Time Management

# Chapter 20: Time Management and Extensions  Construction time management has transformed from a straightforward scheduling exercise into one of the most complex aspects of project delivery. As a graduate architect in Victoria, you'll need to navigate contractual deadlines, industry-wide delays, and sophisticated programming requirements whilst maintaining project momentum. ## **Understanding Time Management in Today's Context** The construction landscape you're entering looks vastly different from what your lecturers experienced. Projects that once took 8 months now stretch to 12 months or longer. Material shortages mean you can't simply specify alternatives when your first choice isn't available, sometimes nothing is available. When contractors tell you they can't get workers, they're not making excuses; Victoria needs 34,100 more construction workers by 2025. These aren't temporary disruptions anymore. They're the new normal, and they fundamentally change how you'll manage time on projects. The old approach of treating delays as exceptional events doesn't work when every project faces multiple setbacks. You'll need to build buffers into programmes, document everything meticulously, and help clients understand why their project timelines look nothing like their neighbour's renovation from five years ago. Most importantly, you'll need to assess extension of time (EOT) claims fairly whilst protecting your client's interests, a delicate balance that requires both technical knowledge and professional judgement. **Key Terms:** - **EOT (Extension of Time)**: A formal adjustment to the contract completion date, protecting contractors from liquidated damages for qualifying delays - **Critical path**: The sequence of activities that determines the minimum project duration, delays to these activities delay the entire project - **Concurrent delays**: When two or more delay events overlap, requiring analysis of which party bears responsibility - **Prevention principle**: The legal concept that principals cannot claim damages for delays they cause ## **Contractual Frameworks for Time Management** Your choice of contract fundamentally shapes how you'll handle delays. AS 4000, freshly updated in 2025 after 28 years, gives contractors 28 days to claim extensions after becoming aware of a delay. Miss this deadline, and the claim might still proceed (there's no automatic time bar), but you've made everyone's life harder. Here's what catches graduates out: different contracts have wildly different requirements. AS 2124 only allows 14 days for notice. NSW's GC21 demands initial notice within 5 business days. Residential contracts under the HIA require 5-7 working days. Get this wrong, and your contractor loses their right to an extension, potentially costing them thousands in liquidated damages, and guess who they'll blame? The new AS 4000:2025 brings welcome modernisation. Language is clearer (no more "forthwith"), and it explicitly incorporates GST and Work Health and Safety requirements. But here's the crucial change: practical completion can now occur before the certificate is issued. This affects when defects liability starts, when liquidated damages stop, and when retention money gets released. You need to understand these implications before administering any contracts. Victoria's Security of Payment Act reforms in 2024 added another layer. EOT disputes can now go through adjudication, a faster alternative to court proceedings. Payment terms are capped at 25 business days, and unfair time bars might be thrown out entirely. This shifts power dynamics on site, generally favouring contractors over principals. **Key Terms:** - **Time bar**: A contractual provision that extinguishes rights if notice isn't given within specified timeframes - **Liquidated damages**: Pre-agreed daily amounts payable for late completion, not penalties but genuine pre-estimates of loss - **Practical completion**: When works are complete except for minor defects, triggers multiple contractual consequences - **Adjudication**: A fast-track dispute resolution process under Security of Payment legislation ## **Managing Concurrent Delays**  Here's where theory meets messy reality. Your contractor is delayed because they can't get plumbers (qualifying delay, labour shortage). But they're also behind because they misread the drawings (non-qualifying delay, contractor error). The delays overlap by two weeks. Who gets what? AS 4000 says "apportion the delay according to respective causes' contribution." Sounds simple? It's not. You might need to analyse whether the plumber shortage would have mattered if the contractor hadn't already lost time through their error. Or determine what percentage of delay each cause contributed. Courts haven't provided clear guidance, leaving you to apply "common sense", terrifying when significant money is at stake. The prevention principle should protect contractors when principals cause delays, but Australian courts focus more on whether contracts allow relief rather than whether it was actually granted. Document your assessment process carefully. Show your reasoning. When in doubt, err on the side of fairness, harsh decisions often backfire through disputes, damaged relationships, or reputation impacts. Recent cases like Thurin v Krongold Constructions (2022) have complicated Victorian practice. VCAT can't hear disputes involving federal legislation, pushing many matters to court with associated costs and delays. The Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2023 partially addressed this, but resolution times still average three years. The message? Resolve delays collaboratively where possible, formal disputes rarely benefit anyone. **Key Terms:** - **Qualifying delay**: A delay event that entitles the contractor to an EOT (e.g., client variations, site conditions) - **Non-qualifying delay**: Contractor-caused delays that don't warrant extensions - **Apportionment**: Dividing delay impacts between parties based on their respective contributions - **Float**: Spare time in the programme, increasingly seen as belonging to the contractor unless contracts specify otherwise ## **Current Market Realities**  Understanding market conditions isn't just background knowledge, it directly affects your EOT assessments. When every project faces similar delays, you can't dismiss claims as poor planning. The numbers tell the story: construction times up 30-50%, timber shortages the worst in 40 years, steel