Where Schedule Slip Comes From

Many custom homes finish later than the date in the contract. That's not news to anyone who's built one. What's more useful is knowing where the extra time came from, because some of it is expected, some of it is yours, and some of it deserves a question.

When the completion date moves, try sorting the time into a few buckets. It turns a frustrating "it's late again" into something you can actually talk about.

Approved change orders

Many change orders add days, and a good one says how many. If you approved a change that added two weeks, those two weeks are part of the new schedule. That's not slip. That's the house you asked for.

Add up the days on your approved change orders. It's often more than people expect.

Pending change orders

Changes that are still being priced or waiting on your approval can hold up the work they touch. If the builder can't frame the new window opening until you sign off, the clock is running. Deciding quickly on pending changes is one of the easiest ways to protect the schedule.

Late selections

This is the bucket people least like to look at, and it belongs to the client. If the tile was due in March and chosen in May, and the tile has a six-week lead time, the bathrooms wait. Your builder should have given you a selections schedule with dates. Compare your actual decisions to it, honestly. See Make your selections before you bid and Be a better client, not a better prosecutor.

Weather

In the mountains, winter costs days. Storms stop exterior work, cold slows concrete and drywall, and some days nobody can get up the road. Many contracts allow extra time for weather beyond what's normal for the season. Check how yours defines it, and whether the schedule already built in a normal winter. More in Winter construction costs.

Inspections and long-lead items

Each phase waits on an inspection before the next one covers it up. Windows, doors, cabinets, and some equipment arrive when they arrive. A late window delivery can hold up the whole house being closed in. These are real causes, and they're also things a builder can sometimes see coming. It's fair to ask when the order was placed.

Unexplained days

Whatever's left after the buckets above is the part worth asking about. It might be a sub who didn't show, a crew pulled to another job, a mistake that needed redoing, or something you haven't been told yet. It might also have a perfectly good reason. You won't know until you ask.

Track the completion estimate over time

The easiest way to see slip is to write down your builder's completion estimate each time you get one, with the date you got it. Over a few months, you'll see whether it's holding, creeping, or jumping. Here's what a simple log looks like (illustrative):

Date of update	Completion estimate	Days moved	Cause given
March 1	November 15	0	Contract date
May 3	November 29	14	Change order 4 (window wall)
July 12	December 20	21	Tile selection late; tile lead time
September 6	January 24	35	Not stated
Total		70

In that example, 14 days came from an approved change and 21 from a late selection. The last 35 days are the ones to ask about.

Asking about it

Ask about the unexplained part specifically, and ask early. "The completion estimate moved five weeks since the last update. Can you walk me through what changed?" is easy to answer. Waiting until the end and presenting a list of every delay usually isn't productive for anyone.

Your contract may say what happens when the job runs past the completion date. That's a legal question, not a construction one, and it belongs with a construction attorney if it gets there. This article isn't legal advice.

Questions worth asking

• How many days have approved change orders added so far?
• Which pending decisions on my side are holding up work right now?
• How does our contract handle weather days, and how many have we used?
• When were the windows, doors, and cabinets ordered, and when are they due?
• What changed between the last completion estimate and this one?