How deadlines are calculated

Your first transaction covers the short version: set your mutual execution of contract (MEC) date and Done-Deal builds the deadline calendar. This article covers the actual rules behind that calendar — the anchor date, how calendar days and business days are counted, and every deadline type Done-Deal calculates.

The anchor date

Every deadline is calculated from one anchor date, in local (Denver) time:

• MEC date is the anchor for almost every deadline — the day the contract was mutually executed.
• Closing date is the anchor for a handful of pre-closing and post-closing deadlines, counted backward or forward from close.
• Conditional Sale Date is the anchor instead of MEC, but only for backup offers. It is the day the primary contract fell through and the backup became the live contract (CTM calls it the Under Contract Date). See "Backup offers" below.

Warning: Until a transaction has both an MEC date and a closing date, no deadline calendar exists. Double-check the dates you enter — see Your first transaction for why this matters.

Calendar days vs. business days

Done-Deal counts days two different ways, matching the Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell (CBS) standard form rules:

• Business days skip only Saturday and Sunday. Federal holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on) are not skipped — a business-day deadline can land on a federal holiday. This matches the CBS standard form definition of a business day, which Done-Deal follows exactly.
• Calendar days count every day, including weekends. Whether a date that falls on a weekend or holiday moves to the next business day depends on the contract's § 3.3.3 box (see below). Business-day deadlines never need this, because counting business days always lands on a weekday.

Holidays and § 3.3.3 of the contract

Section 3.3.3 of the Contract to Buy and Sell says whether a deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday Will or Will Not be extended. Done-Deal follows that box for every "MEC + N days" deadline:

• Will: a deadline on a weekend or a Colorado contract holiday moves to the next day that is neither.
• Will Not: the deadline stays on the date it lands on, even a weekend.
• Not known (uploaded and forwarded contracts, where Done-Deal can't read the box): the deadline stays on the date it lands on, the same as Will Not. The contract itself says that if neither box is checked, the deadline is not extended. The deadline's note tells you it falls on a weekend or holiday, so you can check the box and move the date if it says Will.

Business-day counting itself still skips only Saturday and Sunday.

Every deadline Done-Deal tracks

The deadline engine produces up to 31 deadlines per transaction, depending on the property and contract. Deadlines marked "HOA only" or "pre-1978 only" are added just for transactions with that characteristic, or when the contract's § 3 table gives that deadline a date — see How compliance checks work for the full trigger logic.

From MEC — calendar days (§ 3.3.3 applies)

Deadline	Default offset from MEC
Earnest Money Delivery	3 days
New Loan Application	3 days
CIC (HOA) Documents — HOA only	7 days
Title Commitment Deadline	14 days
Inspection Objection	10 days
Inspection Resolution	13 days
Record Title Deadline	14 days
Record Title Objection Deadline	21 days
Record Title Resolution Deadline	25 days
Survey/ILC Deadline	14 days
Due Diligence Documents Delivery	7 days
Appraisal Deadline	18 days
Appraisal Objection Deadline	21 days
Appraisal Resolution Deadline	24 days
Loan Termination	21 days
Property Insurance Termination	21 days
Association Documents Termination — HOA only	14 days
Acceptance Deadline	only added if your contract specifies one

From MEC — business days

Deadline	Offset from MEC
SPD (Seller's Property Disclosure)	5 business days
Lead Paint Disclosure — pre-1978 only	5 business days

Back-calculated from closing — before close

Deadline	Offset from closing
Mail-out Notice to Title	14 calendar days before close
CDA (Commission Disbursement Auth)	5 calendar days before close
Wire Fraud Warning to Buyer	5 calendar days before close
Final Docs Verified	3 calendar days before close
Final Walkthrough	1 calendar day before close
Confirm Closing Time	1 calendar day before close

From closing — after close

Deadline	Offset from closing
Update MLS/CTM to Sold	1 business day after close
Docs to your brokerage's document intake (post-close)	1 business day after close

Done-Deal does not track Closing Disclosure (TRID) delivery. Getting the Closing Disclosure to the buyer on time is the lender's job, not yours.

