An extension of time is a claim that lives on its notice
On a PAM contract the completion date moves only if the machinery is followed. Late notice and thin records sink good entitlement, and no amount of hindsight brings it back.
QScope Team · 20 March 2026 · 6 min read
An extension of time moves the contractual completion date to reflect delay the contractor is not responsible for. On a PAM standard form the architect grants it against defined grounds, and its purpose is twofold: it keeps the completion date realistic, and it protects the contractor from damages for a period they did not cause. Neither protection arrives automatically. It has to be claimed, on time, with records.
Why the notice is the whole game
The contract requires the contractor to notify delay, usually promptly once it becomes apparent. That notice is not a formality. It puts the architect on notice while the delay is live and capable of being assessed, and a claim brought long after the event, when the site conditions can no longer be checked, is worth a fraction of the same claim notified in real time.
- Notify when the delay bites. Not at completion, not at final account, but when the event is affecting progress.
- State the cause. Tie the delay to a ground the contract recognises, not to a general sense of falling behind.
- Show the impact. Link the event to the programme and the completion date, not just to a bad week on site.
Cause, effect and the programme
Entitlement needs a chain: a qualifying event, a demonstrable effect on the critical path, and a resulting movement of the completion date. A delay that does not touch the critical path may cost money without moving the date, which is a different claim. Keeping a live programme, and marking against it what happened and when, is what turns a narrative into a demonstrable delay.
Time and money are separate
An extension of time protects the programme and the exposure to damages. It does not by itself put money in the account. The cost of prolongation is a separate line that has to be valued and claimed on its own footing. Winning the time and forgetting the cost, or assuming one carries the other, leaves money on the table. Run both, and keep them distinct.
Notify early, tie the delay to a recognised ground, show the effect on the completion date, and keep the programme current. An extension of time is only as strong as the record made while the clock was running.
QScope keeps the delay events, notices and programme impact in one record, so an extension of time claim is built from evidence as the delay happens.