Note
When a Signed Project Keeps Slipping Its Start Date
The contract is signed, the materials are ordered, and the crew is blocked in the schedule for the first two weeks of April. Then the call comes: the factory roof assessment is not complete yet, can you push back three weeks?
A single three-week push is manageable. The problem is that it rarely arrives on its own. When two or three signed projects each slip by a month, what looked like a spread Q2 schedule becomes a June overload. The start date was the one number that held the rest of the schedule together, and it moved without the rest of the schedule moving with it.
Managing a slipping start date well means treating the delay as a scheduling event that needs documentation and a response, not just a calendar adjustment.
Why Do Factory Installation Start Dates Slip?
The most common causes are outside your control, which is why they need to be documented clearly when they occur.
Grid interconnection application. For rooftop solar systems connected to PEA or MEA, the application process runs independently of your construction timeline. A grid interconnection decision that takes two months longer than the customer expected is not a site problem. It moves the permission-to-energize date, and the customer may ask you to defer mobilization until approval is confirmed.
Structural engineering assessment. Factories often require a structural load assessment before allowing panel installation on the roof. If the assessment is commissioned late or requires remediation work on the roof structure, the installation window shifts.
Factory access schedule. Production priorities change. The maintenance outage window that was set for week three of April gets pushed because a key production line is behind schedule. The factory cannot give access until the next planned shutdown, which may be weeks away.
Civil works not complete. Cable trenching, equipment pad foundations, and conduit stub-outs done by the factory’s own team or a civil subcontractor need to be finished before your electrical installation can start. When that work runs late, your installation waits.
What Does a Slipped Start Date Do to Your Schedule?
A project that slips does not disappear from your schedule. It shifts. And if you do not update the board when it shifts, the technician allocation for the original date looks clean until the rescheduled date lands on top of other confirmed work.
Here is a worked example you can run on your own numbers. A contractor has three factory solar installations confirmed for April and May: Project A starting April 7, Project B starting April 21, Project C starting May 5. Each requires six technician-days.
- Project A slips three weeks to April 28.
- Project B slips two weeks to May 5.
- Project C holds on May 5.
The contractor now has three projects competing for the same week in May, with a combined requirement of eighteen technician-days in a five-day window. The original schedule showed one project per fortnight. The slipped schedule shows three at once.
That is not a June problem. It is an April problem that becomes visible only if someone updates the board when each project moves. When a slip is four weeks or more and you have signed work behind it, contact those customers now: a short message sent while options still exist is better than a call when you have no flexibility left.
What to Document When the Delay Is Not Yours
When a customer asks to push the start date, the conversation usually happens by phone or LINE. That conversation needs a written record.
The minimum you need in writing:
- Who requested the delay. The customer’s name and role, not just the customer company.
- The reason for the delay. One sentence is enough. The specific reason matters if there is a later dispute about contractual timelines.
- The new proposed date. Not “sometime in early May” but an actual date. If the customer cannot confirm a new date yet, note that in writing and set a date by which they will confirm.
- Whether the delay affects other milestones. If the original contract ties completion, payment, or warranty start to a specific date, a pushed start date may affect those. Flag this in writing before the crew has committed to a new mobilization date.
A written record of each push is also the protection if a customer later claims your delay caused a problem. Three documented customer-requested pushes and a final confirmed date are a clear sequence.
What Needs to Be Confirmed Before You Commit to a New Date?
The temptation when a project slips is to accept a new date verbally and wait. Resist this. A verbal “we should be ready around the fifteenth” is not a confirmed mobilization date.
Before you commit the crew to a rescheduled date and update the board, confirm the following in writing from the customer’s side:
- Access is approved for the specific dates requested. Not “probably” or “we’ll confirm closer to the time.”
- The blocking issue is resolved. If the delay was a structural assessment, that assessment is complete and you have seen the result. If it was civil works, those works are complete and the area is accessible.
- The factory contact for the duration of the installation is confirmed and available.
- Materials staging and storage at site are cleared if pre-delivery was part of the plan.
This confirmation happens at least 48 hours before mobilization. The pre-crew checks still apply on the day itself. But the confirmation above is what makes a rescheduled date real rather than optimistic.
FAQ
When Should I Issue a Formal Delay Notice?
A written message confirming the delay and the reason, sent at the time of the call, is a delay notice for most practical purposes. If the delay affects contractual milestones such as payment dates or the defect liability period start, a slightly more formal notice referencing those clauses is worth sending.
Can I Release the Allocated Crew If the Project Keeps Slipping?
Yes, but with a clear record of when and why. Document the decision: the project is unallocated pending a confirmed new date, and the crew has been reassigned. Send the customer that status in writing. If they then confirm a date the reallocated crew cannot cover, the reshuffling cost is visible and the sequence is documented.
What If the Slips Push the Project Past the Thai Busy Season?
A project that drifts from April into late May or June faces reduced factory access from the summer heat period and adjusted production schedules. Flag the downstream calendar impact to the customer now. A project that moves from Q2 into Q3 may also interact with budget cycles on the customer’s side. Early notice is better than discovering the conflict when the rescheduled date arrives.
The TRACE 30 program builds the month board from confirmed jobs and allocated technician-days. When a project slips, updating the job’s start date on the board immediately shows the downstream impact. If you want to see what that looks like across a portfolio of six to ten active projects, the overview is at /program/ or book a short call at /schedule-a-call/.