Construction schedules hold great value and importance in the overall process and industry. These schedules highlight every detail of your project, from the planning to the closeout phases of the project. In other words, the construction schedule is the roadmap of any project that is very useful to all parties involved.
Having a well-planned roadmap in the forefront helps you and your stakeholders follow a certain road diligently, reducing mistakes and errors.
Let’s wrap up and explore the different construction schedules you will encounter as you handle multiple projects. Discover and learn what best suits your needs at the moment.
Let’s get started.
But What is a Construction Schedule Anyway?
A construction schedule is created to define every single task and event in an upcoming project, especially during the planning stage. This plan lists all resources needed for every step, as well as how they are divided between construction teams in the entire stages of project development, from an idea to the final completion.
A construction schedule typically includes the below:
- Resource management
- Construction crew management
- Allocated assets
- Relevant deadlines
- All project deliverables
- Specific tasks that have to be completed right away
- Any existing task dependencies
- Task durations
- Set project budget and costing
Why Is Construction Schedule Important?
If you have read and understood the above, you can conclude that the construction schedule pulls together all proposed items – literally the entire scope of work. With a construction schedule, it can maintain design integrity and create a detailed and more efficient construction plan. This schedule must be created with the intention so that it maximizes the overall productivity of all parties involved.
To convince you how important the construction schedule is, here are some of its key benefits:
- Improve workflows and streamline your construction projects
- Enhancing connection and communication between all your stakeholders.
- Achieving the highest level of team productivity to complete projects within a specific budget and targeted timeline.
- Maximizing quality control measures
- Enhancing the overall planning of resources as well as the workforce
- Prioritizing work schedules accordingly
So, since a construction schedule covers a lot of different bases, it makes sense to take advantage of comprehensive construction scheduling software for this specific type of planning. Sophisticated software with integrated project management and scheduling features can seamlessly streamline your entire process and eliminate any delay risks.
Construction Schedule Types You Have to Consider
1. Line of Balance
Line of balance is one of the most common construction scheduling strategies. This method is typically implied in projects that include repetitive activities. The balance scheduling method can help you measure time, costs, and project completion plans. It also ensures that everything runs smoothly.
2. Critical path method
The critical path method is another common construction scheduling method. It is also popularly known as the Critical Path Analysis. This schedule is best used when creating a network diagram highlighting the sequence of projects and tasks following a specific path.
All parties involved can see the overall progress with this schedule, especially during critical times when progress can lag.
3. Resource-oriented construction scheduling
This schedule is one of the most comprehensive scheduling methods of all. As the name suggests, this technique mainly focuses on determining all the resources available for a particular project and using them efficiently to avoid waste while ensuring effective and timely completion.
It is best used when assessing your resources, the activities, and involved parties that need the resources the most, as well as the particular time at which these resources are required to be used at any stage.
4. Program evaluation and review technique (PERT)
This particular technique is one of the most important construction scheduling strategies. This is because it closely assesses the project activities and tasks. On the other hand, PERT is very helpful in evaluating and reviewing project activities that are all in progress.
PERT encourages you to create many different timelines for project activity completion, like the following:
- Optimistic time: This is the ultimate best-case scenario.
- Pessimistic time: This is the lengthiest foreseeable time you take to complete a task.
- Most likely time: Let’s say there are no major challenges. So, this is the perfect time to complete your projects and tasks immediately.
- Expected time: This is where being accountable for the rising problems occurs. And any problems are unavoidable in construction anyway. The expected time estimates how long it will take you to complete the activities despite emerging issues.
5. Q scheduling
This schedule is a completely different type method of the construction schedule. It primarily focuses on scheduling all the equipment and materials being used in the project. It also provides a much clearer description of all the materials used in the project.
This type of construction scheduling critically provides support against delays due to incurred material management.
6. Last planner system
The last planner system is a unique construction scheduling method because it is more like a planner than a method. This planner bridges the gap between your construction crew and other teams involved. It also devised other tools to include all the important details. It smoothens communication, allowing everyone to follow the schedule efficiently and complete the project on time.
What Type of Construction Schedule Is Best Fit for You?
As any construction professional knows, selecting the right type of construction schedule is important for the overall success of the project completion. Each type of construction schedule method has its strengths and weaknesses. So, the best choice for a given construction project depends largely on many factors.
- If you have large and more complex construction projects with many interdependent tasks, then Critical Path Method is best suited for your needs.
- PERT is more suitable for construction projects with more uncertain task durations.
- A line of balance is usually used in projects to ensure that tasks are completed on time.
- Q scheduling has been gaining popularity in recent years since it significantly helps mitigate disruptions and the impact of delays.
Regardless, it is crucial that you need carefully consider which construction schedule is right for your projects and crew.
Pro Tips for a More Effective Construction Scheduling
Here, we have compiled some tips for good construction scheduling. Following these tips will help you avoid common pitfalls and achieve project completion in the targeted time.
1. Take the full scope of the construction project into account
Project managers have to look beyond the entire building process. The pre-construction activities like site acquisition, permitting, and procurement greatly impact the schedule. Go check out your clients too. They may have caused scheduling constraints that need to identify right away.
As a project manager, you can start to ensure you understand your overall project.
2. Acknowledge some supply issues
Shipping delays and product shortages impact any of your construction schedules. Pay attention to your supply chain and learn to recognize the occurring issues. Supply chain issues have more than affected the items you need and can be why some resources are impossible to acquire.
To mitigate such issues, you must purchase materials and store them onsite sooner or later. Make sure to find alternative products and look for local suppliers near you that provide quality services.
3. Collect data diligently using a cloud-based construction worker schedule
Data capture is the process of gathering real-time data. Data encompasses the number of materials installed, hours worked by your crew, daily reports, safety checklists, and more. Data plays a huge role in your construction schedule. So make sure to gather as much information and details as you can whenever managing construction projects.
With software put in place, all data and documentation are tracked and acquired in a single tap. This is very useful when looking for ways to document everything, saving time and acquiring real-time data and insights.
4. Pay attention to the strangest parts of your project
A project without ordinary elements and aspects can be tricky to schedule. Make sure to prevent any roadblocks the first time by determining these elements early on and figuring out potential delays in the construction schedule.
See if there are any unusual site conditions or misguided teams in your workforce. Sometimes, problems occur not just in your supply chain but also with your teams and multiple locations where projects are constructed.
5. Know the region
Some local factors, like building codes, weather conditions, permit assessment process, labor availability, and so many others – all impact the construction schedule of your project. As the scope of the project grows, which is expected anyway, you have to factor any local considerations into your schedules simply.
Level Up Construction Scheduling with Pro Crew Schedule
Today, many technologies, software tools, and platforms exist designed to streamline construction scheduling methods without the need to create new workflows from scratch.
Pro Crew Schedule, a modernized cloud-enabled construction crew dispatch software designed by subcontractors for subcontractors, will take your construction scheduling method to the next level. The software’s top-tier features, project management, and inventory will help you digitize your scheduling process. Not only will your project’s scheduling process be smooth and seamless, but other parts of your workflows will also turn out to be great and improved using this technology.
The benefits of using our software include:
- Fewer risks and chances of errors and mistakes
- Better overview of the project timeline
- Ability to track project milestones
- Improved overall efficiencies
- Streamlined workflows and processes
- Increased transparency and accountability
- More adaptable to any changes that occur
With Pro Crew Schedule on your side, you will be likelier to succeed with any construction scheduling methods you choose.
Get started with a trial for free and start scheduling like a Pro!
