The Holloway Consulting Group is an international construction consulting firm, and one of our roles is serving clients as CPM Scheduling Consultants. Some of The Holloway Consulting Group’s experiences as CPM Scheduling Consultants are shown at Construction Design, Schedule Delay and Damages Claims and our blog at Construction Schedule Delay Claims covers some of the basic schedule delay concepts that we use as CPM Scheduling Consultants.
CPM SCHEDULING CONSULTANTS | CRITICAL PATH DELAYS
As CPM Scheduling Consultants, our schedule analyses tend to focus on the critical path and delay events that impact the critical path (See red activities in above graphic). This restricted focus on the critical path is based on a concept called “primacy of delay”, which presents the argument that only delays to the critical path are meaningful in assessing impacts to the project completion date. Delays to non-critical path activities merely absorb existing float and any additional float created by critical path delays.
While the foregoing may be true in general, there are certain circumstances where it may be appropriate to consider delays to non-critical activities in the assessment and allocation of delay-related damages. One school of thought presents the argument that non-critical delay is merely absorbing the float created by the critical path delay and, therefore, is not truly concurrent.
This argument is often applied in both Window Analysis and the As-built But-for Analysis, and would make some sense if the non-critical delay was dependent on the critical path delay. For example, an owner’s critical delay to the approval of a finish hardware schedule may also cause delay to the non-critical fabrication of the door bucks.
But what of the situation when the non-critical delay is truly independent of the critical path delay? The argument has then been made that the non-critical delay is only absorbing float created by the critical path delay, but when the critical delay is removed, part or all of the non-critical path delay may then become critical. The answer to such questions can have direct bearing on the allocation of delay-related damages.
The Holloway Consulting Group, LLC
Construction Consultants – CPM Scheduling Consultants
12081 W. Alameda Pkwy., #450
Lakewood, CO 80228-2701
Denver Phone: (303) 984-1941
International Toll Free: (888) 545-0666
Fax: (303) 716-0432
Email: steve.holloway@disputesinconstruction.com
Blog: disputesinconstruction.com
Web: hcgexperts.com
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