Late Delivery Liquidated Damages and Cap Calculator
A late-delivery clause says what a supplier pays when it misses a date. The numbers are easy to misjudge: a weekly rate, a grace period and a cap interact, and the cap often limits recovery long before your real losses stop. This calculator shows the result.
Your numbers
Total price of the order the clause applies to.
Some contracts apply damages only to the late portion.
Calendar days past the agreed delivery date.
Days before damages begin accruing.
Often between 0.5 and 1 percent of the affected value per week.
Many contracts cap damages at 5 to 10 percent.
Expediting, idle labor, line stoppage and customer penalties.
Your results
Illustration only, not legal advice. Whether and how liquidated damages apply depends on the contract wording and local law, and some courts refuse damages that look like penalties.
Damages payable versus your cost of delay
Sweeps Days late from 0 to 180, holding your other inputs fixed.
Track late deliveries and their cost automatically
Optional: we can discuss pulling due dates and receipts from your ERP to quantify supplier delay cost.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the calculator
Enter the order value and the share that is late, then the clause terms: grace days, weekly rate and cap. Add the actual days late and your own daily cost of delay. The result shows damages payable, how many days late reaches the cap, and the gap between damages and your real cost. Use it when negotiating a clause, to see whether the proposed rate is meaningful, and later to compute a claim.
- Read the clause for what base value it applies to
- Check whether days are calendar or working days
- Confirm whether damages are the sole remedy
- Compare the cap with a realistic worst-case delay
The formula
Chargeable days equal days late less grace days, never below zero. Damages before cap equal the affected value times the weekly rate times chargeable days divided by seven. The payable amount is the lower of that and the cap, where the cap is a percentage of total contract value. Days to reach the cap equal cap amount divided by the daily accrual, plus grace days. Some contracts count part-weeks as full weeks, which increases damages; adjust the days to match your wording.
Reading the result
In the default example, 0.5 percent a week on 250,000 over 28 chargeable days comes to 5,000, well below the 10 percent cap of 25,000, but also far below a 42,000 real cost of delay. This is typical: liquidated damages are rarely full compensation. If the shortfall is large, consider a higher rate, a lower grace period, a step-up after some weeks, termination rights for extended delay, or an agreed expedite at the supplier's cost.
Common mistakes
Buyers sometimes assume damages replace all other remedies when the clause says nothing, or the reverse. Other mistakes include applying the rate to the whole contract when it applies only to late items, ignoring that delay caused by the buyer can reduce the claim, and setting a rate so high that a court may treat it as a penalty. Record your delivery performance in the ERP so the claim is backed by dated evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a typical liquidated damages rate?
Contracts commonly use half a percent to one percent of the affected value per week, capped at five to ten percent of contract value. Your sector, bargaining power and the real cost of delay will move this, so treat these as ranges rather than rules.
Can liquidated damages be unenforceable?
In many common law jurisdictions, a clause intended to punish rather than genuinely pre-estimate loss can be struck down as a penalty. Rates should be proportionate to likely loss. Have counsel advise on the rules in your jurisdiction.
Do damages apply to calendar days or working days?
It depends on the contract. Many say calendar days, but define it explicitly. The calculator uses the days you enter, so convert working days to the basis in your clause before calculating.
Should the cap be a share of the order or of the contract?
Be explicit. A cap on a single order is lower than a cap on a multi-year contract. This calculator applies the cap to the value you enter as the contract value, so enter whichever base your clause uses.
If you want on-time delivery and late-order cost exposure monitored from your ERP data, we can show what that looks like for your suppliers.
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