Those who are associated with the construction industry will often be able to envision themselves experiencing delay 
in their construction work due to some or the other reason. If you are a contractor and have of late realized that the owner delay is going to impact your work schedule, you can opt to:
- Continue with the original schedule handed over to/by you
- Pace Owner delay and process your work accordingly
The pace delay could be because of the either sides, although this term is used mostly for the owner delay. Once the pace delay has been opted-for, the contractor will slow down his original work schedule and will wait for the project owner to process his tasks first. These tasks can include arranging for the raw materials, approving future procedures to be implemented, or even setting forth further expectations. As a contractor, you do not need Construction Project Delay to happen that too after having ample manpower available with you all along. This very process is termed as Pacing Delay, i.e. deliberately decelerating work to stay on par with the owner’s work schedule.
Often, owners may term pacing delays in construction as the concurrent delay, which is something that you must always keep an eye for. Concurrent delay points to delays caused due to parties on both sides, thereby taking away the right for either to blame the other side for the same. In pacing delay, the project owner might try to force up the blame on you as the contractor; however, if you are right for your part, you must make sure that everything is made clear to all the associated parties then and there.
Types of Pacing Delay
- Direct pacing Delay: When the time taken by the succeeding party is extended due to the delay caused by the actions of the preceding party.
- Indirect Pacing Delay: When one activity being handled by the succeeding party is slowed down for allowing preceding party to work on some other vital task which needs the latter’s consideration first.
Legal Implications
Owner delay can give contractors the opportunity to work on the project at their own pace. However, the owner can push the blame on the contractor, by arguing that he was never notified about there being pacing delays in construction or whether the constructor required something more, or he may have mitigated the workflow accordingly. This can hold weight, and so you as a contractor must make sure to:
- Maintain and disclose a routinely-updated workflow schedule
- Provide notice for construction project delay, even if it is because of the owner
- Assess owner delay and provide notice for pacing to the owner
- Track all of the costs associated with pacing
- Include supplementary general conditions clauses with the workflow notification
Get more detailed insight by joining this live webinar by James G. Zack Jr., who will put light on the controversial problem of delay in the construction industry. The current laws do not provide many definitions to the law. Attending this session will provide you with proper definitions to all such terms, and more.
