If one looks at the health of the project and compares it to the health of a vehicle, the comparisons are
striking. People who ignore routine maintenance of a vehicle typically experience premature breakdowns
and exorbitant repair costs that could be traced directly back to the lack of maintenance. If a contractor ignores routine maintenance of a project by taking the easy approach of updating schedules, the
outcome is very likely to be an expensive “repair” in the form of a claims battle and often a claims loss, or
even missed opportunities.

Most construction professionals do not enjoy reporting progress. This task rivals the other bane of keeping
minutes of meetings. The fact that the progress reporting duty is taken on not with relish, but usually
because no-one else will touch it with a barge pole, is evident in the tosh that often passes for the monthly Client Progress Report.

On most projects, the client is looking for simplicity in the monthly report, and he is primarily interested in one key thing; when will the project be complete. The information in the programme/progress section of the report to the client should be easy to understand and well annotated/explained.

Site diaries maintained by job-site supervisory staff are important source documents used to develop a daily specific as-built programme. The site diaries should record the following information on a daily basis,
• Weather,
• Manpower by number and trade and subcontractor,
• Specific work performed, with reference to the corresponding programme activity number,
• Delays / interruptions / issues encountered,
• Work stoppages,
• Variation, or change order, work performed,
• Repair or rework performed,
• RFI’s (requests for information) submitted,
• CVI’s (confirmation of verbal instructions) received.

A quality as-built programme can be generated from well-kept site diaries. The as-built data can be maintained in an electronic database, and nowadays can be collected using handheld devices during job-site walkthroughs. Photographs are also a very helpful way of documenting site progress, however, to be useful they should be labelled with the date of the photo and specific description of the subject.

Obtaining your correct extension of time and obtaining time-related costs is all to do with the strength of your case, and whether you can prove it with factual records. It is a truism to say there is no substitute for good record keeping.

For example, can you prove that an entitlement to an extension of time resulted from information being received late? The key element in most cases is the contemporaneous project records. Success with the claim is all about keeping them; and then using them to demonstrate cause, effect and entitlement.

Disruption and loss of productivity are difficult to prove as generally there is very little contemporaneous data available from site showing the levels of productivity attained before and after the disruptive event. Any data kept that can establish disruption and productivity loss, particularly in respect of subcontractors who carry out the majority of the work, will be invaluable.