An impossible programme is a CDM breach before it is a commercial problem.
Most people treat the programme as a money question. Too short, and the margin goes. CDM 2015 treats it as a safety question first.
What the regulations say about time
Regulation 4 requires the client to make suitable arrangements for managing the project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources. Those arrangements must be maintained and reviewed throughout the project. See Regulation 4: what suitable arrangements actually means.
Regulation 13 then requires the principal contractor to take account of the general principles of prevention when estimating how long the work, or each stage of it, will take.
So "sufficient time" is not a negotiating position. It is a legal test.
Where the risk goes when the time is not there
When the time is not there, the risk does not disappear. It moves:
Trades stacked on top of each other to recover a week
Work done out of sequence because the information arrived late
Night and weekend shifts that nobody planned for
Temporary works checked in a hurry
Every one of those is a decision somebody made about time.
The programme is where that decision is written down. If it cannot show the time was sufficient, nothing else will.
When did a client last ask whether your programme was safe to deliver, rather than just achievable?
Free checklist
Our one-page programme checklist starts with six questions to ask before a programme is issued. It is free, with no sign-up. More are on our free checklists page.
Clarity Planner keeps the programme, the information you are waiting for, the issued revisions and the weekly reports in one place. Seven days free, and no card needed to start.
This article is general information, not legal advice.