A request for more time and a request for additional money may arise from the same event, but they ask different questions. An extension of time concerns the contractual completion date. A loss-and-expense submission concerns financial entitlement under the applicable terms. This guide helps clients organise the evidence and decision record without assuming that one outcome settles the other. It addresses JCT administration generally; the selected form, edition, particulars and amendments determine the mechanism on an individual project.
Find the relevant provisions before judging the event
JCT distinguishes Relevant Events associated with time entitlement from Relevant Matters associated with loss and expense in forms using those mechanisms. They are not interchangeable lists. JCT's commentary on Design and Build 2024 illustrates this with certain additional loss-and-expense provisions that apply only if selected in the Contract Particulars. That is an edition-specific example, not a rule to copy into every JCT contract.
Start the review by identifying the form and the actual provisions relied on. Obtain the amendments and completed particulars as well as the printed conditions. Ask the responsible adviser to set out the contractual basis for each requested remedy. Keep the time and money questions in separate entries, linked to the same underlying event where appropriate. Do not decide entitlement from a site meeting's use of the word delay.
Identify the notice and information requirements
Ask who must notify whom, what information is required, and which contractual timescales apply. Record when an event was identified, when the relevant communication was sent and what supporting material accompanied it. Preserve the notice itself and any response; an entry in a progress report should not silently replace a document the contract requires to be given separately.
Prepare a register with the event reference, sender, recipient, issue date, claimed effect and next required action. If the initial account is incomplete, list the specific missing information and allocate responsibility for obtaining it. Ask the adviser how the contract treats notification, updates and assessment before assuming that a late submission is either harmless or automatically fatal. This guide supplies no universal notice period.
Build a chronology from contemporaneous records
Assemble the instruction history, information requests, drawing revisions, access records and relevant site reports. Distinguish the date something happened from the date it was reported. Identify which planned activity was affected, what could continue and when the constraint ended. Where accounts differ, preserve both versions and identify the document or observation needed to resolve the difference.
A useful chronology links each factual statement to a record. For example, separate an instruction's issue date, the date information became available and the date the contractor says the activity could restart. These are different evidence questions even if they appear in one email chain. Avoid replacing the chronology with a narrative that only repeats the number of days requested.
Test the programme explanation
Compare the programme relied on in the submission with the relevant progress records and subsequent revisions. Ask the contractor to identify the affected activity and explain the claimed effect on completion. Make the assumptions visible: what was due to happen, what actually happened, which links between activities matter and what other events were occurring during the same period.
Do not assume that every day an individual activity slipped must become a day added to the completion date. Equally, do not reject an effect simply because some other work continued. Ask the appointed assessor to explain the programme reasoning and the approach required by the contract. Keep the assessed position distinguishable from a forecast completion date used for practical planning with the client.
Record mitigation discussions without losing the decision trail
Discuss feasible changes to sequence, access or information delivery while the event is developing. Record the option considered, who must act and the information needed to evaluate it. If an alternative would change the scope or require additional resources, distinguish the proposal from an authorised instruction. Avoid leaving the team to infer agreement from a conversation about possible ways forward.
Ask for the cost, time and operational consequences before accepting a revised approach. Keep the client's commercial preference separate from the administrator's assessment under the existing contract. Record what was agreed and what remained under review. A recovery proposal should help the team plan; it should not erase the original event records or be treated as a universal answer to entitlement.
Assess the money question on its own evidence
For any loss-and-expense submission, ask for the contractual basis, the period concerned, the alleged causal link and the supporting cost records. Separate an estimate from an amount said to have been incurred. Request enough explanation to identify what the figure includes and how it relates to the event being assessed, rather than relying on a single unanalysed total.
Cross-check the submission against other valuations and change records to identify possible overlap. Keep sums agreed, disputed and awaiting evidence separate. An extension-of-time decision should not be used by itself as evidence that every associated cost is payable. For separately commissioned cost review, see quantity surveying and cost consultancy; the appointment must make the role and contractual authority clear.
Keep valuation, time and payment procedures connected
One change may need entries in several records: the instruction register, the valuation, the programme assessment and a payment cycle. Cross-reference them, but do not merge their status into a single approved label. State exactly what a decision approves. Acceptance of a changed work item should not leave readers guessing whether its time effect or a separate financial submission was also resolved.
Read the payment-documents guide when organising the financial record. Ask the adviser how any assessed sum enters the applicable payment mechanism and what notices remain necessary. Keep the due date and final payment date visible in their own register. A continuing discussion about delay should not be assumed to suspend the rest of the administration process.
Request a reasoned and usable decision record
Ask the responsible decision-maker to identify the submission assessed, information considered, contractual basis, conclusion and any outstanding matters. Keep the issued decision separate from internal drafts and client discussions. If more information later arrives, preserve the original record and ask how the contract allows the position to be reconsidered. Do not rewrite the history to make an evolving assessment appear settled from the start.
For a disputed interpretation, missed notice or threatened claim, obtain construction-law advice with the complete documents. HCS's contract administration service describes the agreed professional scope and independence boundary. HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor. A well-organised file allows each adviser to address the actual question without first reconstructing the project from incomplete correspondence.