Extension of time, and the 28 day notice that protects it

Time and money travel together on a Qatar FIDIC project, but they are claimed through different doors. The extension of time lives in Clause 8, the notice discipline in Sub-Clause 20.1, and a contractor who understands the entitlement but misses the notice can lose a good claim on procedure alone.

What Clause 8 gives

Clause 8 governs the time for completion and the Contractor entitlement to extend it. Where completion is or will be delayed by a cause the contract puts at the Employer risk, such as a Variation, an Employer instruction, exceptional events, or other causes listed in the clause, the Contractor is entitled to an extension of the Time for Completion. The extension protects the Contractor from delay damages for the period the delay was not its own.

The 28 day notice under Sub-Clause 20.1

This is the part that catches teams out. Under Sub-Clause 20.1 the Contractor must give notice of a claim, including a claim for extension of time, as soon as practicable and not later than twenty-eight days after it became aware, or should have become aware, of the event or circumstance. Miss that window and the entitlement to the extension can be lost, however strong the underlying delay case.

• Day zero. The day the Contractor became aware, or should have become aware, of the delaying event.
• Notice by. Twenty-eight days later, the Sub-Clause 20.1 deadline for the notice of claim.
• Then the particulars. The fully detailed claim, with the supporting records, follows within the period the clause sets.

Notice first, detail later

The twenty-eight day deadline is for the notice, not the full pricing. A contractor waiting until the delay is fully analysed before notifying has misread the clause. Notify the event promptly, then build the detailed particulars, the programme impact and the cost. The notice preserves the right; the particulars prove the amount.

Why the records decide it

An extension of time claim is won on cause and effect. It has to show the delaying event, its impact on the critical path, and the resulting delay to completion. That means a maintained programme, contemporaneous site records, and a clear line from the event to the completion date. Concurrent causes and float both complicate the picture, which is exactly why the records have to be built as the delay happens rather than reconstructed afterwards.

No statutory safety net

In a Security of Payment jurisdiction a contractor might reach for a statutory route when time and money are disputed. Qatar has none, so the FIDIC procedure is the whole of it. The Sub-Clause 20.1 notice is not a formality to be caught up on later, it is the condition on which the Clause 8 entitlement survives. Treat the twenty-eight days as a hard deadline and give the notice the moment an event bites, before the analysis is anywhere near finished.