Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In the absence of an express term in a contract fixing the date for completion, the contract-
or's obligation is to complete within a reasonable time. (The task of determining what a
reasonable timeisonanyparticular occasionisaquestionoffactdependingonalltheterms
ofthecontractandthesurroundingcircumstances.)Thatsituationisoftenreferredtoastime
being at large. Time is at large when there is no date for the completion of the contract or if
the date fixed has become inoperable for some reason.
All the standard forms of building contract provide for a date for completion and also
make provision for fixing a new date for completion where delay has occurred due to the
actions or inactions of the employer or someone for whom the employer is responsible, for
example, the architect. It is relatively rare for time to become at large, and, possibly for this
reason, many adjudicators appear reluctant to come to that conclusion even where all the
evidence points to it. The usual reason why time may become at large is because the archi-
tect fails properly to give an extension of time under the contract provisions.
It will be unusual for time to become at large if the architect properly operates the con-
tract. One of the consequences of time becoming at large is that liquidated damages can no
longer be deducted because there is no date from which such damages can be calculated.
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The position can become complex if the architect awards extensions of time after com-
pletion of the Works. Whether or not the architect is entitled to do so depends on the precise
wording of the contract construed in the light of decided cases. SBC, IC and ICD expressly
give the architect power to extend time and fix a new date for completion after the contract
completion date has passed.
