A carefully designed construction program or schedule is an important tool for ensuring successful completion of a construction project. It also enables you to use the available resources in the best way possible.
Unfortunately, some contractors and owners complete construction projects without a program or schedule. A small project may require a simple handwritten sketch. But, a large construction project requires a detailed schedule. This can include different tasks to be completed and it should be prepared with specialized software. Here are some of the reasons why you should have a construction program or schedule.
Setting Realistic Goals
A construction schedule enables you to set realistic goals for the project. Using a construction program, you can determine whether the duration stipulated by the client is achievable. Nobody wants to handle a project that needs to be completed within an impossible duration. With a schedule, you can talk to the client to set a realistic completion timeline and avoid a penalty for late completion.
Effective Budgeting
When you have a construction program or schedule, you can easily calculate the preliminaries or overhead costs of the project. These include supervision, management and running costs. With a resourced schedule, it’s easy to use it to calculate and check tender estimate. Submitting a tender schedule with bid price strengthens it because it demonstrates that you have thought the project through and you know how to complete it.
Providing Direction
A schedule shows the contractor’s team the targets, milestones, and goals to be achieved within specified timelines. It also provides the route to be followed by the team. It acts like a map that gets the contractor’s team to its destination. This provides sequences of the tasks to be completed to supervisors, managers, and workers. Every worker at the construction site knows what they should be working on every day.
Some contractors do not come up with construction programs or schedules because they are afraid of committing to the completion date to their clients. Others fear that a program or schedule will give them additional work. Nevertheless, a properly written construction schedule enhances efficient management of a project and its successful completion.