Brokerage-specific deadlines

If your brokerage submits documents to a shared intake address, Done-Deal also tracks the brokerage's own compliance deadlines, calculated the same way as everything else:

• Executed Contracts to your brokerage's document intake — 5 business days after MEC.
• Transaction Contact Sheet — 5 business days after MEC.

These are configured for your brokerage today, not something you set per-transaction.

Contract-specified dates override the defaults

The offsets above are Done-Deal's defaults. Several deadlines — Earnest Money, New Loan Application, Inspection Objection, Inspection Resolution, Title, Title Objection, Title Resolution, Survey, Due Diligence, Appraisal, Appraisal Objection, Appraisal Resolution, Loan Termination, and Property Insurance Termination — can instead use the exact date your contract negotiated (an "Alternative Deadline" in CBS terms). When that date is present on the contract, Done-Deal uses it directly instead of calculating an offset, and the deadline's notes say so.

Backup offers

A backup offer waits behind a primary contract. While the primary is still alive, nobody knows when the backup's deadlines start. When the primary falls through, the backup becomes live on its Conditional Sale Date, and every deadline that normally counts from MEC counts from that date instead. Closing-based deadlines still count from the closing date.

To mark a deal as a backup offer:

1. Open the deal and click Edit (a coordinator sees Edit dates).
2. In the Backup offer section, tick This is a backup offer.
3. Click Save and update deadlines.

Until the Conditional Sale Date is entered, the MEC-based deadlines are placeholders calculated from MEC, and each one says so in its notes. Done-Deal holds their reminders (including overdue reminders) and leaves them out of your morning digest, because nobody can act on them yet. Closing-based deadlines still remind as usual.

When the primary contract fails:

1. Open the deal and click Edit (or Edit dates).
2. In the Backup offer section, enter the Conditional Sale Date. It can't be before the mutual execution date or after the closing date.
3. Click Save and update deadlines.

Done-Deal recalculates the calendar from that date. Deadlines you already marked done or waived stay done or waived, and a date you changed by hand stays where you put it. If the date changes or you clear it, the calendar is recalculated again. Unticking This is a backup offer puts the deal back on MEC.

Coordinators and covering co-agents working the deal can set this too.

Recalculating the calendar

If you change the MEC date or closing date — for example, after a counteroffer or an amendment — Done-Deal recalculates the entire deadline calendar from the new anchor dates. Existing pending deadlines are replaced, not just adjusted.

Entering a missing MEC date also clears any "MEC date missing" card Reme left in the Feed for that deal. You don't need to skip it by hand. If the date is cleared again later, Reme can raise the card again on its next check.

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FAQ

What happens if a deadline lands on a Saturday?

It moves to Monday only when the contract's § 3.3.3 box says Will. If the box says Will Not, or Done-Deal doesn't know the choice, it stays on Saturday, and its note says so. Business-day deadlines can never land on a weekend in the first place, since Saturday and Sunday aren't counted.

Does Done-Deal skip federal holidays when counting business days?

Business-day counting skips only Saturday and Sunday, per the CBS standard form definition of a business day. Holidays are skipped only for the contract's "MEC + N days" deadlines, and only when § 3.3.3 says deadlines Will be extended (see "Holidays and § 3.3.3 of the contract" above). In other cases a deadline can land on a holiday when your title company or lender's office is closed, so plan around that.

My contract negotiated a different deadline than Done-Deal shows. What do I do?

For deadlines that support a contract-specified override (see the list above), enter the negotiated date on the contract and Done-Deal will use it instead of the default offset. If a deadline type doesn't support an override, adjust it manually on the transaction.

Why are my deadlines wrong on a backup offer?

Backup offers are anchored to the Conditional Sale Date, not MEC. Until you enter it, Done-Deal calculates from MEC as a placeholder, notes that on each deadline, and holds their reminders. Enter the date on the deal's Edit page under Backup offer as soon as the primary contract fails (see "Backup offers" above).