FREE CALCULATOR
Delay Cost Impact Calculator for Contractors
Estimate the real commercial impact of project delays, including site overhead, labour standby, equipment, subcontractor standby, liquidated damages, and margin loss.
Delay cost is the total financial impact a project delay has on a contractor. It includes daily site overhead, supervision, labour standby, equipment, subcontractor standby, material escalation, and liquidated damages that continue or accumulate while the job is held up.
This calculator estimates the commercial cost of delay to your business. It adds up your daily burn costs and any liquidated damages to show the total delay impact in dollars and as a percentage of contract value.
Built for commercial contractors, project managers, and estimators who need to quantify delay exposure quickly. This is a commercial estimator, not a legal entitlement tool.
Note: Commercial estimator only. Contract entitlement depends on contract terms, notices, cause of delay, and jurisdiction. This tool shows the cost, not whether you can recover it.
Delay Details
Daily Delay Costs
Additional Costs (Optional)
Results
Margin SqueezeCost Breakdown by Category
How the Calculations Work
- Chargeable Delay Days
- max(0, Delay Days - Approved EOT Days)Days you bear the cost for after any approved extensions of time.
- Daily Delay Burn
- Site Overhead + Supervision + Labour + Equipment + Subcontractor + Material + RedeploymentYour total daily cost exposure while the job is delayed.
- Base Delay Cost
- Chargeable Days x Daily Delay BurnTotal daily costs accumulated during the delay.
- Liquidated Damages
- Chargeable Days x LD Per Day (capped if applicable)Contractual penalty. Cap limits total exposure.
- Total Delay Impact
- Base Delay Cost + Liquidated DamagesThe full commercial impact combining your daily costs and any LDs.
How to Use This Calculator
- 1
Enter the total delay days
Count the calendar days the project has been or will be delayed beyond the original completion date.
- 2
Remove approved or non-chargeable days
Enter any approved extension-of-time days. These are subtracted from total delay days to give chargeable delay days.
- 3
Add your daily burn costs
Enter site overhead, supervision, labour standby, equipment, and subcontractor costs that continue each day of the delay.
- 4
Include liquidated damages and optional impacts
Add the LD rate per day from your contract, the LD cap if one applies, material escalation, and lost redeployment value.
- 5
Review total impact and biggest cost driver
The results show total delay impact in dollars, as a percentage of contract value, and which cost category is driving the most exposure.
What to Include in Delay Cost
Site Overhead
Costs that continue regardless of progress: site offices, fencing, utilities, security, temporary facilities, and insurances.
Supervision / PM
Project manager and supervisor time that cannot be redeployed. Their daily rate continues even when productive work stops.
Labour Standby
Wages for workers who cannot proceed with scheduled tasks. Includes base pay, allowances, and labour burden while standing by or on reduced output.
Equipment / Plant
Ongoing hire or ownership costs for cranes, excavators, scaffolding, and other equipment sitting idle during the delay.
Subcontractor Standby
Costs passed through from subcontractors whose crews or equipment are held up. Often charged as standby rates in their contracts.
Liquidated Damages
Contractual penalties the client charges per day of late completion. May be capped at a percentage of the contract value.
Material Escalation
Price increases on materials caused by the delay pushing purchases into a later, higher-cost period.
Lost Redeployment Value
Revenue or margin lost because crews and equipment tied up on a delayed job cannot be deployed to other profitable work.
Common Causes of Delay Cost
Late Approvals
Design changes, permit delays, or client approvals that arrive after the scheduled start of affected work.
Material Delays
Supplier lead times blow out, shipments arrive late, or specified materials become unavailable mid-program.
Labour Shortages
Not enough skilled workers available when needed, reducing progress below the planned rate.
Site Access Issues
Restricted access, partial handover, or third-party works blocking your work area and slowing progress.
Coordination Failures
Trade stacking, sequencing errors, or missing information between design teams, subcontractors, and the builder.
Weather Disruption
Rain, extreme heat, or high winds that stop outdoor work for extended periods beyond what was allowed in the program.
Worked Example
A commercial contractor faces a 14-day delay on a $320,000 office fitout. The client has not approved any EOT days. Here's how the delay costs stack up.
Delay Inputs
Daily Costs
Liquidated Damages
Total Delay Impact
$76,300
23.84% of contract
Base Delay Cost
$55,300
14 days x $3,950
Liquidated Damages
$21,000
14 days x $1,500
Status
Job-Threatening
Over 15% impact
Biggest cost driver: Labour Standby at $16,800 (14 days x $1,200/day). Combined with LDs, this delay wipes out nearly a quarter of the contract value. Even a partial EOT approval would reduce exposure significantly.
