How time and money are lost
Delays are always mentioned. Few are notified the way the contract needs.
NEC4 gives more time and money for a compensation event, but for most events only if the contractor notifies it within eight weeks of becoming aware of it. JCT gives more time for a Relevant Event, and loss and expense for a Relevant Matter, with written notice of the delay as soon as it's apparent. Both can charge damages for the delay that isn't excused (Option X7 delay damages under NEC4; LADs in the Contract Particulars under JCT). Site talks about every delay. The record and the notice are where it slips.
Mentioned, never notified
Workers held at the client's security gate, mentioned for six months.
On one power-plant package, workers held at the client's gate came up again and again in the site group, on and off for half a year.
Not once did the chat mention an early warning, a compensation event or a notice of delay.
The notice clock
The delay started on the 3rd. The eight weeks ran out in the meantime.
Under NEC4 clause 61.3, a compensation event not notified within eight weeks of becoming aware of it no longer changes the Prices or the Completion Date, unless it arose from the Project Manager or Supervisor giving an instruction or notification, issuing a certificate or changing an earlier decision.
Under JCT, the notice of delay is due as soon as the delay is reasonably apparent.
The clause nobody read
Another contractor's spoil on your laydown area. Nobody called it a delay.
On the same package, another of the client's contractors dumped spoil on the laydown area. Site posted about it as something to work around.
Work by the client's other contractors is the client's risk under most forms. When nobody records it, the delay ends up counted against you.
Small delays add up
A day here, two days there. Then delay damages.
Each delay is too small to notify on its own, so none of them is.
At the end, the project is late, the delays that weren't yours have no record, and delay damages run on all of it.
How Velora does it
From a passing mention to a flagged notice.
Your site teams keep posting the way they do today. Nobody has to fill in a delay log.
- Read
Every delay, as it's posted
Areas not handed over, work held by other contractors, design information or approvals awaited, access closed or restricted: picked out of the site chats, in any language.
- File
Logged with its date
Each logged with the date it was first posted, the place, what it's holding and the photos, and kept open until site reports it cleared. On NEC and JCT jobs, records like these are what the time and money are assessed on.
- Check
Against your contract
Each matched to the clause it may trigger in the contract you upload, read as written, whatever the form: NEC4, JCT or your own amended form. You see the clause, the notice it calls for, the delay damages rate and the records to keep.
- Flag
To the project team, in time
Whoever you choose is alerted the same day and reminded before the notice period runs out. Your commercial team decides what to notify and sends it.
Recording delays is part of Field Intelligence. Matching them to your contract, with the notice and delay damages flags, is Contract Intelligence, in early access.
Worked example
Your delays, logged from the chats.
Every delay on a package, logged from the day it was first posted. Filter your issues by type and they read as a delay record. Each entry opens into the messages and photos behind it.
Dated from the first post
The start is the day site first mentioned it. Treat that as the day NEC4's eight weeks may have started, because the Project Manager will.
Open until cleared
Each stays open while site keeps reporting it, and closes when site reports it cleared.
With what it held
The area, the gang or the activity it stopped, as site described it.
Ready when the notice is due
The messages and the photos are there for the notification and the quotation, not rebuilt from memory.
Illustrative figures
Where it fits
Recorded in Field, flagged by Contract.
Delays come from the same site record as progress and deliveries. These pages show the rest, or teach the job by hand.
- ProductContract IntelligenceSite events matched to the clause they may trigger, flagged before the window closes. Early access.
- ProductField IntelligenceProgress, blockers, deliveries and labour, recorded from your site groups.
- IndustryIndustrialPlants and factories, where late client-supplied equipment and other packages hold the work.
- IndustryRail & metroPossessions given, cancelled or cut short, each logged with its location and the work it held.
Keep the time and money your contract gives you.
Talk to us about one live project and we'll set up a pilot against its WhatsApp groups and your contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from commercial managers, QSs, planners and project directors.
Yes, in early access. Velora reads the clauses in your contract as written, amendments included, so the compensation events and the notification they call for come from your own contract, not a template. Delays posted on site are matched to them and flagged for your team with the notice due under clause 61.3: within eight weeks of becoming aware of the event. Spotting matters that need an early warning under clause 15 is something the team is still working on; the dated record is there for whoever gives it.
Under JCT SBC 2016, a delay that becomes reasonably apparent calls for written notice under clause 2.27, naming any Relevant Event from clause 2.29. In Design and Build 2016 the same clauses are 2.24 and 2.26, and numbering can differ in other editions. Velora reads your own contract as written, so it isn't tied to one edition's numbering: it flags the delay when site posts it, with the clause in your contract it may trigger, for your team to decide what to notify.
Delay damages: each flagged delay shows the rate and cap in your contract (Option X7 delay damages under NEC4; LADs in the Contract Particulars under JCT). A running total against the Completion Date is something the team is still working on. Also the notice periods your contract sets, and the clauses that are easy to miss, like defects correction periods and rectification deadlines. Each is flagged for your team to look at.
No. Velora records the delay, flags the clause it may trigger and the notice it calls for, and reminds whoever you choose before the window closes. Your team decides what to notify, writes the notice and prepares the quotation or claim, with the record ready behind it.
The contract you upload, whatever the form: NEC4, JCT, or an amended or bespoke form. Velora reads its clauses as written, amendments included, so notice periods, time and delay damages terms come from your own wording, and you add the key dates they count from, such as the starting date and the Completion Date. Text-based PDFs work today; scanned contracts are something the team is still working on.
No. Delays are recorded from your site groups from the first day, with or without a contract. Uploading the contract adds the clause matching and the notice reminders.
Recording delays is part of Field Intelligence and available today. Matching them to your contract and the notice reminders are Contract Intelligence, in early access: we set it up with you on a pilot project.
We run a discounted pilot for the first three months on one project: the full product, with no long-term commitment.