Scheduling and Planning

The Project Schedule takes on two distinct modes with a wide variety in between - AS-PLANNED and AS-BUILT.  The span of variations between the As-Planned and the As-Built are a chronicle of the variations that take place both normally and as a result of unanticipated problems resulting from lack of effective management, design conflicts, unusual weather conditions, accidents, natural disasters and a flurry of other combinations including, but not limited to conflicts between Owner, Architect, Engineer and Contractors.

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Historical schedules are utilized in analysis of events contributing to delays, out-of-sequence work, changed conditions, etc., however, an unfortunate fact is that due diligence is not applied to the project schedule often enough and updates that could shed some light on sequence and timeline changes are not available when the time arrives to settle related disputes.

When working with our clients, we try to educate concerned management levels in both the importance of the scheduling function and the methodologies necessary to analyze and re-construct the "as-built" from "the best recollection" of the involved parties.  We impress the comparison of the tedious "forensic process" with the ease and accuracy of periodic "in-process" schedules to show a clear choice for due diligence.

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Maintenance of the planning and scheduling process of a project is everyone's responsibility.  All involved contractors should maintain either manual or computerized tracking of the project schedule information, even if they did not produce the published schedule.  Reference to activities that are not happening in the prescribed sequence and/or timeline must be noted in the minutes of meetings, by letter with the charted impact of the deviations shown and calculated.

There is always talk in terms of what we "should do", in practice it almost never happens.  So we take advantage of the painful reconstruction of events, share the pain with our clients and work with them on future projects to make "Scheduling and Planning" a way of life.

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Your scheduling activities are "money in the bank".  If you don't need them to negotiate, then the planning paid off, and your "bottom line" for the project is probably good.  If you have cost over runs that are attributable to "others" then you will be armed and at least have a good shot at recovery of a substantial amount of the losses.

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We will provide "real life, real project" education to your project managers in avoiding claims and/or minimizing losses through constructive scheduling and planning.  As you know, you have to have a plan - write it down, chart the plan, monitor the progress, modify the plan as necessary and determine the effect of any expected changes to progress.  Construction cannot be profitable if the guidance is "razzel-dazzel"; the "PLAN" cannot be in someone's head - it has to be on paper or in a digital format so everyone is on the same page.

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Stop losses; minimize damages; call us in the beginning, at the first whiff of trouble.  We will help you get a plan in place and keep you on track throughout the project - next project you won't need us so much and in the future, practice will make planning and scheduling a way of life for your projects.   

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We can provide scheduling services for all aspects of your project;

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•          Master Planning and Phasing Strategies

•          CPM schedule from concept through construction

•          Monitor and maintain schedules through the full cycle of the project

•          Periodic updates and modifications to meet the needs of the Project

•          Preparation of schedules to accelerate and recover lost timelines

•          Prepare or review time extension requests

•          Evaluation of schedule impacts on overall time and cost

•          Utilization of resource planning to monitor planned cash flow from construction

•          Develop schedules of value from planned construction activities.

•          Review and make recommendations for processing of payment requisitions