Construction Scheduling: Make It Real, Make It Useful
A schedule is not a decorative Gantt chart. It is a management system for time, money, and risk. In Australia, it also becomes evidence for variations, EOTs, and disputes—so it must be logical, maintained, and defensible.
1. The Minimum Standard for a Professional Program
- Clear WBS: break down by building area and trade. If you can’t assign a foreman and a subcontractor to a task, it’s not specific enough.
- Logical links: use true dependencies (FS/SS/FF) instead of date constraints that hide problems.
- Milestones: approvals, service connections, inspections, handover, and procurement releases.
- Procurement integration: long-lead items must appear as activities (selection → shop drawings → manufacture → delivery).
2. Durations: Why Most Programs Lie
Programs blow out because durations are optimistic and ignore real constraints: access, stacking trades, wet weather, inspections, curing times, and supplier lead times.
Practical tip: Build your duration library from actuals. Update it job by job. That’s how “programming” becomes a competitive advantage.
3. Updating: A Program That Isn’t Updated Is a Work of Fiction
- Update weekly (not monthly) on active sites.
- Record progress based on site evidence (completed and inspected), not “we’re basically done”.
- Re-forecast: adjust the remaining duration based on actual productivity.
4. The Output That Matters
- Look-ahead plan: 3–6 weeks, trade by trade, with constraints visible.
- Decision register: items that will delay the program if not resolved.
- Procurement tracker: what must be ordered this week to protect the critical path.