In brief
- A delay record only has value if it names the event, the date, the affected activity and the instruction that followed.
- Test the record against the daywork sheets and inspection requests for the same week to see whether supervision was on site when the delay happened.
- Fix the gap with a numbered weekly log signed by the supervisor or consultant, not a rewritten narrative at handover.
Contents
A delay record on a Garowe building site is only as good as the supervision behind it. If nobody logged the day the concrete pump did not arrive, or the afternoon the inspector did not sign off the reinforcement, that lost time disappears from the record. The supervision gaps a client should test for are thin causes, missing dates and no link to the programme.
What does a delay record actually need to show?
A usable record names the event, the date it happened, the activity it stopped and the instruction that followed.
General practice is to keep a daily site diary with weather, labour on site, plant on site, deliveries, inspections requested and inspections passed. The delay entry is drawn from that diary, so it can be traced back to a specific day rather than reconstructed later. Common failure points are vague wording such as "materials late" without naming the material or the supplier, and entries written weeks after the event when nobody remembers the sequence.
Ask for the diary pages for the weeks in question, not a typed summary. If the diary does not exist, the delay record has no foundation. Confirm what your contract requires for notice of delay, because the notice period and the evidence standard sit in the contract, not in general practice. Check that each entry carries a date, a location on site, the activity code from the programme and the name of the person who wrote it.
Where does supervision lose the cause of lost time?
Supervision loses the cause when the supervisor is not present at the moment the work stops, or when the same person is covering too many activities to write anything down.
A supervisor juggling several fronts will record the visible outcome, such as idle labour, and skip the trigger. On a Garowe build the trigger can be a late delivery, a missing approval, a change in setting out, a broken mixer, or water not reaching the work face. Without the trigger the client cannot tell whether the contractor caused the loss or something outside the contractor's control caused it. That distinction decides who carries the time.
Use the inspection request log as a cross-check. If the reinforcement inspection was requested on a Sunday and passed on a Wednesday, the three days between are easy to explain and easy to verify. Ask the local authority's building control or engineering office what records it keeps for the plot, and walk a recent site with the supervisor to see how entries are made on the day.
How do you close the gap on the next project?
Close it with a fixed weekly routine that produces one numbered log the client can audit.
The routine can be short. Every working day the supervisor writes the diary. Every week the supervisor or consultant issues a numbered log that lists events, dates, affected activities and the instruction taken. The client countersigns. The log sits alongside the programme update and the inspection register, so a delay claim can be built from documents rather than memory. Where the contract allows, agree the format and the issue day with the contractor before work starts.
Keep the language factual. "Reinforcement inspection requested 12 March, not passed until 15 March, slab pour moved to 16 March" is a record. "Contractor delayed the slab" is an opinion. Confirm the notice and record requirements in your contract and, if you are the client, ask your consultant to state in writing how the log will be kept and who signs it.
What to do next
Choose one Garowe project you are running or paying for and request the last four weekly logs with their diary pages, inspection requests and daywork sheets. Compare them week by week. Where they do not match, write down the missing item and put a corrected weekly log routine into the contract administration before the next pour.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a consultant to keep a delay record in Garowe?
Not always. The contract decides who keeps the record and who signs it. Check what your contract says about site records, notices and signatures, and agree the format before work starts so both sides keep the same document.
Can a delay record be written after the project finishes?
It can be written, but it carries little weight. Entries made on the day, backed by diary pages and inspection requests from the same week, are far easier to verify than a narrative prepared at the end.
What if the contractor refuses to share the site diary?
Look at what your contract allows you to request and inspect. If the diary is not contractually available, ask for the inspection register and the programme updates, and raise the point with your consultant before the next payment application.
Local reporting: this article is written for building work in Garowe and Puntland. Ground conditions, prices and rules differ between places; confirm the details for your own site.