The materials were late, but was the site ready to use them?
Document concurrent site constraints and actual sequence for adviser assessment of supplier-caused delay charges.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
A late delivery is not the whole sequence
The builder charges you for delay after materials arrive late. Review the actual programme and site conditions with your adviser before accepting the full allegation. Other work may also have prevented installation. That possibility does not automatically defeat the charge, but it needs to be supported and assessed rather than ignored or used as a convenient excuse.
Imagine a subcontractor waiting for windows while the openings are not ready because earlier work remains incomplete. Record the promised and actual delivery dates alongside the dates the installation areas became available. Preserve the programme versions, site diaries and notices. Do not simply subtract one delay from another and announce the result as the legally correct answer.
business.gov.au recommends clear contract terms covering responsibilities and disputes. Give the lawyer the agreement and relevant programme requirements together with the factual sequence. Ask how the different events affect the claimed charge and any required notices. General guidance does not decide responsibility for concurrent delays under a particular construction contract.
In the window example, some openings may have been ready while others were not. Break the evidence down by area or stage instead of treating the entire site as unavailable. Ask the project team what work could actually have occurred with timely materials. Include records that do not support your preferred position so the assessment reflects the real programme.
State that access was unavailable on identified dates where records support it. Leave technical programme analysis and legal responsibility to the appropriate advisers. Avoid adding retrospective diary entries or persuading staff to present uncertain memories as confirmed events. A clear chronology can expose the issue without making unsupported claims about the builder's motives or the supplier's liability.
Ask for a breakdown of the delay period and amount alleged, then prepare an advised response tied to the evidence. Keep any separate claim against the supplier under review. The aim is to assess what caused the charged delay, not merely prove that more than one problem existed. That requires the delivery record and the site's actual readiness to be considered together.
