Critical Path
02 March 2024Critical Path
Examine the details of the project. LMSE (Labor, Materials, Subs, Equipment) should be identified, accounted for, and scheduled. Consider the means and methods involved in performance of the work.
Now establish the critical path activities. These are the activities which must be completed on time in order to maintain the desired completion date. You can link milestones to some of the critical path items to help you determine how the project is tracking such as Foundation Complete, Dried In Complete, Rough In Complete and any other key times you want to track.
Depending on the complexity of the project you should build in some float to allow for issues and delays that will inevitably come up during construction. This will help you achieve the finish date without pushing critical path items.
My goal is to build in 4 weeks of float for an entire project. Use 1 week between 4 key milestones spread at quartley increments across the project. This has worked well on projects that last from 6 to 12 months.
The schedule can be placed on a standard calendar or for more complex projects it can be placed on a gnatt chart. Or you can use an excel sheet with dates and activities by cost code. Whichever method you prefer as long as you think through all of the major tasks and assign completion dates to them notifying any subs, vendors, and team members that need to hit those dates.
The schedule is a living document with numerous paths to completion. A good way to think about it is to visualize a map. You want to go to the beach and it’s a specific beach (Old Orchard Beach). There are several roads that lead to the beach and you might want to stop for lunch or shopping along the way. Those activities are on different roads so you need to consider each stop and how much time it will add to your trip. Manage the stops correctly and everything will stay on track 😀
Be flexible and update your schedule at regular intervals. I like weekly notes and monthly re-issues of the document.
