Programme

Are we going to run past the date

That is the commercial question about programme, and it is the only one a quantity surveyor has to answer. Everything else belongs to the planner.

Extension of time recorded on each variation
Percentages certified stay your professional assessment, not a guess from a bar
Practical completion date shared with the retention calculation

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Variations

Time effect of changes

VariationEOTValue

VO-01 Additional window2 d£1,000.00

VO-03 Revised M&E layout9 d£3,240.00

VO-04 Ground conditions10 d£6,800.00

Extension of time claimed21 days

Keeping the programme with the valuations means the progress meeting and the cost report draw on one set of facts rather than two files that disagree.

Why it sits next to the money

Time and cost are the same conversation held twice.

A variation that carries two days of extension of time is not the same animal as one that does not, and the place to notice that is while the works are running. Keeping the programme with the valuations means the progress meeting and the cost report draw on one set of facts rather than two files that disagree.

Programme

The works against the contract period

A Gantt with four hundred activities is a planning tool.

Contract period taken from the project settings, not drawn by hand
Today marked, so the position is obvious without counting
Overrun past practical completion stated in weeks, not implied by a bar

Programme

Works against the contract period

Substructure

Frame

Envelope

First fix

Fit out

Contract period32 weeks

Practical completion7 Sep 2026

Sequence runs past PC by3 weeks

QScope draws the second kind. Contract period from your settings, today marked, and the sequence laid over it.

Extensions of time

When the overrun becomes a claim

A programme that runs past the contract date is a warning.

Thirteen relevant events, each flagged for whether it can carry money
Notice date, particulars date and award date held separately
Only awarded weeks move the revised completion date

Extensions of time

EOT-03 assessment

Claimed

4 wks

Awarded

3 wks

Revised

28 Sep 26

Relevant eventVariation instruction

Notice received2 Jun 2026

Particulars received16 Jun 2026

Applied to completion date3 weeks

The programme shows the sequence running three weeks past practical completion. Only awarded weeks move the date, so the revised completion date is 28 September 2026.

See it running before you sign up

Completion

The date the programme is measured against

The contract completion date is the line every bar is judged against.

Practical completion, partial possession, non-completion and making good
The certificate date governs the retention, with a warning if Settings disagrees
Damages run from the revised completion date, not the original

Completion

Certificate of practical completion

Certified

28 Sep 26

Retention now

2.5%

Weeks late

0.00

Revised completion date28 Sep 2026

Practical completion certified28 Sep 2026

Rate after certificate2.5%

Liquidated damages£0.00

With three weeks of extension awarded, the contractor completes on the revised date and no damages arise. Without the award the same works would be three weeks late.

Files and plans

The programme belongs with the file

A Gantt printed for a progress meeting is only as good as the records behind it.

Drawings filed in their own folder, with pins and markup
Site photographs listed with who uploaded them and when
Delay notices and correspondence filed against the job

Files and plans

Record behind the programme

DocumentStatus

Contract, JCT SBC 2016, signedCurrent

Drawing A-102 rev C, gable elevationCurrent

Delay notice, 4 AugFiled

Site photographs, week 1612 files

QScope keeps the drawings, photographs and correspondence against the same project, so the commercial view of the programme sits on top of the record that supports it.

Programme

Built from the cost plan, fitted to the contract

Rebuild and auto-fit from cost plan turns the cost plan sections into programme tasks across the contract period, from the start date to practical completion.

Start on site and practical completion added as milestones on every rebuild
Re-fit to contract when the dates move, and add your own tasks and milestones
Generate PDF prints the Construction Programme

Programme

Gantt Programme

TaskComplete

Substructure100% · from VAL-03

Superstructure55% · from VAL-03

Internal finishes0%

Practical completionmilestone

Nothing is typed twice: the tasks come from the cost plan and the progress comes from what you have certified.

Every other function on the Programme screen

5 functions the sections above do not cover, each as it works in the program.

Functions 1 to 3

01Rebuild needs sections in the cost plan, and QScope tells you to add a section row if there are none.

02Rebuilding asks first, because it replaces the tasks, dates and milestones you already have.

03The programme assumes a Monday to Saturday working week, so no task starts or finishes on a Sunday.

Functions 4 to 5

04The project dashboard draws a line from start on site to practical completion with today marked on it.

05Until the start, completion and retention release dates are set, the dashboard asks you to set them, because every payment clock runs from them.

Who it is for

One programme, four clocks running on it

You are applying

You claim the time before damages run

You notice delay, name the relevant event and claim the time before the damages clock does the arguing for you.

Applying for payment

the same measurement

You are certifying

You award the weeks and stop the clock

You assess the extension from the other chair, and the completion certificate you issue halves retention and stops the damages clock.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

Your delay is your own money waiting

You run the programme and the money together, and a completion date that slips moves the whole payment tail with it.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

A late job is a loan running long

You track completion against the facility term, because a job that finishes late is a loan that runs longer than the model.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

No, and deliberately not. The percentage you certify is your professional assessment of the work done. QScope will not infer it from a bar chart, because a programme shows intent and a valuation records fact.

No. It is a commercial view of whether the job runs past the contract date. If you use a dedicated planning tool, keep using it. This exists so the answer to that one question sits next to the money.

From the project settings: the start, the practical completion date and the period in weeks. Change them there and the Gantt redraws.

Yes, if you want them to. Guests with view access can see it. What stays hidden from them is the CVR and your margin.

From the blog

The part nobody teaches you, written down

Three pieces from the same corner of a contract as this page, answered at length and without a sales pitch at the end.

Woman in a hard hat measuring a window with a tape and taking notes

Time & completion17/08/2026

The client says the work is defective and will not pay. Is it actually defective?

A defect is work that does not match the contract, and half the items on an angry snag list fail that test: they match the contract and not the client’s imagination. How to sort a defects schedule into its four real categories, and answer it without a war.

Read now

Worker in a hard hat checking a window frame with a level in a blockwork opening

Time & completion12/08/2026

Which delays entitle you to more time, and which do not?

The dividing line is simpler than the clause lists make it look: delay from the client’s side of the fence gives time, delay from yours does not, and neutral events give whatever the contract chose to give. Where weather really sits.

Read now

Two people in hard hats checking a window opening in a brick wall

Time & completion28/07/2026

A defect has appeared a year after handover. Am I still liable?

Almost certainly yes: the defects period ending did not end your responsibility, it ended a retention mechanism. How long liability really runs, six years on a signed contract, twelve on a deed, and how to respond to the call.

Read now

All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Variations Record the instruction, basis of valuation and clause, on JCT, NEC or FIDIC. Approved variations pull straight into a payment certificate. See how it works Retention Full rate during the works, half rate after practical completion in the UK, or FIDIC release at Taking-Over and the end of the Defects Notification Period. See how it works Drawings, photos and files Drawings versioned as they are superseded, site photographs tied to their date, contracts and correspondence, all held with the same project as the valuations. See how it works