lead times extended by 2-4 weeks minimum. Labour shortages hit specific trades hardest. Electricians, plumbers, and construction managers are critically short. Contractors genuinely cannot accelerate work by throwing more resources at it, the resources don't exist. The "profitless boom" means many builders are working harder for the same money, increasing insolvency risks and making acceleration even less viable. Weather adds another dimension. Victoria averages 226 workable days annually compared to Queensland's 184, but climate extremes are increasing. That "unseasonable" rain isn't unseasonable anymore if it happens every year. Document market conditions when assessing EOT claims. A delay that seemed unreasonable in 2019 might be industry standard in 2025\. Keep records of material lead times, labour availability, and industry announcements. These become crucial evidence when clients question why their project is taking so long. **Key Terms:** - **Force majeure**: Unforeseeable circumstances preventing contract fulfilment, COVID expanded interpretations significantly - **Acceleration**: Speeding up works to recover delays, can be directed (paid) or voluntary (contractor's risk) - **Lead time**: Period between ordering and receiving materials, now highly variable and often undefined ## **Practical Programme Management** Critical Path Method (CPM) programming is mandatory for public projects over $1 million. You'll encounter Primavera P6 on major projects, powerful but complex software managing unlimited activities with sophisticated resource levelling. Microsoft Project suffices for smaller works, integrating better with tools you already know. Good programmes break work into 20-40 day activities maximum, with critical path activities ideally 10-20 days. Every activity needs predecessors and successors (except start/finish milestones). Watch for excessive float, more than 5% of activities with 60+ days float suggests poor planning. Regular programme updates are essential. Monthly updates should show actual progress, revised forecasts, and delay impacts. When delays occur, request "impacted programmes" showing how specific events affected the critical path. Don't accept vague claims, demand detailed causation analysis linking delays to programme impacts. Acceleration poses particular challenges. Directed acceleration under AS 4000 Clause 32 entitles contractors to costs. But "constructive acceleration", where contractors speed up because you wrongly rejected their EOT, remains legally uncertain in Australia. Document acceleration discussions carefully, clarifying whether it's voluntary (contractor's commercial decision) or directed (paid variation). **Key Terms:** - **CPM (Critical Path Method)**: Network analysis technique identifying the longest path through a project - **Float ownership**: Who controls spare time in the programme, trending toward contractor ownership - **Resource levelling**: Adjusting schedules to smooth resource demands, increasingly difficult with shortages - **Baseline programme**: The original approved schedule against which progress is measured ## **Meeting Registration Requirements** ARBV expects you to demonstrate competence in time management through Performance Criteria 57 of the National Standard of Competency for Architects. This specifically requires ability to assess EOT claims, certify progress payments, and manage project instructions. You'll need documented experience across these areas within your 3,300 logged hours. The Architectural Practice Examination tests this knowledge rigorously. Questions might ask you to evaluate an EOT claim, identify notice requirements under different contracts, or explain concurrent delay assessment. The exam expanded to 80 questions in 2025, reflecting increased complexity in professional practice. Common knowledge gaps include understanding Australian-specific contracts (not just generic contract law), practical EOT assessment procedures, and managing documentation requirements. University often provides theoretical frameworks, you need practical application. Seek experience with actual contract administration, even if just observing initially. Ask to review EOT claims, attend programme meetings, and understand how decisions are made. Resources worth accessing include the Australian Institute of Architects' Practice of Architecture Learning Series, which covers contract administration thoroughly. The Association of Consulting Architects' Keith Neighbour Graduate Study Program provides practical scenarios. ARBV's regular CPD webinars address specific issues like EOT assessment procedures. **Key Terms:** - **Performance Criteria 57**: NSCA requirement for contract administration competence including EOT assessment - **APE (Architectural Practice Examination)**: National exam testing professional practice knowledge for registration - **NSCA**: National Standard of Competency for Architects, defines requirements for registration - **Logged hours**: Documented experience recorded in your AACA logbook, verified by your supervisor ## **Practical Tips for Graduates** Start building your time management skills early. Review programmes on every project, even if you're not responsible for them. Notice how delays cascade through activities. Ask experienced architects how they assess EOT claims, what evidence they require, how they document decisions. When you begin assessing claims, create standard checklists: Was notice given on time? Does the delay affect the critical path? Has the contractor mitigated impacts? Is supporting evidence adequate? Consistency matters, similar delays should receive similar treatment. Keep a delays register on every project, recording causes, impacts, and decisions. This becomes invaluable when disputes arise months later. Include market conditions, weather events, and authority delays, not just contractor issues. Most importantly, remember that fair assessment builds better projects. Harsh rejection of legitimate claims doesn't save money, it creates disputes, damages relationships, and ultimately costs more. Your role is applying contract requirements fairly whilst protecting your client's interests, not automatically rejecting every claim. Time management in construction has never been more challenging, but understanding these complexities, and documenting your experience with them, will strengthen your path to registration and establish you as a competent practitioner in Victoria's evolving construction landscape.