#17: Owners: Reduce Change-orders and Lead Contractors to Achieve Extraordinary Project Outcomes

You know that the cost and time required to complete a project once it is designed, correlates directly with the building approach and execution of the project work.

It is only through optimization of the building approach and execution, that both the owner and builder can realize significant gains of time/money. It is stagnation of the building approach / execution or glitches within the building approach and execution that drive delays and additional cost to complete projects.

The CPM Baseline Schedule and subsequent period CPM Schedule Updates are at the heart of the process … or should be. The lineage of CPM Schedules carries the responsibility / accountability for providing a model for the building approach and execution. Remember the CPM Schedule is to the building approach and execution, what the architectural drawings are to the project design. Yet, this point is entirely missed by most owners and contractors. Hence the ritual of monthly CPM schedule updates.

The building approach is modeled in the design and development of the CPM Schedule. The design determines what stakeholders see when they look at the schedule. Is the schedule organized by areas of work, by trade, by critical path, or all three, or by three entirely different parameters? The options are unlimited to the scheduler and that is why no two schedules are ever the same.

Scheduling is as much an art as it is a science. Because no two building are usually alike and even when they are, they are built on different sites and usually built by different crews.

It is the design of the CPM Schedule that makes the schedule intuitive / user friendly / able to understand … or not.  The design of the schedule also becomes the structure that the scheduler has to work within to effectively model the flow of work throughout the project. Work flows throughout the project horizontally and vertically and the schedule is what determines the direction and pace.

The more accurately the CPM Scheduler is able to model the flow of work throughout the project – the more useful the CPM Schedule is to the trades building the project. That’s why getting an early valid (not perfect) CPM baseline schedule installed is vital to a successful project outcome. It provides a map to follow and starts the building of trade momentum.