The mantra of records, records, records cannot be repeated often enough, many construction projects suffer severe disruption which is often hard to substantiate. Keeping records make it easy for disruption events to be notified and recorded at the time they occur. Ensure that these records are retained safely and centrally.
Delayed design, late design, project changes, out of sequence working or design issues, for example, can cause huge disruption not just at the beginning of the project but throughout and is notoriously difficult to reconstruct retrospectively. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or record what has happened in an email to the Client/Employer from the beginning of the project. Issue RFIs, delay notices, access constraints and put enough of a description in the document as to the problem that it can be easily understood in two or three years’ time.
keep an eye on the type of records you are keeping and put a new system or records in place if you think they are required. If your workforce is constantly having to shift from one workface to another, how can this be recorded easily and quickly? Asking someone to take two minutes to record an issue at the end of the day while memories are fresh, or draft a quick email noting the instructions on-site, creates an invaluable contemporaneous record. Prepare site allocation sheets with sufficient detail and submit them regularly to the Employer.
Photographs (with the date and time recorded) are not only an indisputable record of the as-built status, at that time, but can also show how congested a site is and exactly how difficult the work is (for example if access is more difficult than planned).
Whatever analysis you carry out, the key to disruption claims is contemporaneous factual evidence. The more you have, the easier it will be to win your claim.
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