No Damage for Delay Clause
A contract clause limiting a contractor's remedy for delays caused by the owner (or other parties beyond the contractor's control) to a time extension only, barring the contractor from recovering monetary damages, such as extended overhead, idle equipment, or extended labor costs, that the delay actually caused.
Why it matters
These clauses shift real financial risk from the owner to the contractor, but courts in most states won't enforce them absolutely: common exceptions include delays caused by the owner's active interference, bad faith, fraud, or delays so extreme they go beyond what the parties could have contemplated when signing. A contractor facing one of these clauses needs to know their state's specific exceptions before assuming they have no recovery option at all.
On a real project
An owner's design team is months late issuing critical drawings, delaying a contractor's schedule significantly. The contractor's [[concept-delay-claim|delay claim]] for extended overhead is denied under the contract's no-damage-for-delay clause, so the contractor instead argues the design team's conduct rose to active interference, one of the recognized exceptions in their state.
Who this matters most to
A Construction Claims Consultant is often brought in specifically to determine whether a contractor's situation fits one of the narrow exceptions that can defeat a no-damage-for-delay clause, since the answer depends heavily on case law in the specific state. A Contracts Administrator tries to negotiate these clauses out of a contract entirely, or at minimum narrow them, before signing.
Where this goes wrong
A contractor assumes a no-damage-for-delay clause is unenforceable everywhere because they heard it described that way in general terms. In a state that enforces these clauses strictly with only very narrow exceptions, the contractor pursues a monetary delay claim, spends money on the claims process, and recovers nothing but a time extension they were already entitled to.