Resilient Structures and Sustainable Construction Edited by Pellicer, E., Adam, J. M., Yepes, V., Singh, A., and Yazdani, S. Copyright © 2017 ISEC Press ISBN: 978-0-9960437-4-8 1 PROJECT CONDITIONS JUSTIFYING TIME-AT-LARGE CLAIMS MOHAMED-ASEM ABDUL-MALAK 1 and ABED ELKHALEK JABER 2 1 Civil and Environmental Engineering, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 2 Engineering Management Program, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon The time for completion on a construction project is of great importance and is sometimes referred to as being of the essence. Having a known completion date that the contractor shall be willing to commit to carries both advantages and implications. That is, if the contractor inexcusably overruns this completion date, he becomes liable for delay damages which usually take the form of liquidated damages (LD). During the course of construction, several circumstances may surface which have the effect of the time for completion to be said to have become at large, a situation that can hinder the triggering of the LD clause by employers. This paper aims to explain the concept of time at large and its reasons and implications, while viewing its applicability under both the common and civil law systems. It highlights the conditions whose prevalence justifies the time on the construction contract to be called to have become at large. The work represents the foundation for constructing a method that can aid in systematically testing if such a calling can be viewed as justifiable. Keywords: Construction, Contract, Disputes, Extension, Law, Common, Civil. 1 INTRODUCTION Delays are known to be a major source of disputes on construction projects. As such, there has been an increased attention and awareness in the construction industry towards the employment of suitable mechanisms for dealing with delays-related issues. Nevertheless, the circumstances encountered during the course of construction and the actions by the parties to the construction contract could hinder the proper tracking of delays and, subsequently, the effective administration of the construction time schedule. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Where time is stated under a contract to be of the essence, the non-breaching party is said to be entitled to treat the contract as being at an end if the other party fails to fulfill its obligation by the date specified (O’Connor and Laudan 2011). In addition, time being of the essence is reported to mean that one or more stipulations as to time are viewed as conditions, the breach of which discharges the other party from the obligation to continue to perform any of his own promises (Oon 2003). It has been suggested that the presence of liquidated damages and extension of time provisions in a construction contract imply that the parties do not consider time to be of the essence, since they contemplate the remedy for lateness to be damages, rather than termination of the contract (O’Connor and Laudan 2011). To this effect, if the time schedule is not met, most owners would normally prefer compensation over the difficulty of finding a replacement