Page 195 - Civil Engineering Project Management, Fourth Edition

success leads to another. By experience and force of his personality he may
pull the job ahead of schedule and complete before the promised time.
14.7 Completion Programme and progress charts 175
One of the duties of the engineer is to decide when the works can be considered
complete. Most contracts require that the works are substantially complete
before the engineer can issue his certificate of substantial completion. Unless
the contract has specific requirements to be met, substantial completion does
not require that every last item is finished, but it is generally taken to mean
that most of the works are done and the project can be put to safe and effective
use by the employer. There will no doubt be some items outstanding and
conditions, such as ICE (7th edition), allow for this while requiring that any out-
standing work is completed as soon as practicable during the defects period
or to an agreed timetable. Items left to be finished later would be those which
do not affect operation, such as painting; or may even include minor structures,
such as a gatehouse not essential to use of the works.
A shrewd contractor will be looking to get his certificate of completion as
early as possible and may apply to the engineer as soon as he thinks he has
any chance of it being allowed. Clause 48 of the ICE conditions (7th edition)
allows for such an application which must, however, be accompanied by an
undertaking to finish outstanding work. The engineer must then either issue
a certificate, or state what needs to be done to complete. The resident engineer
must advise the engineer of matters still to be completed and say if he consid-
ers the contractor’s application for completion is too early. Before the engineer
issues his certificate of completion he will need to check with the employer to
ensure that he has staff available to take over completed works.

14.8 Estimating extension of time

Failure to complete in time may make the contractor liable to pay liquidated
damages, as specified in the contract, to the employer. Hence at the time a
completion certificate is issued, the engineer must decide whether any exten-
sion of the time for completion is allowable. Extensions of time may have to
be allowed if the contractor is delayed by problems for which the employer is
liable under the contract. These should have been notified as they arose and
considered at the time (see Section 17.10). There may also be sections of the
work which the contract requires to be completed earlier than for the project
as a whole. It is important to note that not all delays will lead to an extension.
Some may not affect the path to completion and others may be matters for
which the contractor is responsible. It is necessary to check with the contract
conditions (such as ICE 7th edition Clause 44) to identify which delays are to
be taken into account, such as ‘exceptional adverse weather conditions’, etc.