If a Contractor has a programme based on a five day working week, and when a CE arises the Contractor proposes to work weekends to mitigate the delay. The client agrees to pay the change in costs in working the weekend. The Contractor submits a revised programme with a change in the Completion Date and has assessed the delay based on the weekend working effecting the Completion Date.
- Can the Contractor add the days that they are working weekends onto the Completion Date on the programme? i.e. if they work two weekends, they add four days onto the programme as float? So planned Completion would be the same but the Completion Date would change?
Or is the programme assessment based on that they have mitigated the delay and the planned Completion and Completion Date are assessed as not being changed by the CE, as the works did not effect the programme?
It is based on the latter as, due to their mitigation actions, planned Completion compared with planned Completion as shown in the Accepted Programme is not put back - see NEC3 clause 63.3/ NEC4 clause 63.5.
There are two options here. Either the Contractor assesses the compensation event based upon a five day week and then sees/agrees the impact on planned Completion and thus Completion Date accordingly. If once the compensation event is implemented it is then possible to speed that up by working weekends then that would bring forward their planned Completion in advance of the Completion Date and create “terminal float” which is owned by the Contractor.
As described however, if it is known that the weekend working is possible and planned – then if this does not move planned Completion then there can be no movement in Completion Date (as Jon has stated). A Contractor is obliged to mitigate where ever possible (but not obliged to accelerate – and there is a fine line between the two as you can read in other questions in this forum!)