A Contractor's Guide to Planning, Scheduling, and Control

Len Holm

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781119813521
• eBook ISBN: 9781119813538
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Construction & Architectural Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A MUST-HAVE, PRACTICAL GUIDE THAT CONNECTS SCHEDULING AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT

In A Contractor's Guide to Planning, Scheduling, and Control, an experienced construction professional delivers a unique and effective approach to the planning and scheduling responsibilities of a construction project manager, superintendent, or jobsite scheduler. The author describes the complete scheduling cycle, from preconstruction and scheduling through controls and closeout, from the perspective of real-world general contractors and scheduling professionals.

Filled with tools and strategies that actually help contractors build projects, and light on academic jargon and terminology that's not used in the field, the book includes examples of real craft workers and subcontractors, like electricians, carpenters, and drywallers, to highlight the concepts discussed within. Finally, an extensive appendix rounds out the book with references to additional resources for the reader.

This comprehensive guide includes:

• Thorough introductions to construction contracting, lean construction planning, subcontractor management, and more
• A comprehensive exploration of a commercial case study that's considered in each chapter, connecting critical topics with a consistent through line
• End-of-chapter review questions and applied exercises
• Access to a companion website that includes additional resources and, for instructors, solutions, additional case studies, sample estimates, and sample schedules

Perfect for upper-level undergraduate students in construction management and construction engineering programs, A Contractor's Guide to Planning, Scheduling, and Control is also an irreplaceable reference for general contractors and construction project ­management professionals.

Part I
Introductory Topics

Chapter 1
Introduction

Like estimating, construction scheduling has been covered in other books dedicated solely to that topic. But scheduling by itself, without integrating preconstruction planning and controls during construction, is an incomplete construction management (CM) study. The schedule is a project management (PM) tool just as is the estimate; and time management is just as important to project success as is cost management. The key to effective time management is to carefully plan the work to be performed, develop a realistic construction schedule, and then control or manage the performance of the work. People often use the terms planning and scheduling together. Planning is the up‐front work which makes the schedule feasible. Planning is a process and the schedule is the result. The schedule is a logical arrangement of activities in order of occurrence, with prerequisites, and charted with a timeline. And the control element is the implementation of those plans during physical construction of a project. Planning, scheduling, and control are therefore the three major sections and focus of this book.

Schedules are important tools for all members of the owner and design and construction teams. Proper planning of the project and the schedule, with input from the relevant personnel such as the general contractor's (GC's) project superintendent and major subcontractors, are keys to developing a useful construction management tool. Schedule development begins with proper planning, which considers many variables such as deliveries, logical workflow, manpower, and equipment availabilities. There are many different types of schedules, each of which has a use on a construction project. Some of the major ones include:

• Summary schedule, may also be the contract schedule;
• Detailed schedule, may be the contract schedule;
• Three‐week look‐ahead schedules;
• Specialty schedules which include those focused on one area of the building or phase or on just one subcontractor;
• Pull planning schedules, which are part of lean construction;
• Expediting and submittal schedules and others.

1.1 SCHEDULERS

Who draws schedules and who uses schedules? Hopefully after reading the book you will have a thorough understanding of this topic. This chapter provides just a brief introduction.

First, some members of the built environment use the terms scheduling and project management as though they are the same, but PM as presented in this book involves much more than scheduling. A PM may be the scheduler on his or her particular project, but a person who schedules by profession, be they a home office specialist or a scheduling consultant, would not typically also be a project manager. For many the “scheduler” is the one in charge of creating the schedule, such as a superintendent or project manager, but for others the scheduler is a computer technician, sometimes without extensive construction field experience. A valuable scheduler oftentimes is one with a mix of construction field knowledge and technical skills.

