What Construction Project Managers Need to Know About Float Ownership

Float  ownership has been the subject of hot debate for a long time. Whether float is owned by the contractor, the owner, or the project, is still an ongoing argument in many countries around the world. In this article, the focus is not about which party is correct; rather, the focus is more about the practical implications of float ownership. In my view, the debate has become more of a hypothetical debate, with little association with reality.

Should the question be who owns the float or, what does float ownership mean, and what are the implications of such ownership? Also, many project managers overlook the contract clauses that regulate the utilization of the float and engage in unnecessary debate based on irrelevant assumptions or past experiences, which do not apply to the project at hand. If many of the implications of such a debate are alreadyregulatedin

 the contract in some way, shouldn’t the focus be on the specific situations that may give rise to such disputes?

What is Float?

Generally speaking, float is the period during which a non-critical activity can be delayed. There are a few types of float; the most important types are the free float and the total float. The free float is “the amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following schedule …