Ecospec want 2½ to 5½ more months. Most of that is one “Shared Contingency” activity and their own late work.
Hazell Bros (HB) gave Ecospec five bridges, with 6 months to finish each one. Their latest programme (Rev J.3) finishes months late, and they're claiming the difference as EOT. Take out their “Shared Contingency” (one activity with no work in it) and the work actually finishes much earlier. Most of what's left is their original scope running late.
The key finding
Ecospec never put a single day of delay down to themselves.
Every time their work ran late, they added another EOT on the end, about the same size as the slip, and gave it a variation number. Their “Shared Contingency” never got used. None of the EOTs are linked to any variation work in the programme, and one of them (“VO12”) is just their own unfinished work.
What matters is how far a variation actually pushes out the finish, not how late the job is or how long the variation took. The subcontract only gives time for delay on the critical path. On that test, the variation work pushes each finish out by:
SP3 · ID648~102 wdclaimed22 wdactually caused by variation work
SP4 · ID650~43 wdclaimed9 wdactually caused by variation work
SP5 · ID649~83 wdclaimed0 wdactually caused by variation work
Based on all 11 of Ecospec's programmes and their EOT Register. Their EOT notices and letters haven't been seen yet.
Bars
WorkVariation work pushing out the finish (possible claim)“Shared Contingency” (one activity, no work)Taken back by HB
Lines and markers
Data dateContract 6-month date (23/09/2026)Ecospec's own 6-month dateRevF completion
Real workEcospec's own lateness“Shared Contingency” (one activity, no work)Ecospec may have a pointHelps HBNot proven yet
How it got here
Mar–Apr 2026
Five bridges, 6 months each
Subcontract signed 15/04. ID663, ID661, ID648, ID650 and ID649, each due 6 months from commencement.
May–Sep 2026
Original scope falls behind
Same small crew moves between areas without finishing them (your 23/10 email). Some abutments took 2–4× their tender span.
Jun–Oct 2026
Variations added
18 HB variations, all approved with no extra days. Ecospec did most of the work in the same visit as the original scope.
Revisions G.8 → J.3
“Shared Contingency” and EOTs added
Each new programme adds contingency and EOT days before completion. The completion date is no longer driven by the work.
Now
HB took 2 bridges back
HB is doing ID661 and ID663 itself. Ecospec has ID648, ID650 and ID649. None is finished, no EOT is approved, and LDs are $2,548/day per bridge.
What's inside Ecospec's EOT claim
Working days between Ecospec's own 6-month date and their completion date. Click a row to show that bridge on the map.
Original scope running late (their own lateness)Variation work pushing out the finish (possible claim)“Shared Contingency” (one activity, no work)
Is it easy to prove?
Their completion date hangs off the contingency, not the workIn Ecospec's own programme, completion is only linked to the contingency and the EOTs.
Strong
Most of the slip is original scopeShown by the programmes and RevF. At 30/09, ID648 had done 18 of 67 RevF activities.
Strong
Variations gave no extra timeHB says so, and the programmes back it up. HB's VO approval records would settle it.
Likely
Days on site, notices, the 6-month dateNo diaries or EOT notices yet. Which 6-month date applies is HB's call.
Not yet
In short: Ecospec's own files show the claim is mostly one “Shared Contingency” activity and late original scope. About 22 wd (ID648) and 9 wd (ID650) of variation work could still be argued. Whether any EOT stands is HB's call.
Chapter 2 · The detail
When their work runs late, Ecospec push the completion date out too. Their contingency never gets used.
The first chart shows a bridge across all 10 programmes. Below it, pick a bridge and press play to see how Ecospec worked out its completion date. The arguments and the claim table are at the bottom.
Work finish vs completion date, every programme
Blue is when their work finishes. Black is their completion date. The amber gap is one activity called “Shared Contingency” with no work in it. On ID648 it went from 24 to 60 days at I.1. Since then, every time the work slipped, the completion date slipped by the same amount.
How Ecospec came up with each “Shared Contingency”
Pick a bridge and press play to step through each programme. (The bridge buttons up top change too.)
1
The big picture
Top bar: their work, then the contingency. Bottom bar: how they got their completion date (their 6 months, then EOT days). Both end on the same day. Hover a bar for details.
How it works
The work finish moves. In each new programme their work finishes later (now and then earlier).
The contingency never gets shorter. In RevF it was just the time between their last work and their 6-month date. When the work came earlier, they made it longer so the completion date didn't come forward. On ID649 it never changed.
They add EOT days to make it add up. The EOT days start at their 6-month date. Each new programme adds another EOT on the end, about the same size as that slip, with the next VO number on it. The old ones never change.
So the completion date isn't worked out from the variations. It's their work finish plus the contingency, and the EOT days are whatever makes it add up.
How long is the contingency? They never picked a length. It's whatever time is left between their last work (Demob) and the completion date they want. That fits every number in every programme.
2
Why it doesn't pass the pub test
The arguments and the claim, in full
The arguments, for and against · green helps HB, amber is where Ecospec may have a point, grey isn't proven yet
Ecospec's claim, item by item · their EOT Register as a table
From Ecospec's EOT Register, in Ecospec's "days" (9 hours each, on a 10-hour calendar, so 113 of their days ≈ 102 working days). Darker cells mean more days.
Chapter 3 · What I need from you
A few questions. Answer what you can, right here.
Have a go at these before we catch up. Most are one click. Add a line wherever you know more and skip anything you're not sure about. Rather talk than type? Hit 🎤 Talk instead of type and just say it. It keeps listening: hit 🎤 under the next question to move there, and ■ Stop when you're done. Everything saves as you go, so you can stop and come back any time, on any computer. When you've finished, hit I'm finished so I know.
0 of 0
questions answered
Documents still to come you mentioned sending some on 23/10 ·
Tell me what you can send, what doesn't exist, and what you think I don't need.
Already answered, thanks your 23/10 email
What I'll do next on me
Observations of Ecospec's submitted programmes (Rev J.3, status 30/09/2026), Ecospec's EOT Register and the subcontract. Not an entitlement assessment and not an MS Project reschedule. Working days (wd) on the programme's Standard calendar. Luke Charet, Plan A Project Planning, 26/10/2026.