Crews stood around and nobody billed it
Record each delay on the daily that day, then send notice.
The GC didn't have the site ready, so your crew of five waited for half a day, and then the whole week got rearranged. No one wrote it down because everybody was busy fixing it. Three weeks later you can't prove which day it was or how many guys and machines were idle. Idle labor, idle equipment, and overhead on a job that took longer than bid all come out of your pocket, and the GC's contract probably requires notice within a few days.
Three moves, in order
What CFOS does about it
In CFOS the foreman records the delay on the daily with his crew, his equipment, and photos from that day. The equipment on the daily is charged at its daily rate from what it costs you to own, and labor comes from the time entered for that day. So the cost of the day is already on the job when the PM needs it. Change order numbers and revisions are kept, so the delay claim goes out as a change order draft and joins the next pay app with the backup attached.
Who owns this: Project manager.
At $8M, a few lost half days a month add up. Each one is only recoverable if it was written down that day. Two lines on the daily do it.
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Step 06: Project management
Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them.
Other problems step 06 solves
Other things that go wrong
What owners ask
Billing for delays and standby time?
Record each delay on the daily that day, then send notice. The GC didn't have the site ready, so your crew of five waited for half a day, and then the whole week got rearranged. No one wrote it down because everybody was busy fixing it. Three weeks later you can't prove which day it was or how many guys and machines were idle. Idle labor, idle equipment, and overhead on a job that took longer than bid all come out of your pocket, and the GC's contract probably requires notice within a few days.
Which part of the system fixes this?
The step is number 06, project management. Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them. It's drawn from chapter 6 of CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System.
Is this normal for my trade?
Across the 48 trades that publish a figure, net profit at $1M to $5M averages 7% before taxes. If you're well under that and this page describes your month, the two are usually the same story. The published average tells you where the pack is, and your own job costing tells you where you are, which is the number that pays payroll.
Where do I start?
Add a line on your daily for delays, with the cause, the time lost, and who was held up, and have the foreman fill it in the same day.
Can I bill a GC for my crew waiting on site?
Often you can, depending on your contract. Many contracts require written notice within a set number of days and proof of the cost. Read yours, and when in doubt have the PM send the notice the same week.
What proof do I need for a delay claim?
You need the date, the cause, who was held up, how long, and what it cost at your rates. A daily with the crew, the equipment, and photos from that day does most of that work. A signed ticket from the GC is better still.
Can I fix this without touching anything else?
You can try, and it doesn't hold. Step 06 depends on step 04, estimating system. Install it ahead of that and it produces numbers the field won't trust, which is worse than the problem you started with.
Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system behind these figures. More about the author.