It seems to be a rarity for a job to start on time these days. Projects starting or being ready for a trade contractor several months late is now not unusual.
The start of the pain
The problem is that once the job starts the builder has not issued an updated program and is running around trying to get everyone to work faster to make up for lost time with the threat of liquidated damages being tossed into the mix.
Then trade contractors start contacting consultants asking what can be done to get the builder off their back. That is when the bad news starts to arrive.
The first question is what does the contract say about how a delay is to be dealt with. Usually there needs to be a notice of delay at the start of the delay and an extension of time at the end of the delay. Those notices usually have to be given within certain time limits of the event.
The second question is to ask whether or not those notices were given and the answer is invariably that they were not.
Then the problems really start.
Avoiding the pain
The most important lesson here is that the obligation to administer the contract by serving notices on time does not start once you commence work on site.
That obligation in fact commences as soon as the contract is signed even if starting work on site is potentially sometime in the future.
That is because signing a contract which requires you to start on a particular day and finish by another particular day is subject to a delay if you are not able to commence on site on the start date specified in the contract.
Therefore you must treat it as a delay and submit the notices required under the contract even if you have not started work on site.