What This Example Shows
A 14-day delay with no approved EOT on a $320,000 contract generates $76,300 in total delay impact, which is 23.84% of the contract value. This falls into the job-threatening category.
The base delay cost of $55,300 comes from daily site overhead, supervision, labour standby, equipment, and subcontractor costs. The $21,000 in liquidated damages adds another layer of exposure that can push the job into a loss position.
From a commercial standpoint, this delay turns a profitable job into a margin squeeze or potential loss. Every day of EOT approved reduces both the daily cost accumulation and the LD exposure. Documenting delay causes, issuing timely notices, and negotiating EOTs can materially change the outcome.
Before the job starts, pricing schedule contingency into your bid can offset delay exposure before it compounds. Use the construction contingency calculator to set that buffer based on your actual risk profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is delay cost in construction?
Delay cost is the total financial impact a project delay has on a contractor. It includes daily site overhead, supervision, labour standby, equipment hire, subcontractor standby, material escalation, and any liquidated damages charged by the client. Delay cost measures what the delay actually costs your business per day and in total.
How do you calculate delay cost per day?
Add up all daily costs that continue or increase during the delay: site overhead, supervision, labour standby, equipment and plant, subcontractor standby, material escalation, and lost redeployment value. The sum is your daily delay burn. Multiply by the number of chargeable delay days to get the base delay cost.
Are liquidated damages included in delay cost?
Yes. Liquidated damages are a contractual cost the client charges for each day of delay beyond the completion date. This calculator adds LDs to the base delay cost to show the total delay impact. If a cap applies, the calculator limits LDs to that cap.
What is the difference between delay cost and a cost overrun?
Delay cost is the financial impact caused specifically by a time extension. A cost overrun is any difference between estimated and actual costs, regardless of cause. A delay often causes a cost overrun, but a cost overrun can happen without a delay, for example from underestimated materials or labour rates.
Does an extension of time remove delay cost?
An approved extension of time removes chargeable delay days, which reduces liquidated damages. It does not automatically remove the daily costs themselves. Site overhead, supervision, and labour standby still accrue. An EOT shifts who bears the cost but does not eliminate it.
What costs should a contractor include in a delay estimate?
Contractors should include site overhead, supervision and project management, labour standby or redeployment costs, equipment and plant hire, subcontractor standby charges, material price escalation, lost redeployment value, and any liquidated damages in the contract.
Is this a legal delay-claim calculator?
No. This is a commercial estimator that shows the cost impact of a delay. Contract entitlement depends on contract terms, notices, cause of delay, and jurisdiction. A contractor may use this to understand exposure, but recovering costs requires meeting contractual notice and claim requirements.
How can contractors reduce delay cost exposure?
Contractors can reduce exposure by issuing timely extension-of-time notices, documenting delay causes and impacts, negotiating EOT approvals to reduce chargeable days, redeploying labour and equipment to other jobs, and tracking delay days and costs in real time rather than discovering them at job close.
Related Tools
Delay cost is one piece of the commercial picture. These calculators help with the adjacent decisions — scope control, cash timing, margin protection, and recovery planning.
- Compare your delay cost against total job cost overruns
See whether delay is the main driver of your overrun or if other cost categories are also running above estimate.
- Separate scope change pricing from delay cost
Isolate the cost of approved changes so that delay and variation impacts don't get combined into one unclear figure.
- Forecast the cash-flow effect of project delays
Model how delayed progress draws and extended site costs shift your monthly cash position on the job.
- Check whether overtime recovery actually saves money
Before committing to overtime to catch up, estimate the real cost after productivity losses are factored in.
- See how late completion holds back your retained cash
Delayed practical completion means delayed retainage release. Quantify how much cash is tied up and for how long.
- Protect your minimum sell price when delays compress margin
If delay costs have eaten into your margin, recalculate the floor price you need to stay above on future work.
FROM DELAY CHECK TO DELAY CONTROL
This calculator shows one delay. Quoteloc helps you manage delay exposure across every job.
Track delay days, approved EOTs, and cost impact in real time. Spot jobs at risk before LDs hit. Build a clear record for claims and negotiations.
WITHOUT QUOTELOC
Delay costs discovered after job close
No visibility into cumulative exposure
EOT notices issued late or missed
WITH QUOTELOC
Track delay days per job in real time
See cumulative cost impact instantly
Build documented EOT records
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