What Documents Are Required for an EOT Claim?

1 - The delay notice

Most contracts (including FIDIC Sub-Clause 20.1) require the contractor to give notice of a delay within 28 days of becoming aware of it. The notice does not need to be a claim - it simply flags the event and that time is likely to be affected. Late notice can bar the claim entirely, so this is the single most important document.

2 - The programme

• The baseline programme - the approved plan at contract start.
• The updated programme at the time of the delay - showing what was actually happening.
• A critical path is essential: a delay to non-critical work does not extend completion.

3 - Site records that prove the event

• Daily site reports / supervisor logs (see our daily report template).
• Workforce, plant and material return sheets.
• Photographs and videos with dates.
• Weather records (rain, storms) for weather-caused delay.
• Testing reports, approval delays, and RFI/response registers.

4 - Correspondence

• Letters and emails to/from the Engineer and Employer.
• Minutes of site meetings and progress meetings.
• Instructions and variation orders that changed the work.
• Drawing issue registers - late drawings are a classic excusable delay.

5 - The impact assessment

The final document is the analysis itself: a before/after programme or an as-built versus as-planned comparison showing how many days the delay event pushed the completion date. This is where a structural delay analysis is prepared - usually a time-impact analysis placing each event on the critical path at the time it occurred.

Common mistakes

• No notice, or a notice sent months late.
• No updated programme, so the critical path cannot be shown.
• Claiming days for delays that were never on the critical path.
• Submitting the claim without any contemporaneous records to back it.

Standards that apply

International forms: FIDIC Sub-Clause 8.4 (Extension of Time) and 20.1 (Claims). Pakistani public works commonly use PEC/PPRA-based conditions with similar notice requirements. The delay analysis method (impacted as-planned, time impact, as-built) should follow the contract and accepted practice. Use our claim template as the submission skeleton.