Free checklist
A delay and extended overhead claim stands or falls on whether you can show the delay happened, that it was on the critical path and what it cost. These are the records an owner, surety or carrier will expect to see alongside the calculation.
14 items across 4 categories. This is a general guide for a typical claim of this type, not an exhaustive or jurisdiction-specific list. Confirm exact evidentiary requirements with counsel before submission.
An Eichleay or extended-general-conditions claim is a damages calculation resting on an evidentiary record. The formula is only as defensible as the daily logs and schedule updates behind it, which is why reviewers ask for the backup before they engage with the arithmetic.
A checklist is only useful if you know why each item is on it. Reviewers do not ask for records to be thorough; they ask because each one answers a specific question that the calculation on its own cannot.
What it proves. Establishes the time obligation you are claiming was disrupted, the notice provisions you had to satisfy and whether a no-damages-for-delay clause applies at all.
Where it comes from. Your own contract file. Get the fully executed version with all exhibits, not the draft that circulated before signature.
What it proves. The measuring stick. Without an accepted baseline there is no agreed starting point from which to show slippage and a reviewer can characterise any delay as your own planning error.
Where it comes from. The schedule submittal that the owner or architect accepted, with the transmittal or approval letter attached.
What it proves. Ties the contract price to work packages, which is what makes an allocation of overhead to this contract reviewable rather than asserted.
Where it comes from. The SOV attached to your first payment application, plus any approved revisions.
What it proves. The single most-requested record in a delay claim. Contemporaneous logs show crew counts, weather, deliveries and idle time on the specific days you say work stopped.
Where it comes from. Site supervision. Pull the full run covering the delay window plus two weeks either side, not just the days you intend to claim.
What it proves. Corroborates the logs from a second, independent hand and often captures the reason for a stoppage that the formal log records only as an absence of progress.
Where it comes from. Individual staff. These are frequently personal notebooks rather than company records, so ask early, before someone leaves.
What it proves. Proves you gave the notice the contract required, when it required it. A meritorious delay claim is regularly defeated on notice alone.
Where it comes from. Project correspondence file, transmittal log and the project email archive. Check sent items, not just what was filed.
What it proves. Distinguishes a delay that pushed completion from one absorbed by float. Only critical-path delay supports extended overhead.
Where it comes from. Monthly schedule updates as submitted, plus a final as-built. If updates were never issued, a retrospective as-built analysis will need to be built and that costs more.
What it proves. Shows what time and money has already been granted, which prevents you claiming the same day twice and shows the reviewer you have netted out what was settled.
Where it comes from. Change order log. Include pending and rejected ones; the rejections often carry the owner's own characterisation of the delay.
What it proves. Establishes contract billings for the performance period, which is the numerator in the Eichleay allocation.
Where it comes from. Accounting. You need the billings for this contract and the company-wide total for the same period, from the same system and the same basis.
What it proves. Supports the labour hours behind an inefficiency claim and demonstrates that crews were actually on site during the extended period.
Where it comes from. Payroll system, or the certified payroll submissions if this is public work.
What it proves. Backs the daily general conditions rate with real costs rather than an allowance: trailer rental, temporary utilities, fencing, portable toilets, security.
Where it comes from. Accounts payable, filtered by job number for the extended period.
What it proves. Converts a written assertion into something a reviewer can see. Photographs of an idle site on specific dates are difficult to argue with.
Where it comes from. Site staff phones, drone surveys and any progress-photo service. Confirm the EXIF dates survived whatever the photos were copied through.
What it proves. Documents when you asked and how long the answer took, which is often the cleanest available evidence of owner-caused delay.
Where it comes from. The RFI log, with dates submitted and dates answered both intact.
What it proves. Shows the delay was raised contemporaneously and, frequently, that the other side acknowledged it before positions hardened.
Where it comes from. Progress meeting minutes. The owner's or architect's own minutes carry more weight than yours.
These are the omissions that cost real money, in rough order of how often they come up.
If monthly updates were never issued, critical-path impact has to be reconstructed after the fact. That is expensive, contestable and the single most common reason a delay claim gets discounted.
Most contracts require written notice within a fixed number of days. A claim with merit and no timely written notice is regularly defeated on the notice provision alone.
The compensable day count used for extended field overhead must match the one used for the Eichleay allocation. Reviewers check that they reconcile and a mismatch undermines both.
They are separate costs proved by separate records. Combining them into one daily rate makes the whole figure look assembled rather than calculated.
Pull the full run for the delay window plus roughly two weeks either side. The days before the delay establish the normal rate of progress you are comparing against and reviewers frequently ask for them.
A retrospective as-built schedule can be built from daily logs, payment applications and photographs, but it costs more and carries less weight than contemporaneous updates. Start gathering the underlying records now rather than later.
No. The calculator is free and unlimited and running it first tells you roughly what the claim is worth, which is how you decide whether the document-gathering effort is justified.
The ClaimDuke calculator carries this same checklist. Tick what you already have and add your own items and they carry through to the Excel workbook, the Word document and the PDF report you export, so what you hand over shows exactly which records are in the file and which are still outstanding.
Free to calculate, with a free one-page summary. Paid reports add your branding, a live-formula Excel workbook and the cited methodology behind every line.
Evidentiary expectations and the underlying entitlement both vary by jurisdiction. ClaimDuke carries a cited reference for all 50 states + DC covering statutory interest, actual cash value and labor depreciation, delay-claim limits and injury liability.