Different contractors will establish the role of the scheduler in a variety of fashions. A scheduler can be assigned to the home office as a staff scheduler and he or she either prepares all the project schedules (for a small to mid‐sized contractor) or supports the project manager and superintendent with creating their own schedules. Or a large project may have its own full‐time scheduler. If there is not someone in‐house, then an outside consultant/specialist may be hired, or a project engineer or assistant superintendent may be the project scheduler. A retired superintendent working as a consultant, teamed with a construction management graduate, is an excellent example of a scheduler as shown in this first example. The problem with either the PM or superintendent also taking full responsibility for the schedule maintenance on a large project is that the effort may be all‐consuming, as will be shown in another example further on in the book. An industry partner from a national construction firm who was interviewed when researching this book indicated, “The scheduling process requires teamwork and does not rely on an isolated home office individual. The ideal scheduler must have a background in construction, particularly with field expertise.”

---

Example 1.1

One of the area's most highly acclaimed superintendents retired, but he wanted to keep himself busy and had always enjoyed drawing schedules by hand. Another competing GC hired him as their scheduling vice president and he would come into the office one or two days a week and assist field superintendents with their schedules. He would review the drawings first, then sit down with the field superintendent and a large sheet of butcher paper and scratch the schedule out, with lots of loop lines and plenty of erasures, but somehow it all got down on paper. The field superintendents were happy to work with the scheduler as they all appreciated his experience and insights. He would have a young CM graduate formalize the schedule and transform it into a useful communication tool. During the course of construction, he was on call if a superintendent needed support, but he generally left jobsite controls, including schedule control, to the field supervisors.

---

1.2 SCHEDULE TYPES

Schedules take on a lot of different formats, and similar to planning, there is no one exact form the contract schedule should follow. Many project managers and schedulers have their personal preferences. Most schedules fall into one of two standard formats: Bar charts and network diagrams. Bar charts relate activities to a calendar, but generally show little to no relationship among the activities. Network diagrams show the relationship among the activities, and may or may not be time‐scaled on a calendar. Two diagramming techniques are used to represent network schedules. The first is known as the arrow diagramming method (ADM), in which arrows connect the individual activities and nodes depict events. The other is known as the precedence diagramming method (PDM), in which the activities are represented by nodes and arrows depict relationships between activities. Arrow diagramming method was the original form of critical path schedules but PDM has basically replaced ADM today. Network diagram schedules are also customarily referred to as critical path schedules. The critical path is the longest path through the schedule and determines the overall project duration. Any delay in any activity on the critical path results in a delay in the completion of the project. All are good systems and may be appropriate in different applications.

The schedule is a tool to help build the construction project and is used in a variety of fashions, as exhibited in this second example. Schedules can also be prepared for different presentations depending upon the anticipated use. Detailed discussions of all the following schedule types are elaborated on in Chapter 7. There are many other types of schedules and scheduling theories than presented in this book, each with an entirely separate glossary of terms and lists of abbreviations. A few of these other scheduling concepts are introduced in this book as well, but a more detailed analysis will be left for a more advanced book geared for the professional schedule consultant. This focus is on the scheduling tools typically utilized in the field by construction contractors. Many of these useful scheduling tools are described here.

---

Example 1.2

Schedules are intended to be tools to help build a project. A developer, who was also his own contractor, was a very capable builder and creative but did not have the patience or interest to draw formal schedules. Instead he used two whiteboards in the jobsite trailer – one for this month and one for the next month. This was an effective communication tool for the foremen and subcontractors on his current apartment project. But this type of schedule was not sufficient for the bank or his investment partners. The developer hired a scheduling consultant who prepared good detailed schedules to present to the bank each month with the monthly pay request draw, but he never hung them in the trailer nor shared them with subcontractors or the design team. This schedule was also a tool, but not the tool that it might have been, given more attention.

---

• Contract schedules, also known as formal schedules: These schedules will be provided to t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright
• List of Companion Website Materials
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations
• Part I: Introductory Topics
• Part II: Planning
• Part III: Scheduling
• Part IV: Project Controls
• Glossary
• References
• Five Sample Case Studies
• Index
• End User License Agreement