Class 102: Types of Construction Schedules

There are many different types of construction schedules, from post-it notes on a wall showing the flow of a project, to schedules produced by artificial intelligence that take into account real-time data from the construction site. According to the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) Recommended Practice 48R-06: Schedule Constructability Review, a project construction schedule “should be a comprehensive and realistic plan that represents the specific activities, reasonable duration for the activities, and the planned sequence of work for the project. The logic or sequence of work activities should represent how the project will be built and how the various activities are interrelated." 1

To produce a construction schedule, contractors typically use one of the following most common construction scheduling programs:

Primavera P6

Microsoft Project 

Asta Powerproject

Phoenix Project Manager 

Why do we need so many types, and how do we decide what to use?

The type of schedule used is typically driven by the scope and complexity of the project. For a short duration project, like a screened-in porch addition, a simple schedule produced in Excel can be sufficient. However, on a complex project, like a hospital or mixed-use skyscraper, software that calculates the schedule can help organize the project’s plan. Consider the magnitude of work required to construct a mixed-use skyscraper. On any given day, there could be hundreds of laborers on the project site performing various tasks. Some trades are completing their scope of work while other trades are just beginning. The construction schedule is used to keep the moving parts organized.

Regardless of the specific format used, it’s very important that schedules stick to industry best practices. As referenced in “Construction Delay Claims” by Barry Bramble and Michael Callahan, “The 'project schedule' serves different functions and has different meanings to the architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, owners and courts of law involved in the construction process.”2  Since various groups are reviewing the schedule, schedule consistency is needed so that anyone involved with the project can understand it, not just the group that created it.  

Key Terms: 

1. Construction Schedule – a comprehensive and realistic plan that represents the specific activities, reasonable duration for the activities, and the planned sequence of work for the project.

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