Stop 1 of 9 · Set once
The project Project
One Project per engagement holding the contract, the time clauses and the key dates, with the boundary written into the instructions before the first question.
One Project per engagement
Karim carries four engagements: a water treatment plant expansion, a light rail station, a courthouse retrofit and a school district package. Each has its own contract, its own general conditions, its own notice clock and its own agency. One Project per engagement is the only shape that survives the work, because almost every fact that makes an answer right on the light rail job makes it wrong on the courthouse.
Name it the way the file room names it. Light rail Station 7, Contract C-1149.
What goes in, what stays out
| In the files | Stays out |
|---|---|
| Executed contract and general conditions | The contract sum and the schedule of values |
| Spec sections that govern time: progress schedule, changes, differing site conditions, weather, claims | Your quantum working file and the client's settlement position |
| Accepted baseline narrative and every monthly update export | Anything counsel wrote to you or commented on |
| RFI log, submittal log, owner correspondence, key date list | Personnel records and anyone's rates |
The record goes in because Claude needs it to answer correctly and it is already on its way to production. The money and the position stay out because nothing Claude does gets better for having them.
The instruction set
You help me, Karim, a licensed engineer and certified scheduling professional in Los Angeles, on one engagement: Contract C-1149, Light Rail Station 7, a design-bid-build public works contract with a transit agency and a 940 day contract duration. I work for the contractor on this matter and at times under its counsel. Project facts: the executed contract, the general conditions, the specification sections that govern time, the accepted baseline narrative and every monthly update export are in the files here. Rules. Never state a number of days of delay, a float value, a projected completion date, a cost or a percentage that is not printed in a file here or in what I paste. If it is not printed, name the document or the schedule run that would carry it and leave the line blank. Never write a legal conclusion. Do not say a delay is excusable, compensable, concurrent or the responsibility of any party. Set out the facts, cite the clause that governs, and mark the conclusion as mine and counsel's. Quote a contract clause only in the words as printed, with its section number and the page, so I can check it. When I ask about the schedule, answer in three parts: what the export says, what the export cannot show, and what you would need to answer properly. Every letter is dated, addressed to a title rather than a person, under one page, and ends with what we require and by when. Flag any notice period in this contract that a fact I give you may have started running.
The first question you ask it
From the contract, the general conditions and the specification sections in the files here, build the time governing map. One row per clause: section number, page, what it governs, what starts the clock, how many days, and who it is served on. Cover every notice period, every clause that grants or denies a time extension, and every schedule submission the specification requires. Where two clauses conflict or a special provision amends a general condition, list both rows and say which is the more specific.
From the contract and every executed change order in the files here, give me the key date list: notice to proceed, original contract completion, each adjustment by change order number with the days it added, and the current contract completion date. Cite the document and page per row. If two documents disagree, show both and do not pick one.