Construction Delay Claim Calculator — Time, Eichleay and Liquidated Damages

What is this delayed job really worth, claim against liquidated damages?

List the delay events and who caused them. You get the time extension you earned, the days that are compensable, a field and Eichleay home-office overhead claim, and the liquidated damages that remain, netted into one position. On a late job the extension is often worth more than the cost claim, and neither can be sized from a gut feel.

Calculated in this browser tab. No account, no upload. The example is made up. A planning estimate, not legal advice.

1. The contract and the delay

Contract value ($, for the LD cap)

Original contract time (days)

Days the job actually took

Liquidated damages per day ($)

LD cap (% of contract, 0 for none)

Field overhead per delay day ($)

Profit on delay cost (%)

This contract's billings ($, for Eichleay)

All billings in the same period ($)

Home-office overhead in the period ($)

One delay event per line: name, days, owner|contractor|weather|other, concurrent yes|no. Names cannot contain commas. "Concurrent" means your own delay overlapped it. Leave the Eichleay fields at 0 to skip home-office overhead.

Delay events

Enter the contract, the delays and the overhead, or load the example, then click Calculate the claim.

The arithmetic, and what it leaves out

Owner, weather and other neutral delay earns a time extension, concurrent or not. Your own delay earns none.
Only owner delay with no concurrent delay of yours counts as compensable for money.
Field overhead is your daily rate times the compensable days. The home-office share uses the Eichleay formula: contract billings over total billings, times home-office overhead, divided by the days the job took, times the compensable days.
Liquidated damages are the daily rate times the days left after the adjusted completion date, held to the cap if you enter one.
Not modelled: notice and waiver clauses, no-damages-for-delay clauses, the critical path, acceleration, lost productivity, interest, and state or public-owner rules.

Common questions

How do you calculate a construction delay claim?

Sort each delay day by cause. Owner-caused delay that did not overlap with your own delay earns a time extension and money. Weather and other neutral delay earns time only. Your own delay earns neither. Money is the daily field overhead times the compensable days, a home-office overhead share, and profit if the contract allows it.

What is the Eichleay formula?

A way to price the head-office overhead a contractor could not recover while a job sat idle. Contract billings divided by total billings for the contract period gives the job's share of home-office overhead. Divided by the days the job actually took it gives a daily rate, and the rate times the compensable delay days is the claim.

What is a concurrent delay?

Two delays that overlap in time, one on the owner and one on the contractor. Most contracts give the contractor extra time for the overlap but no extra money, so separating the days is often the whole dispute.

How are liquidated damages computed?

The contract's daily rate times the days the job finishes after its adjusted completion date, often limited by a cap. Getting time extensions granted lowers the late days before the rate is applied, which is why an extension can be worth more than the cost claim.

Does a delay claim need written notice?

Almost always. Many contracts require written notice of a delay within a short window of the event, sometimes a week or less, and a late notice can waive the claim. This tool does not know your notice terms; read the clause.

What does this leave out?

No-damages-for-delay clauses, notice and waiver terms, the critical path (it assumes each day entered really delayed completion), acceleration costs, loss of productivity, interest, state-specific rules and public-owner rules. Have a construction attorney check a real claim.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser tab and nothing is sent anywhere. There are no accounts.