How Should an Owner Respond to a GC's Delay Claim?

By Wyatt Cooper · Published October 22, 2026 · 6 min read

Key takeaways

Acknowledge the claim in writing, then check it against your contract's notice rules and deadlines before you argue the merits.
Sort the claimed days by cause: days you caused can earn time and money, excusable days like severe weather often earn time only, and the contractor's own days earn nothing.
Test the claim against the schedule and the daily records: did the delay hit the critical path, and did two causes overlap?
Answer with a written position for each part, keep paying undisputed work, and track liquidated damages against the days you do not grant.

When a GC files a delay claim, acknowledge it in writing and check it against your contract's notice deadlines first. Then sort the claimed days by cause: owner-caused, excusable such as unusually severe weather, or the contractor's own. Test each against the schedule's critical path and the daily logs, check the money claimed per day, and answer each part in writing within your contract's time, granting what is owed and explaining what is not.

First, read the notice rules

Most contracts set a deadline to give notice of a delay and a deadline to put a claim in writing. The AIA's general conditions, A201–2017, moved the time limits on claims into Article 15 and give claims arising before the end of the correction period a 21-day notice period (AIA's A201 summary). The federal clauses are public models: an excusable-delay request must reach the contracting officer in writing "within 10 days from the beginning of any delay (unless extended by the Contracting Officer)" (FAR 52.249-10(b)), and a suspension-of-work claim cannot recover costs incurred more than 20 days before written notice of the act or failure to act (a limit that does not apply to a claim resulting from a suspension order), and must be asserted "as soon as practicable" after the delay ends, "but not later than the date of final payment" (FAR 52.242-14(c)).

Under A201, a claim goes first to the Initial Decision Maker, usually the architect, so bring the architect in from the start. If the contractor has not yet sent a notice of delay or its weather records, ask for them, and check whether the contract has a no-damages-for-delay clause. Note the dates, but do not rest your whole response on a late notice; how strictly a notice clause is enforced depends on the contract, the state and the facts. Answer the merits too.

The first 30 days, step by step

Day 1 to 3: acknowledge the claim in writing, without agreeing to it, and ask for anything missing: the schedule analysis, the daily logs and the cost backup.
Day 1 to 7: check the notice dates against the contract, and send the claim to your architect, owner's rep and lawyer.
Day 3 to 14: get the baseline schedule and every update. Find the critical path before and after each claimed event.
Day 7 to 21: read the daily logs, RFIs, change orders and meeting minutes for each claimed day. Sort the days by cause.
Day 14 to 28: test the money: the daily rate for extended general conditions and anything else claimed against the GC's own records.
By day 30, or the time your contract sets: answer in writing, part by part, with what you grant, what you deny and why.

Keep paying for work that is not in dispute while the claim is open. For how to read the schedule you are testing, see how to read a construction schedule and what the critical path is; for the owner's whole job, the owner's guide and the project lifecycle.

Sort the days by cause

How claimed delay days usually sort, and what each can earn
Cause	Example	Time	Money
Owner-caused	Late decision, late owner-furnished equipment, a change	Yes	Often yes
Excusable, no one's fault	Unusually severe weather, a strike	Often yes	Often no
Contractor-caused	Late submittal, short crew, a sub's late work	No	No
Concurrent	Owner and contractor delays on the same days	Depends on the contract	Usually limited

The federal default clause lists the kind of causes that excuse delay: acts of the Government, acts of another contractor, fires, floods, epidemics, quarantine restrictions, strikes, freight embargoes, unusually severe weather, and delays of subcontractors or suppliers "arising from unforeseeable causes beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of both the Contractor and the subcontractors or suppliers" (FAR 52.249-10(b)). On money, the federal suspension clause pays an increase in cost "(excluding profit)" for an unreasonable owner-caused delay, and nothing for delay that would have happened anyway from another cause, "including the fault or negligence of the Contractor" (FAR 52.242-14(b)).

A worked example: a fictional school addition

The owner is fictional: a school district. Its GC claims 40 days of delay and $96,000 of extended general conditions at $2,400 a day. The contract sets liquidated damages of $1,000 per calendar day. The district's review of the schedule and daily logs sorts the 40 days.

Response to delay claim: school addition

18 days: late approval of a structural change by the district: Owner-caused, on the critical path: 18 days and 18 × $2,400 = $43,200 granted
10 days: rain well above the area's normal for the month: Excusable: 10 days granted, no money
12 days: steel shop drawings submitted 5 weeks late: Contractor-caused: no time, no money
Time extension granted: 18 + 10 = 28 days
Money granted: $43,200 of the $96,000 claimed
Liquidated damages: The job finishes 35 days late: 35 − 28 = 7 days × $1,000 = $7,000

The fictional owner's written position on a 40-day delay claim

The arithmetic: 18 + 10 + 12 = 40 days claimed; 18 × $2,400 = $43,200; 28 days granted; 35 − 28 = 7 days of liquidated damages at $1,000, which the federal model charges "for each calendar day of delay until the work is completed or accepted" (FAR 52.211-12). The district also asks for the GC's actual cost records behind the $2,400 daily rate before paying the $43,200.

The bottom line

Answer a delay claim with a method, not a reflex. Acknowledge it, check the notice deadlines, sort the days by cause against the schedule and the daily logs, and test the daily rate.

Then grant what you owe in writing, explain what you deny, keep paying undisputed work, and track liquidated damages against the days you do not grant.

Book a walkthrough

Sources

Summary: A201–2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction — AIA Contract Documents (The American Institute of Architects). Read October 22, 2026.
FAR 52.242-14, Suspension of Work — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 22, 2026.
FAR 52.249-10, Default (Fixed-Price Construction) — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 22, 2026.
FAR 52.211-12, Liquidated Damages—Construction — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 22, 2026.

Questions

Does an owner have to grant a time extension for weather?

Often for unusually severe weather, not for normal weather. Many contracts, and the federal model, treat unusually severe weather as excusable delay that earns time but not money. Compare the days to the area's normal for that month.

What is the difference between excusable and compensable delay?

Excusable delay earns the contractor more time. Compensable delay also earns money, and usually comes from the owner's own acts or changes. A contractor's own delay earns neither.

Can an owner reject a delay claim for late notice?

Sometimes. Contracts set notice deadlines, but how strictly they are enforced depends on the contract, the state and whether the owner knew of the delay. Ask your lawyer, and answer the merits too.

How do liquidated damages interact with a time extension?

Granted days move the completion date, so liquidated damages run only on the days late beyond the extended date. That is why sorting the days by cause matters to both sides.