The submittal is waiting for approval, the finish selection has not been made, the RFI answer is three weeks old. None of these is a contractor failure, and yet the project is late and the contractor is the one who will be asked about it.
In this article
- The delay nobody is accountable for
- Put the decisions in the schedule
- Ask early enough to be reasonable
- Make the decision easy to make
- Document without making it an accusation
- Know what the contract gives you
- Keep moving where you can
- The conversation to have once
- Where to start
- Frequently asked questions
- Frequently asked questions
The delay nobody is accountable for
The submittal is waiting for approval, the finish selection has not been made, the RFI answer is three weeks old. None of these is a contractor failure, and yet the project is late and the contractor is the one who will be asked about it. Owner decision delay is the most common schedule risk that never appears in a risk register.
Put the decisions in the schedule
The single most effective control is to make owner decisions scheduled activities with dates, durations and a named responsible person — the same as any construction activity. What is on the schedule gets reported on; what lives in someone's inbox does not.
This also reframes the conversation. You are not complaining about the owner, you are reporting on an activity that is behind.
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Ask early enough to be reasonable
Work backward from installation through submittal review, fabrication and delivery, and ask for the decision at the date that arithmetic produces. Requesting a selection two weeks before installation on an item with a ten-week lead time makes the delay partly yours, and an owner can say so fairly.
Make the decision easy to make
Owners delay when the question is vague, when it requires expertise they do not have, or when there are too many options. Present two or three choices with cost and schedule consequences attached and a recommendation. A decision framed as a clear tradeoff gets made; an open-ended question gets deferred.
Document without making it an accusation
Every outstanding decision belongs on a log with the date requested, the date needed and the impact of missing it, distributed with the regular report. Routine, visible and unemotional. A log circulated weekly is far more effective than a letter sent in frustration at month four.
Know what the contract gives you
Most contracts include response time obligations and a right to an extension when they are not met. Those clauses only work if notice is given within the stated window, which means the notice has to go out while you are still being patient about it.
Keep moving where you can
Resequence around the pending decision where it is possible, and say that you did. Demonstrating mitigation strengthens any later claim and, more immediately, keeps the project from stalling on one unanswered question.
The conversation to have once
Early in the project, agree with the owner on how decisions will be requested, what turnaround is expected, and who has authority. Ten minutes at the start prevents most of this, and it is easier to have when nothing is late yet.
Where to start
Schedule owner decisions as tracked activities, ask at the date the lead time requires, present two or three priced options with a recommendation, circulate an outstanding-decision log weekly, give contractual notice inside the window, and resequence where you can.
A log circulated weekly beats a letter sent in frustration at month four.
We help builders make owner decisions visible on the schedule, frame them so they get made, and protect the contractual position without damaging the relationship.
Frequently asked questions
How do I handle an owner who will not make decisions?
Put the decisions in the schedule as activities with dates, durations and a named responsible person, exactly like any construction activity. What is on the schedule gets reported on; what lives in someone's inbox does not, and it reframes the conversation — you are not complaining about the owner, you are reporting on an activity that is behind. Make the decision easy as well: owners delay when the question is vague, requires expertise they do not have, or offers too many options. Present two or three choices with cost and schedule consequences attached, plus a recommendation, because a clear tradeoff gets decided and an open question gets deferred.
When should I give notice about owner-caused delay?
Inside the window your contract states, which means the notice goes out while you are still being patient about it. Most contracts include owner response time obligations and a right to an extension when they are not met, but those clauses only work if notice was timely. Keep every outstanding decision on a log with the date requested, the date needed and the impact of missing it, and distribute it with the regular report — routine, visible and unemotional. Meanwhile resequence around the pending decision where you can and say that you did, since demonstrating mitigation strengthens any later claim.