Two delayed sections can produce an unclear combined damages claim
Disaggregate sectional-completion delay charges and assess overlapping periods against the actual contractual provisions with legal advice.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
The claim combines several parts of the project
The builder presents one delay-charge total for a project completed in sections. The summary does not show which section, date or rate produced each part. Request that breakdown before accepting the figure. Overlapping dates alone do not establish an error, but an unexplained combined total makes it difficult to assess what is actually being claimed.
Collect the contract provisions defining each section or milestone, relevant rates and completion records. Ask the construction lawyer how those provisions interact. Do not assume that one section's completion ends every exposure, or that several daily rates can automatically be added together. The contractual wording and actual events need to be assessed in their own context.
Business.gov.au's contract guidance recommends recording agreed changes in writing. Keep amendments affecting sectional scope, dates or payment arrangements with the original documents. A renamed section or revised programme may create confusion if the claim uses an older label. Make the links visible without presenting an informal programme update as an agreed contractual amendment.
Show the section, claimed date range, rate and amount, with the evidence relied on for each. Mark overlapping days and ask the adviser whether the claim treats them consistently with the contract. Reproduce the builder's working before setting out alternative assumptions. This separates a possible duplication or allocation issue from a broad objection to the whole demand.
Imagine one building is handed over while another remains unfinished, but the calculation continues using a single project-wide rate without explanation. Ask which obligation the rate relates to and how the completed section has been treated. The example identifies a review question; it does not establish that the charge must stop or reduce on handover.
Give the adviser the table, supporting completion evidence and unresolved points in time for the required response. Keep any extension or responsibility issues visible as well. A sectional analysis allows a precise challenge or explanation of the amount without assuming that every overlap is double recovery or that one global completion date answers the entire contractual question.
