Managing The Construction Schedule
Never enter into a contract with a contractor without a defined schedule as part of the contract itself. Just agreeing on an end date isn’t good enough. Why? Because no matter how far behind schedule your project is, the contractor will always insist he can still make the end date. Without some agreed to schedule definition, it is near impossible to successfully argue the point.
Construction Schedule Level of Detail
You don’t need a 6 inch thick stack of paper with 3,000 activities to manage the typical types of developments a single investor will do. However, at a minimum I insist on 15 to 20 very clear and measurable milestones. These would include items such as:
- Site clearing and preparation finished
- Foundations complete
- Underground utility rough-in complete
- Structural frame started
- Floor slabs complete
- Structural frame completed
- Exterior enclosure started
- Building dried in
- Permanent power energized
- Conditioned air available
- Drywall started
- Plumbing fixture rough-in complete
- Ceilings started
- Finish paint started
- Tile complete
- Millwork completed
- Flooring completed
In addition, I have an upfront conversation with the contract that discusses the dates established for each milestone and how much of a slip constitutes a problem requiring significant corrective action. For example if the structural framing supposed to complete by March 1st:
“If the structural frame doesn’t complete until March 7th, is that a schedule problem? Yes? Ok then, if that happens what will be the gameplan to make up the time?”
You want to have those conversations up front so you can agree on any required corrective action and also agree that this corrective action will happen immediately. You don’t want to hear that you will make it up on one of the last activities such as painting.
Monitoring the Schedule
There are a number of fairly sophisticated ways to monitor the schedule such as earned value analysis. You just need to make sure the contractor is on track to meet the milestones you to which you have previously agreed. Simple trending analysis should be fine. For example:
Say you have 500 lineal feet of foundations. The contractor has been working a week so far and has put in 150 lineal feet. That means he is averaging 150LF/5 work days = 30 LF/work day. His remaining duration at that trend is 500 LF - 150 LF = 350 LF remaining / 30 LF per work day = 11.5 work days left or a little over two weeks. If he is supposed to be done in one week - you have a problem. If he is supposed to be done in three weeks to meet your agreed to milestone - no problem.
You need to monitor your contractor’s construction schedule and progress and immediately take action on any slippage. Lost time is extremely difficult to make up. The sooner you take action the easier it is. It is your money paying those carrying costs. Don’t waste it.
