Float ownership and the baseline schedule

A delay to an activity is not a delay to the project unless it eats through the float. That one idea decides more delay claims than any clause. This lesson explains total and free float, the arguments about who owns float, and why the accepted baseline schedule is the reference point for measuring every delay.

Learning outcomes

• Define total float and free float.
• Explain when delay to an activity becomes delay to completion.
• Compare the main positions on float ownership and how contracts address them.
• Explain why an accepted baseline is essential to any delay claim.

The lesson

Float in one minute

Total float is how long an activity can slip without delaying project completion. Free float is how long it can slip without delaying the next activity. Activities on the critical path have zero total float. A delay to an activity with 20 days of total float does not move completion until it exceeds 20 days. Primavera P6 lesson 12 and Microsoft Project lesson 11 show how the software calculates it.

Who owns float?

Three positions come up again and again. Contractor owns float: the contractor planned the sequence and the float is its buffer. Owner owns float: the owner is paying for the schedule. Project owns float: float is shared and goes to whoever uses it first. When the contract is silent, the project-float view is common in practice. CCDC 2-2020 does not allocate float, so many owners add a clause in the Supplementary Conditions, and some contracts require float to be shown as a separate activity so its use is visible. Read the contract before arguing about float.

The baseline: the reference for every claim

Every delay is measured against something. The accepted baseline schedule is that reference: the logic-driven plan both parties accepted at the start. Without one, the parties argue about the plan as well as the delay. An owner who never formally accepts the contractor's baseline, or accepts one with no logic, has made every future claim harder to assess, for both sides. Microsoft Project lesson 21 covers setting baselines.

Float is used by every update

Float is not fixed. Every monthly update recalculates it as work progresses, slips or recovers. Tracking float on the paths that matter, month by month, is the earliest warning that a delay is becoming a claim.

Northgate worked example

Northgate Distribution Centre (fictional) is a 12,000 m² tilt-up warehouse in Vaughan, Ontario, built by Halvorsen Builders Ltd. (fictional) under CCDC 2-2020, with Ridgeline Architects Inc. (fictional) as Consultant. See the Northgate fact sheet. This course follows one delay claim from first notice to settlement. Ready-for-Takeover (M9) was due Friday, January 14, 2028 and was reached on Tuesday, March 14, 2028: 60 calendar days late. All events, dates and amounts are illustrative.

The office mezzanine path did not start on the critical path. In the accepted baseline, it had 25 days of total float before it would delay Ready-for-Takeover. RFI-118 held up the mezzanine framing for 35 calendar days (lesson 4). The first 25 days were absorbed by float. Only the last 10 reached the critical path (Figure 2).

View the data

Item	Value
Baseline	25 days
June 30, 2027 update	25 days
July 31 update	18 days
August 31 update	-10 days

Halvorsen's first position was that all 35 days were owner delay to completion. The owner's representative showed, from the July and August updates, that only 10 days were critical. Northgate's Supplementary Conditions treat float as shared project float, so the owner was entitled to use it. That 10-day figure then overlapped Halvorsen's own roof deck delay, which makes it concurrent (lesson 11).

Your move

If you are the owner

• Accept a logic-driven baseline early. Check it before acceptance; no logic, no acceptance.
• Address float in the SCs. State whether float is shared and how its use is reported.
• Track float on key paths monthly. Falling float is your early warning.
• Don't spend float casually. Late decisions use float you may need later.

If you are the contractor

• Show float honestly. Hiding float in padded durations is detected in analysis and damages credibility.
• Report float erosion. Tell the owner when its decisions are eating float, before they go critical.
• Get the baseline accepted in writing. It protects you as much as the owner.
• Keep every update's native file. Float history is evidence.

Common mistakes

1. Treating every activity delay as project delay. Float absorbs delay first.
2. Never accepting a baseline. Every claim then starts with an argument about the plan.
3. Constraints that hide float. Hard constraints can make float figures meaningless.
4. Ignoring float ownership until a claim. Settle it in the contract.
5. Comparing against the wrong schedule. Use the accepted baseline and the updates in force at the time.

Quick quiz

1. An activity with 20 days of total float slips 12 days. What happens to completion?

   1. It moves 12 days
   2. It does not move
   3. It moves 20 days
   4. It moves 8 days

2. What is free float?

   1. Float owned by the owner
   2. How long an activity can slip without delaying the next activity
   3. Float on the critical path
   4. Float after completion

3. Who owns float under CCDC 2-2020?

   1. The contractor
   2. The owner
   3. The contract does not allocate it; SCs often do
   4. The Consultant

4. Why is an accepted baseline important?

   1. It sets the contract price
   2. It is the reference point for measuring delay
   3. It replaces updates
   4. It sets liquidated damages

5. RFI-118 delayed the mezzanine 35 days with 25 days of float. How much reached the critical path?

   1. 0
   2. 10 days
   3. 25 days
   4. 35 days

Show answers and explanations

1. B. The slip is within the float, so completion does not move.
2. B. Free float protects the next activity; total float protects completion.
3. C. CCDC 2-2020 is silent, so owners often add a float clause.
4. B. Delay is measured against the accepted plan.
5. B. 35 − 25 = 10 days of critical delay.

Key terms

Total float

How long an activity can slip without delaying project completion.

Free float

How long an activity can slip without delaying its successor.

Project float

The view that float is shared and available to whoever uses it first.

Baseline schedule

The accepted, logic-driven plan against which progress and delay are measured.

Critical path

The longest chain of logically connected activities, which sets the completion date.

References

1. Canadian Construction Documents Committee, CCDC 2-2020 Stipulated Price Contract, GC 6.4 to 6.6 and Part 8. Clause content checked against a publicly posted tender copy; buy the form from CCDC.
2. Miller Thomson LLP, Ontario Court underlines the evidence and analysis required to establish critical path delays (July 2021).
3. Fenwick Elliott, The SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol: a second edition (November 2017), summarizing the Society of Construction Law Protocol, 2nd edition (February 2017).
4. BRC, Northgate fact sheet (fictional case study, v1, November 4, 2026).

Verified on November 9, 2026.

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