When Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase “Time is money,” it was not directed toward design professionals. However, unfortunately for design professionals this adage rears its ugly head in the form of the dreaded delay claim. In this regard, public school projects present a significant risk for three key reasons. First, the failure to meet deadlines will likely impact the school’s
ability to operate, thereby creating damages due to the need for alternatives. Second, school projects are heavily scrutinized by not only the administration, but also by their constituency,
who often have no issues voicing their concerns publicly. To make matters worse, the jury will likely contain some members of these groups should the claims proceed to trial. Third, many
states have acted to protect public entities, by removing the statute of limitations that typically limit the time period for filing claims. Thus, delay claims can be filed years after the conclusion of the project.
Fear not design professionals, we offer the following best practices for holistically seeking to avoid delay claims. Returning to Franklin, he offers the following sage advice “An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We cannot stress enough that prevention begins before the project starts. The singular best protection against delay claims (or any claims for that matter) is earned at the negotiating table in the form of a well-drafted contract. If you are operating from anything short of this, you are already vulnerable to forces beyond your reasonable control.
For starters, “time is of the essence” clauses or hard deadlines should be stricken from the contract. These place the design professional in a precarious situation because they may remove the protections provided by the standard of care and leave the design professional strictly liable – even when not the cause of the delay.
Please finish the article HERE.