Today, it’s all about the importance of time bars. You can watch it here or continue with this quick read.
Time bars are universal so every construction business needs to understand the implications.
Let’s take a trip back in time.
In the old days, the head contractor would subcontract work out.
Usually, things would look hunky dory.
Until the end.
At the end of the project is where the cracks start to show.
This is when it became apparent that projects were late, and that more money was needed to complete them.
This last-minute dot-com way of doing things means a tsunami of costs.
And from a planning perspective because this is a nightmare scenario.
Costs and timeframes need to be secured at the very beginning of the contract.
So fast-forward to how things are done now.
To increase efficiency and allow for better planning,
Time bars were introduced.
What is a time bar?
Whenever you are delayed on site,
Or if you’re asked to do additional work,
You have a certain period of time to notify the head contractor of it.
You have to submit a notification or change order,
Or submit an extension of time.
If you don’t do this you incur a penalty.
This process allows delays to be captured and accounted for.
It’s also important to forecast costs and the date of completion.
More often than not, in time bar clauses there’s a clause that says:
If you’ve been delayed and you don’t notify the head contractor, you are taking that delay on as your own.
Nowadays time bars are made very small to push risk onto subcontractors.
There are a lot of steps in getting time bar notifications in so you need to make sure you read the time bar clauses in your contract.
You don’t want to take responsibility for time and work delays just because you didn’t have enough time to submit variations and change orders. This is why we are here to help you negotiate the best contract.
For more contractual advice, Quantum Contract Solutions is here to guide and assist you through everything contract related. Let’s reduce risk in your contracts and save time and money, just click this link to get our FREE case study to show you how clients just like you are doing it.
