Define the clock before measuring it
Choose a start event and an end event: a complete application to a decision, a funding award to construction, or construction start to opening. Different clocks measure different processes. Record pauses caused by the applicant separately from agency review when the data permit. Otherwise a single elapsed-time number can hide the actual bottleneck.
Use a transparent first approximation
The calculator estimates simple carrying cost as exposed capital × annual rate × months of delay ÷ 12. It also shows a separate assumed monthly benefit multiplied by the delay. Both outputs are scenarios. They do not include discounting, cost escalation, changing capital exposure, or the value of review. Do not add them blindly if they overlap.
| Component | Evidence to seek |
|---|---|
| Exposed capital | What money is actually committed during the waiting period? |
| Rate | What financing or opportunity-cost assumption is appropriate? |
| Deferred benefit | Who would receive it, when, and how is it measured? |
| Review value | What risk, harm, or future rework might the review prevent? |
| Alternatives | Can steps run concurrently while preserving their substantive tests? |
Locate the dependency
A project can wait on a permit, an incomplete application, financing, land access, design, procurement, or a utility connection. Map which step blocks the next one. Speeding up a nonbinding stage may not change the opening date. This is an operational diagnosis, not a claim that eliminating public participation would improve every project.
Use estimates to ask better questions
If carrying cost appears material, ask which portion of the timeline is avoidable and what it would take to shorten it. If the largest delay is construction or a scarce component, a faster signature may do little. Compare the proposed improvement with its costs and safeguards. The homepage’s “coordination tax” is a framing device; this tool makes the arithmetic assumptions explicit.
Working tool
Explore a delay scenario
Inputs stay in this page. No submission, account, or data upload.
Illustrative defaults. Simple interest; no compounding or discounting. Review benefits and overlapping costs are not modeled.
Sources and further reading
Use these original sources to verify the explanation and check for changes. Practical worksheets and hypothetical examples on this page are our synthesis.