Who Owns the Float?

Float is the slack in the schedule: how long an activity can slip before it pushes the project finish. When an owner-caused delay eats float, the project doesn't get later, and the contractor usually doesn't get time. When a contractor slip then lands on the same path, it suddenly does push the finish. Whether that seems fair depends on who you think owned the float in the first place. This post covers the usual answers, what contract language tends to say, the ways people try to game it, and a small worked example that shows why the order of events matters.

The usual caveat: this is general information about scheduling practice. Your contract decides float ownership, and courts and boards have treated it differently in different places. Read the clause, and talk to counsel if you're heading toward a dispute.

A quick refresher

Total float is how far an activity can slip without delaying project completion: LS minus ES, or equivalently LF minus EF. Free float is how far it can slip without delaying any successor. If those are fuzzy, start with Total Float vs. Free Float: What Each One Tells You.

The key fact for this topic is that total float belongs to a path, not to a single activity. If three activities in a chain each show 10 days of total float, that is the same 10 days, shared. Use it on the first one and the other two drop to zero.

The three positions

The contractor owns it

The argument: the contractor built the schedule, chose the sequence, and priced the means and methods. Float is a product of the contractor's planning, so it's the contractor's to use as a buffer for its own risks. Under this view, an owner delay that consumes float should earn time even if the finish doesn't move, because the contractor lost a buffer it was entitled to.

Few modern contracts take this position explicitly.

The owner owns it

The argument: the owner is paying for the project and set the completion date. Any float in the schedule is the owner's to spend on changes and decisions. Under this view, the owner can consume float with changes and late decisions without granting time, as long as the finish doesn't move.

Some owner-written contracts lean this way, often implicitly, by granting time only for delays to the completion date.

The project owns it (shared float)

The argument: float is a shared resource, available to whichever party needs it first, for the good of the project. Neither party can claim it exclusively. Time extensions are granted only when a delay pushes the completion date beyond what the float can absorb.

This is the most common position in construction specifications. Many scheduling specs say, in substance, that float is not for the exclusive use or benefit of either party, and that extensions are granted only to the extent a delay extends the contract completion date. Check yours; Reading a Schedule Spec: Section 01 32 16 covers where to find it.

Worked example: first come, first served

Shared float has a known side effect: whoever uses it first gets it. Here's what that looks like.

The convention is 0-based: ES of the first activity is 0, EF = ES + duration, and a successor's ES is the latest EF of its predecessors (finish-to-start, no lag). Durations are working days.

ID  Dur  ES  EF  LS  LF  TF
A   20    0  20   0  20   0
B   40   20  60  20  60   0
C   30   60  90  60  90   0
D   70    0  70  10  80  10
E   10   70  80  80  90  10
F    0   90  90  90  90   0

The critical path is A, B, C, F, finishing at day 90. The elevator path, D and E, shares 10 days of float.

Order 1: owner first, then contractor

• The owner's consultant takes 10 extra days to approve the elevator shop drawings. D finishes at 80 instead of 70. E now runs 80 to 90. The path has zero float. The finish is still day 90. Under shared float, no time extension: the delay didn't extend completion.
• Then the elevator installer, a sub to the contractor, runs 3 days long. E finishes at 93. The project is 3 days late, and the late activity is the contractor's.

Result: the contractor is 3 days late and potentially owes damages for them, even though the owner caused 10 of the 13 days of slip on that path.

Order 2: contractor first, then owner

• The elevator fabricator is 10 days late shipping. D finishes at 80. Path float is zero. No delay to completion, no penalty.
• Then the owner adds a cab finish change that adds 3 days to installation. E finishes at 93. Project is 3 days late, owner-caused.

Result: the contractor gets 3 days of time extension, and possibly compensation, even though the contractor caused 10 of the 13 days.

Same slips, same total. The outcome reverses based on which came first. That's not a flaw in the math. It's a direct consequence of treating float as shared and granting time only for completion-date impact. Everyone on the job should understand it before the first delay, not after.

Ways people try to sequester float

Because float has value, there's an incentive to hide it. Owners' reviewers look for these, and contractors should know they will:

• Preferential logic. Sequencing work in an order that isn't required, just to make paths critical. Two independent areas linked finish-to-start for no physical reason.
• Inflated durations. Padding activity durations so float shows up as time inside activities instead of between them.
• Excessive lags. A 15-day lag that doesn't represent anything.
• Constraints. Finish-on or start-no-earlier-than dates that cap float artificially.
• Contingency activities. A "schedule contingency" bar before the finish milestone. Some contracts allow an explicit, visible contingency; others prohibit it. Visible beats hidden either way.

The other side has its own version: owners who use float aggressively for late decisions because they know it's free.

Early completion schedules

If a contractor submits a baseline that finishes before the contract completion date, the gap between the two is sometimes called project float or terminal float. Who owns that gap is a frequent argument. Some contracts address it directly, for example by requiring the baseline to show completion on the contract date, or by stating that early completion float is shared. Others are silent, which is where disputes come from. If you're an owner reviewing a baseline that finishes early, settle this at acceptance. If you're a contractor planning to finish early, say so explicitly in the baseline narrative and know what your contract says about it.

Practical habits

• Find the float clause before the first update. Know which position your contract takes.
• Track float on near-critical paths, not just the critical path. A path that drops from 15 days to 2 in one month is telling you something. See Near-Critical Paths and Why They Deserve Attention.
• When an event consumes float but doesn't push completion, still send notice and still document it. It may matter if a later event on the same path does.
• In the monthly narrative, report float consumed by cause, not just remaining float.
• In a time impact analysis, show the float before and after the event. See Time Impact Analysis, Step by Step.

Key takeaways

• Float belongs to a path. Using it on one activity uses it for the whole chain.
• Most specs treat float as shared: available to either party, with time granted only for completion-date impact.
• Under shared float, whoever consumes float first effectively gets it. The order of events changes the outcome.
• Hidden float (preferential logic, padded durations, lags, constraints) gets found in review; visible contingency is easier to defend.
• Settle early-completion float at baseline acceptance, not during a claim.