On a busy project, something is always late. A delivery slips, an inspection fails, a crew gets pulled. Each one gets a meeting. The question that should run every one of those meetings is simple: is this delay confined to one work area, or will it move a contractual milestone?
Why the distinction matters
A confined delay costs the trade that owns it some time and maybe some money. A milestone-moving delay costs the owner revenue, triggers notices, changes the risk on every party and can end in a dispute. Treating them the same wastes leadership attention on one and under-reacts to the other.
How to tell them apart
- Find the activity’s total float. If the delay is shorter than the float, the finish should not move. If it is longer, the remainder will reach the next constrained milestone.
- Check the path it sits on. Float is shared along a path. Two separate slips on the same near-critical path can consume float that each one alone would not.
- Look downstream, not just at the activity. A late activity may release a trade that then stacks into another area. Follow the successors two or three steps.
- Check against the right milestone. A delay that misses substantial completion can still move an interim turnover, a phase handoff or an outage window.
Answer it in writing
When the answer is “confined,” write down why: the float, the path and the date. When it is “milestone-moving,” run a time impact analysis on the current update, show the fragnet and price the days. Either way, the record exists while the facts are fresh.
Is the delay confined to one work area, or will it move a contractual milestone?
Emmanuel Ugbaja, Principal & CEO
Try it on a sample network with the Delay Impact Simulator. On a live project, our time impact analysis gives you the answer on the native schedule.
