Successful construction project management depends on having an effective schedule. Project managers plan everything from materials procurement to workforce management by looking at the schedule.
But no matter how well a schedule is planned, construction teams often fall behind. Anything from late materials to poor weather to labor shortages can throw a wrench in the plans. Delays can increase costs and lead to unhappy clients.
Let’s look at some of the tools and methods construction teams can use to avoid schedule delays.
Techniques for Creating an Effective Construction Project Schedule
A construction project schedule is a carefully planned timeline of all the tasks that must be completed to finish the build. Those tasks don’t exist in a vacuum — a ton of little things have to happen on a construction project, and in many cases, they have to occur in a specific order. The schedule is meant to tame the chaos so every team member knows what needs to happen and when. Project planners use different methods to represent the project and the order of operations involved in getting it done.
Gantt Charts
Gantt charts are common tools in project planning. They visually represent tasks and how they overlap along a project timeline. You’ll usually see a list of tasks down the left side of the chart, with the timeline running across the top. As you add tasks, they show up along the timeline, making it easy to track progress and spot any scheduling conflicts.
Critical Path Method
The critical path method (CPM) allows project managers to create an accurate project schedule by laying out the critical path — the longest layout of tasks that must be completed to finish a project.
For a clear idea of how CPM works, imagine baking a cake. It involves a set of tasks that ultimately determine how long it takes to get to the finished product. On a CPM for cake-baking, you might include mixing the batter, baking the cake, cooling the cake, and applying icing.
Other tasks are necessary, like preheating the oven and making the icing. But they can be completed while the other tasks are already happening, so they won’t necessarily add to the time it takes to finish the cake. CPM uses a network diagram as a visual guide to how activities fit together so schedulers can see how long the project will take.
Resource Leveling
Resource leveling is all about balancing your resources — like people, equipment, and money — so one task doesn’t hog everything while another gets delayed. It’s a process of adjusting the schedule to make sure your resources focus on the highest-priority tasks first while still keeping the overall project on track.
Tips for Building a Realistic and Efficient Schedule
Construction schedulers need to understand project specs and plans backward and forward — the more they know exactly what’s required to get the project done, the easier it will be to create an effective and accurate schedule. Scheduling requires a mix of project knowledge, boundary setting, and communication.
Create Clear Milestones
Milestones are a great way to break a big, complicated project into smaller, more manageable parts. By setting clear milestones, everyone on the team knows what they need to focus on next. It also helps set expectations with owners and makes cashflow management and billing easier.
Milestones can be divided up however it works best for the project at hand. Some commonly used milestones follow five construction phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closeout.
Plan for the Unexpected
Leave a buffer zone for all the issues that can crop up on a construction project. Real-world scenarios like permitting disasters, materials delays, and bad weather can (and probably will) impact project timelines. Allow time for these situations so the first setback doesn’t create a ripple effect through the project.
Engage Stakeholders Early
Experience can help a construction scheduler predict construction timelines, but it’s still worth getting other stakeholders’ opinions on how long things will take. For instance, specialty contractors are, literally, specialists in their field and may recognize aspects of the project that will change how long each task takes. By asking ahead of time, project managers can create schedules that better represent individual projects.
Leveraging Digital Tools for Scheduling
Construction schedulers used to use pen and paper to draw out Gantt charts and critical paths, building their timelines one piece at a time. Digital tools make it easier to see conflicts in the schedule, make changes that are reflected in the rest of the tasks down the line, and track progress throughout the project.
Digital software helps people work as a team even when they’re not in the same room. It makes it easier to share access to the schedules so everyone can communicate and add input when they need to, and the whole project team knows they’re looking at the most up-to-date information.
To find the right construction project management and scheduling option, construction teams should consider factors like:
- How easily all the stakeholders can adopt the tool into their processes
- How well the digital tools work for the project at hand
- Whether the scheduling software can easily integrate with other digital tools
Best Practices for Staying on Track
Creating an effective construction project schedule is only the first step. Once the project begins, construction teams need to work hard at keeping the project running on time. Here’s how you can simplify the process.
Monitor and Adjust the Schedule Regularly
Construction scheduling isn’t done once the first plan is created — it’s a living document that changes as the project progresses. Project managers should monitor the schedule, watching for possible conflicts or sticking points that could slow things down, and adjust to bring the project back around when delays occur. Construction management platforms with good scheduling tools can help alert contractors early to any issues that come up so they can pivot.
Encourage Team Collaboration
Feedback and ideas from construction stakeholders can help identify trouble spots in the construction schedule. Leave communication lines open to team members and use digital tools to make the schedule and other documents available across construction teams to encourage more collaboration.
Learn From Past Projects
Experience is a great teacher. Use what you’ve learned from past projects to fine-tune your processes and get a better sense of how long tasks actually take. Construction management platforms make it easier to gather everything — like communications, photos, drawings, and reports — so you can keep all that useful info in one place and use it to improve future projects.
Avoid Delays and Improve Efficiency
While having an effective schedule is crucial for any successful construction project, delays are almost always a part of the equation, often due to factors outside a team’s control. This is where solid construction project scheduling comes into play. With digital tools, teams can use methods like Gantt charts or critical path analysis to stay on top of potential setbacks, keep things moving, and make sure projects are finished on time and within budget.
But making the schedule is just half the battle. Contractors need to constantly monitor it and be ready to adjust as the project unfolds. Collaboration, forward planning, and learning from past challenges are also key to staying on course. If you’re ready to improve your team’s approach to construction project tracking, check out how we can help you make it happen.
