme progress updates;
• short-term programmes and updates;
• marked-up drawings;
• progress photographs;
• general correspondence;
• concrete-pour records;
• daily site diaries and labour allocation sheets;
• general meeting minutes; and
• subcontractors' formal handover sheets.

In practice many of these records contain insufficient detail, are inaccurate or incomplete, and in some cases not kept at all. The quality and detail of the records are likely to vary considerably for different sections and time periods of the works and it is not unusual to find that the client's team has made no formal requests for records required under the contract or for that matter a formal complaint when they do not appear.

Record keeping tends to improve as the risk of a dispute increases with the parties looking a little more closely at the terms of the contract. The importance of keeping adequate and appropriate records cannot be over emphasised.