Executive Summary. This is an audio (head on over to Spotify!) between me and one of the best schedulers in the country. From the very basics of scheduling to its role in defense or offense in a claims situation, my guest lays out the fundamentals. Join us for both an introduction, and a deeper dive, into this necessary skill in the execution of successful construction projects.
We started with the softwares. Many people at a beginning level end up using Microsoft Project. It is easy to use, somewhat intuitive, and is understood by readers. It also is robust enough to handle necessary logic and even some resource loading.
Once you are more advanced (or perhaps your contract requires it) you can move into Primavera P6. This is the premier product in the industry. It will do everything you will ever need and is, by far, the most popular scheduling tool for projects of considerable size.
Basic terms. We discussed float and the two main types, free and total. We also talked about scheduling’s most popular acronym: CPM. This is known as the critical path method.
Lastly, diving into claims. Here we left Scheduling 101 and went into Scheduling 201. We started with talking about what causes a delay and what a scheduler’s job is in this analysis. It involves first turning back time to determine when the jobs had, up to that point, not been impacted – this is the “pre-impacted” schedule. Then we compare it to the “post-impacted” schedule and from this the time impact analysis is born. As an owner or the contractor there usually comes a time when there needs to be an allocation of delay ownership. In other words, of say, 120 calendar days of delay – who owns these days? Maybe the owner is responsible for 93 of them and the other 27 is the contractor. This is a negotiation.
My story. Pat shared his own story. Mine was the importance of having a strong scheduler. When you get in trouble as a contractor or when you need to confidently prove a contractor’s ownership of a delay as an owner, it is imperative you have a strong scheduler. With someone like Pat who has worked on hundreds of jobs and thousands of schedules, maximizing your financial relief or minimizing your exposure is vital.
Work safe!
