Contracts and construction
Delay Claims in Jordanian Construction Contracts: Organising the File Before a Dispute
A delay claim does not begin when it is submitted. It begins with the contract, a provable notice, and a timeline connecting the event to its actual effect.
Updated: 10 September 2026
Prepared and reviewed by: Ashraf Al-Khawaja
Start with the contract map
Collect the agreement, general and particular conditions, drawings, specifications, bills of quantities, approved programme, variations, and appendices. Identify commencement and completion provisions, extensions of time, delay risk, force majeure, acceleration, damages, and dispute resolution. Jordan’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing identifies these components in works-tender documents, but a government-tender context should not automatically be applied to a private contract.
Make every notice part of an evidence chain
Check the notice clause: who sends it, to whom, by which method, what event starts the period, and what attachments or updates are required. Retain proof of dispatch and receipt, correspondence registers, the baseline programme and updates, daily site records, dated photos, meeting minutes, variations, procurement records, and costs. Each record should state what happened, when, who is responsible, and what decision is needed; do not rewrite the record after a dispute arises.
Connect the event to time and cost
Build a timeline connecting the event to the affected activity, programme, impact period, end of effect, and actual completion. Separate entitlement to additional time from entitlement to cost and record concurrent delay and mitigation. Have a Jordanian construction lawyer review the file before a consequential notice, settlement, delay calculation, suspension, termination, litigation, or arbitration step; the issue may be legal, technical, and accounting-related at the same time.
Sources and references
- وزارة الأشغال العامة والإسكان الأردنية – تعليمات العطاءات الحكومية
- وزارة العدل الأردنية – القوانين
- Al Tamimi & Company – Construction Contracts and Jordanian Law
Verify the official text and latest amendments before relying on this material professionally.