Programme

Are we going to run past the date

That is the commercial question about programme, and it is the only one a quantity surveyor has to answer. Everything else belongs to the planner.

Start free trial See pricing

30 days free · No card required · Every feature on every plan

The works against the contract period

A Gantt with four hundred activities is a planning tool. A Gantt with the works set against the date in the contract is a commercial tool, because it answers whether you are heading for an extension of time claim.

QScope draws the second kind. Contract period from your settings, today marked, and the sequence laid over it.

Contract period taken from the project settings, not drawn by hand
Today marked, so the position is obvious without counting
Overrun past practical completion stated in weeks, not implied by a bar
Prints alongside the cost report for a progress meeting

Programme

Works against the contract period

Substructure

Frame

Envelope

First fix

Fit out

Contract period32 weeks

Practical completion7 Sep 2026

Sequence runs past PC by3 weeks

Why it sits next to the money

Time and cost are the same conversation held twice. A variation that carries two days of extension of time is not the same animal as one that does not, and the place to notice that is while the works are running.

Keeping the programme with the valuations means the progress meeting and the cost report draw on one set of facts rather than two files that disagree.

Extension of time recorded on each variation, and visible here
Percentages certified stay your professional assessment, not a guess from a bar
Practical completion date shared with the retention calculation
Overrun visible before it becomes a claim rather than after

Variations

Time effect of changes

VariationEOTValue

VO-01 Additional window2 d£1,000.00

VO-03 Revised M&E layout9 d£3,240.00

VO-04 Ground conditions10 d£6,800.00

Extension of time claimed21 days

When the overrun becomes a claim

A programme that runs past the contract date is a warning. An extension of time is what turns that warning into relief from liquidated damages, and it exists only once it is awarded, not when the delay is first noticed.

QScope keeps the delay events with their notice, particulars and award dates, and moves the completion date by the awarded weeks alone. A claim that has been notified but not decided extends nothing.

Thirteen relevant events, each flagged for whether it can carry money
Notice date, particulars date and award date held separately
Only awarded weeks move the revised completion date
Notified, under assessment, awarded and rejected held separately

Extensions of time

EOT-03 assessment

Claimed

4 wks

Awarded

3 wks

Revised

28 Sep 26

Relevant eventVariation instruction

Notice received2 Jun 2026

Particulars received16 Jun 2026

Applied to completion date3 weeks

The programme shows the sequence running three weeks past practical completion. Only awarded weeks move the date, so the revised completion date is 28 September 2026.

The date the programme is measured against

The contract completion date is the line every bar is judged against. When practical completion is certified, that date stops the damages clock, halves the retention and starts the rectification period, all from one certificate.

QScope takes the completion date from the certificate rather than a settings field, so the programme, the retention and the damages calculation all read the same date.

Practical completion, partial possession, non-completion and making good
The certificate governs over the settings field, with a warning if they disagree
Damages run from the revised completion date, not the original
Retention halves on the certified date, in the same month

Completion

Certificate of practical completion

Certified

28 Sep 26

Retention now

2.5%

Weeks late

0.00

Revised completion date28 Sep 2026

Practical completion certified28 Sep 2026

Rate after certificate2.5%

Liquidated damages£0.00

With three weeks of extension awarded, the contractor completes on the revised date and no damages arise. Without the award the same works would be three weeks late.

The programme belongs with the file

A Gantt printed for a progress meeting is only as good as the records behind it. The superseded drawing, the delay notice and the photographs from the week the works slipped all belong with the programme, not in a separate folder.

QScope keeps the drawings, photographs and correspondence against the same project, so the commercial view of the programme sits on top of the record that supports it.

Drawings versioned as they are superseded
Photographs tied to the project and the date they were taken
Delay notices and correspondence filed against the job
Everything exportable, so leaving QScope never means losing the record

Files and plans

Record behind the programme

DocumentStatus

Contract, JCT SBC 2016, signedCurrent

Drawing A-102 rev C, gable elevationCurrent

Delay notice, 4 AugFiled

Site photographs, week 1612 files

Questions

What surveyors ask before they start

Does the programme drive the valuation?

No, and deliberately not. The percentage you certify is your professional assessment of the work done. QScope will not infer it from a bar chart, because a programme shows intent and a valuation records fact.

Is this a replacement for planning software?

No. It is a commercial view of whether the job runs past the contract date. If you use a dedicated planning tool, keep using it. This exists so the answer to that one question sits next to the money.

Where does the contract period come from?

From the project settings: the start, the practical completion date and the period in weeks. Change them there and the Gantt redraws.

Can the client see it?

Yes, if you want them to. It prints alongside the cost report, and guests with view access can see it. What stays hidden from them is the cost report and the risk register.

The rest of the commercial picture

VariationsWhere extension of time is recorded. RetentionPractical completion drives both. Drawings, photos and filesThe rest of the project record.

Try it on your next valuation

Not your whole portfolio. One live job, one certificate. If it does not save you time the first time you use it, walk away and take your data with you.

Start free trial See pricing