Your GC is months late: documentation, contract remedies and next steps

Why stalled restaurant jobs hurt more than other late projects

In General Contractor taking too long?, a Houston owner reports a job about 90% complete and months past a completion date the contract said was 'of the essence.' Commenters split. Some said delays are normal in construction. Others said a delay of around four months justifies a lawyer. One described a mediation where timestamped photos of unfinished work decided the outcome. Others asked whether the delay came from permits or supply. We read the post and a summary of comments through an archive. The mediation story is an unverified anecdote.

Another contractor-delay thread, This restaurant was supposed to be finished this week, shows the stakes. We saw it only as search excerpts. Commenters describe a job quoted at four months that took more than a year, a GC who stopped sending crews during the finishing stage, and an owner paying rent for three years on a second location that never opened. In what goes wrong that costs you the most money?, also seen as excerpts, multi-unit owners name delays while costs are already running. A restaurant pays rent, pre-opening salaries and loan interest before it earns anything, so every week of delay is money spent with no sales to offset it.

Triage first: why is the job late?

A late job is rarely late for one reason. Separate the delay into causes before you write a single angry email, because the contract almost always treats them differently. Permit and inspection delays may be excusable if the contractor submitted on time and gave the required notice. Supplier delays may also be excusable, or may be the contractor's risk if it ordered late. Owner changes usually extend the time and add cost. Thin crews, unpaid subs and a contractor juggling other jobs are usually the contractor's risk.

For each cause, ask for evidence, not explanations. That means permit portal history, inspection results, purchase orders with order dates, supplier delivery notices, and change orders with agreed schedule impact. A contractor with a genuine permit or supply problem can usually show it. If the same answer keeps coming back for weeks without a document behind it, that pattern is itself a finding.

Read the dates and clauses you actually signed

Find the completion date and how it is defined. 'Substantial completion' usually means the space can be used for its intended purpose, sometimes tied to a certificate of occupancy. It is a different milestone from final completion. Then find the extension clause. Many contracts require the contractor to give written notice of a delay within a set number of days to qualify for more time. If the contractor never gave notice, that matters. If you granted extensions informally by email, that matters too.

'Time is of the essence' signals that dates are material terms, but its effect varies by jurisdiction and can be weakened by conduct, such as repeatedly accepting late performance without objection. Look for liquidated damages, a fixed daily amount for late completion. Depending on the wording and local law, these may be your sole remedy for delay. Look also for a 'no damages for delay' clause and a termination-for-cause procedure, including how many days' cure notice is required. Commenters in the 1vvyp7f thread suggested a specific-performance clause. Courts are often reluctant to order a contractor to physically finish work, so the more common practical remedy is termination and completion by another contractor, with costs charged back as the contract allows. Ask counsel what is realistic where the property is located.

Build the record: a daily log anyone can follow

Start a log today if you do not have one. Visit or have someone visit at a consistent time. Photograph the same fixed vantage points each day, so progress or lack of it is visible in sequence. Keep phone metadata intact, and add a short caption with date, location and what changed. Count workers by trade. Note deliveries, inspections, weather that actually stopped work, and any conversations with the superintendent, followed by a short confirming email.

The log is not for building an accusation. It records facts that both sides can check. A daily entry such as 'two drywall workers, 7:30 to 11:00; no plumber; hood still not delivered' is more useful in a meeting, a mediation or a lawsuit than a summary written months later from memory.

• Same 6 to 10 vantage points photographed each visit, with original timestamps preserved
• Crew count by trade and hours on site
• Deliveries received and still outstanding
• Inspections scheduled, passed or failed, with report copies
• Owner decisions made that day, confirmed by email
• Weekly export of the log to a dated PDF stored outside the contractor's systems

Hypothetical worked example: 14 weeks late, sorted by cause

All figures are hypothetical. A buildout was due on a contract completion date and is now 14 weeks behind. The owner's carrying costs are $14,000 a month rent, $2,000 in utilities and common-area charges, a $7,000 pre-opening general manager salary and $3,000 in loan interest. That is $26,000 a month, or about $6,000 a week ($26,000 × 12 ÷ 52 = $6,000). Fourteen weeks of delay therefore represent about $84,000 in carrying costs.

Sorting the delay with documents gives this picture. Three weeks came from a permit revision the owner requested to add a bar sink, and a signed change order granted those three weeks. Four weeks came from a hood vendor delay. The purchase order shows the GC ordered two weeks later than its own schedule, so the GC's own documents arguably put two of those four weeks on the GC. Two weeks came from an owner decision on finish materials that the email record shows was late. That leaves five weeks with no documented excuse, during which the crew log shows workers on site on only 9 of 30 working days.

So 5 weeks are undocumented and 2 more are arguably contractor-caused. That is a disputed range of 5 to 7 weeks, about $30,000 to $42,000 in carrying cost at $6,000 a week. The contract, however, has liquidated damages of $500 per calendar day. Five weeks is 35 days, or $17,500, and seven weeks is 49 days, or $24,500. If counsel advises that liquidated damages are the exclusive delay remedy under this contract, the claim is the LD amount, not the carrying costs. The owner now has a specific, documented position to put on the table instead of a general complaint.

Notice letters, in escalating order

Use the notice method and addresses the contract specifies, because notices sent the wrong way may not count. Keep each letter factual: dates, contract clauses, log references, and a specific request with a deadline. A typical sequence starts with a delay notice that states the current completion forecast and asks for the cause and supporting documents. Next comes a request for a recovery schedule, showing how many workers, which trades and what dates will close the gap. If the contractor does not respond or does not perform, a notice to cure under the termination clause follows. It states the default and the cure period the contract provides.

If the GC provided a performance bond, read it now. Bonds usually have their own notice and meeting steps before the surety must act, and skipping them can weaken a bond claim. Termination for cause is the last step, not a threat to use early. A termination later found to be wrongful can turn the owner into the party in breach. Have a construction attorney in the property's jurisdiction review the notice to cure before it is sent.

Escalate, negotiate or replace

Replacing a GC at 90% complete is expensive. A new contractor must take over permits, check work it did not build, and price risk it cannot see. Often the cheaper path is a negotiated recovery plan with a dated crew commitment, tied to the next payment and backed by the notice record. If the original GC has stopped coming, as one commenter in the 1vvyp7f excerpts described, or cannot pay its subs, replacement may be the only route. Our rollout governance article covers how to take over a stalled site. Whatever you choose, keep paying only for verified work, as described in the progress-payment article.

• Do not grant extensions verbally; confirm any extension in a signed change order
• Do not withhold payment without a contractual basis and legal advice
• Do not post accusations about a named contractor online while a dispute is open
• Do not move in or take over work areas without documenting their condition first
• Do keep paying for verified work, with lien waivers, so subs stay on the job