Float
The amount of time an activity can slip without delaying the project’s completion date. Total float belongs to the project, not to either party — a principle that is stated in most standard forms and disputed on most projects.
"Who owns the float?" is really the question of who gets to consume it. If the contractor uses float to absorb its own inefficiency, and an employer-risk event then arrives to find none left, the delay to completion is real — and the argument about who caused it is the argument that ends up in arbitration.
The doctrine most standard forms adopt is that float is a project resource, available to whoever needs it first. The practical consequence is uncomfortable and worth internalising: float is consumed on a first-come basis, so a contractor that quietly spends it early has weakened its own position later, and will not be able to demonstrate otherwise without a properly maintained programme.
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