How a liquidated damages clause is calculated
United States contracts do not draw delay damages from a statutory rate table. The number comes from the clause the parties wrote, almost always as a fixed dollar amount for each day of delay. Enter the contract price, the scheduled and actual completion dates, the daily amount and any cap, and this tool returns the days late, the raw total, the cap and what the clause would produce.
Courts enforce such a clause only if it was a reasonable forecast of anticipated loss at the time of contracting and actual damages were difficult to estimate; a figure set to punish rather than to compensate is an unenforceable penalty under Restatement (Second) of Contracts §356. Federal construction contracts use the liquidated damages clause at FAR 52.211-12, and many contracts add an overall cap expressed as a percentage of the price. Days late here are counted from the day after the scheduled completion date through the actual completion date, on calendar days. The legal standards described are those in force as of September 2026.
Excusable delay caused by the owner, differing site conditions or weather normally extends the schedule and reduces the days counted, and a contract may allow a time extension request instead. This calculator is for reference only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. If the daily figure bears no reasonable relationship to the loss the parties could have anticipated, a court may treat it as a penalty and refuse to enforce it, leaving actual damages to be proven.
The default here is calendar days, which is the common drafting choice. If your clause says working days, count only those days instead and enter that figure.