Scheduling Claims Protection Methods
By the time you know you have a claim, the proof must already exist. Protection flips the timeline — a sound schedule, disciplined updates, contemporaneous records and timely notice preserve entitlement before any dispute. Built on AACE 45R-08.
Protection is proactive, not reactive
A claim is reconstructed from the project record. If the record is thin — vague daily reports, an un-updated schedule, no notice letters — then even a fully legitimate entitlement collapses for lack of proof.
Float — and who owns it
Recall that total float is how long an activity can slip before it delays the project. Float is valuable: it absorbs delay. So who "owns" the float is one of the most contested questions in scheduling. If the owner consumes all the float with their changes, a later contractor delay that would have been harmless now pushes the finish date — and vice versa.
| "Project float" (common view) | Allocated float (watch the clause) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may use it | Whichever party needs it first — a shared buffer | Assigned by contract, sometimes to the owner |
| Basis | First-come, first-served, until the contract says otherwise | An explicit float-ownership or no-sequestering clause |
| Your move | Use float openly; don't rely on hiding it | Read the clause before you count on float |
A claim-ready schedule
The CPM schedule is the single most important piece of claims evidence. To protect entitlement it must be sound from the start and kept honest throughout — four qualities matter.
- Properly baselined — a realistic, accepted baseline with documented assumptions (the schedule basis), so deviations are measurable against a fixed reference.
- Logically sound — driven by genuine activity logic, not date constraints; the critical path is computed, not imposed.
- Disciplined updates — actual dates recorded each period, with a clear data date, and a preserved copy of every update.
- Change-aware — delays and changes modelled as fragnets, with the reason for every logic revision logged.
Contemporaneous records — the daily habit
The schedule shows that a delay happened; the contemporaneous records show why, and tie it to a cause the other party owns. "Contemporaneous" means created at the time, in the normal course of work — which is exactly what makes them credible. Records reconstructed for a claim are worth little; records made daily are worth a great deal.
| Capture this | So that later you can… |
|---|---|
| Daily reports — manpower by trade, equipment, weather, obstructions | Show what happened, when, and what blocked it |
| Manpower & productivity curves | Give a future Measured Mile clean data to draw on |
| Correspondence, RFIs & responses | Establish who caused what, and when |
| Dated, located photographs | Prove conditions visually, beyond dispute |
Notice — protection in real time
From a protection standpoint, notice is the moment the record formally captures a problem. A timely, specific notice — identifying the event, the clause, and the likely impact — does three protective jobs at once: it preserves the contractual right, it date-stamps the cause, and it forces the issue into the project's documented history rather than leaving it to memory. A project with a clean notice trail is hard to surprise in arbitration.
Ten things to remember
- A claim is reconstructed from the record — so the record must be built before you need it.
- Claims protection is proactive — good project control that doubles as evidence.
- Float is a contested asset — know whether your contract treats it as the project's or allocates it.
- Never hide or sequester float; manipulation discredits your own schedule.
- A claim-ready schedule is baselined, logically sound, disciplined, and change-aware.
- Drive the schedule with logic, not date constraints — the critical path must be computed.
- Preserve a copy of every schedule update — the trail is the spine of a delay claim.
- Contemporaneous records are credible; reconstructed ones aren't.
- Keep productivity/manpower curves so a future Measured Mile has clean data.
- A clean, factual notice trail preserves rights and date-stamps causes in real time.
Glossary
- Claims protection
- Proactive scheduling and documentation practices that preserve entitlement before any dispute.
- Contemporaneous records
- Records created at the time of the work — the most persuasive evidence.
- Data date
- The "as-of" line in a schedule update separating actuals from forecast.
- Float ownership
- The contractual question of which party may use available float.
- Float sequestering
- Hiding float via constraints or preferential logic — undermines schedule credibility.
- Notice
- Timely written notification of an event affecting time or cost, preserving the right to claim.
- Schedule basis
- The documented assumptions, calendars, and methods behind the baseline.
- Total float
- The time an activity can slip without delaying completion; zero float = critical.