Can We Stay on Schedule?

When it comes to the construction schedule, I believe it is possible to stay on schedule, even during the winter.  The weather at this time of year does conspire against the builder.  Cold, dark, snow and holidays play a major role to disrupt the momentum of progress on site.  I have put together a schedule, as I always do, up to the pre-board inspection phase.  This assists me with timing deliveries, booking the upcoming trades, and overall coordination of the many moving pieces that go into the inner city project.

Just last we we counted over 25 different tradespeople attending the site to do a variety of tasks, from sewer install, trucking concrete, all the way to spraying on foundation damp-proofing. This week, given the extreme deep freeze, we have a much less ambitious schedule.  We have just completed the weeping tile and gravel around the foundation, and passed the pre-backfill inspection. From here we will be actually backfilling, getting the temporary power pole set up and running some conduit for later use as connecting the house and garage with underground power.  Next week, if all goes well, we can begin the framing.

Here is a sample of the construction schedule.  I like to have a Gantt style chart to make it easy to avoid booking jobs before the site is ready.   This is far better than a spreadsheet because it allows the builder to navigate multiple tasks at the same time, and it has a good phone app.  Without this type of schedule software the likelihood of making a costly mistake is increased.  

 

The schedule software allows tasks to be arranged in such a way that a single lost day won't cause a domino effect on the rest of the schedule.  Without this the site can become very chaotic.

The schedule software allows tasks to be arranged in such a way that a single lost day won't cause a domino effect on the rest of the schedule.  Without this the site can become very chaotic.