Delay Claims
Delay Claims in Louisiana
Delays are one of the most common and costly issues in construction. Whether caused by unforeseen site conditions, weather, design changes, material shortages, or disputes between parties, project delays can lead to significant financial losses and strained relationships. Louisiana law provides avenues for contractors, subcontractors, and owners to pursue or defend against delay claims, but these cases often require careful documentation and strategic legal action.
How We Can Help
Our delay claims services include:
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Evaluating delay causes and contractual responsibilities
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Preparing and pursuing delay claims on behalf of contractors or owners
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Defending against unjust or exaggerated claims
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Advising on notice requirements and time extensions under Louisiana law
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Representing clients in negotiations, mediation, arbitration, or litigation
Get Help with a
Construction Delay Claim
Delay claims often involve multiple parties, competing timelines, and overlapping responsibilities. We bring a clear, practical approach to resolving these disputes, helping clients protect their financial interests and keep projects on track.
If your project is facing delays or you need to respond to a claim, contact our office today to discuss your situation and develop a strategy tailored to your case.
Delay Claims are situations where project events occur at a later time than expected due to causes related to the client, consultant, and contractor etc. In residential and light construction, construction delays are often the result of miscommunication between contractors, subcontractors, and property owners. These types of misunderstandings and unrealistic expectations are usually avoided through the use of detailed critical path schedules, which specify the work, and timetable to be used, but most importantly, the logical sequence of events which must occur for a project to be completed. Delays in construction projects are frequently expensive, since there is usually a construction loan involved which charges interest, management staff dedicated to the project whose costs are time dependent, and ongoing inflation in wage and material prices.
However, in more complex projects, problems will arise that are not foreseen in the original contract, and so other legal construction forms are subsequently used, such as change orders, lien waivers, and addenda.
In construction projects, as well in other projects where a schedule is being used to plan work, delays happen all the time. It is what is being delayed that determines if a project, or some other deadline such as a milestone, will be completed late.
Before analyzing construction delays, a clear understanding of the general types of delays is necessary. There are four basic ways to categorize delays:
- Critical or Non-Critical
- Excusable or Non-Excusable
- Concurrent or Non-Concurrent
- Compensable or Non-Compensable
- Before determining the impact of a delay on the project, one must determine whether the delay is critical or non-critical. Additionally, all delays are either excusable or non-excusable. Both excusable and non-excusable delays can be defined as either concurrent or non-concurrent. Delays can be further broken down into compensable or non-compensable delays.