No one has to tell a builder timing is everything.
In the complicated world of home construction, properly timing people, materials, equipment into the distinct phases of home construction forms the backbone of every successful home construction project.
Successful builders know they often must have a schedule in hand just to close a customer. Customers want to know when projects can begin and how long they’ll run, balancing the estimated schedule against the estimated cost.
For the builder, knowing the schedule ahead of time also proves beneficial. For example, unforeseen supply chain disruptions can impact material purchases. An estimated schedule gives more lead time and more flexibility when ordering materials.
Of course, when a home construction schedule outright fails, it can lead to a cascade of issues that disrupt the entire project. For instance, if delivery of critical materials, like rebar, is delayed, it halts the pouring of the foundation, causing a domino effect that impacts dependent tasks like framing and roofing.
Cascading delays like this not only extend the overall project timeline, lowering customer satisfaction, but also increase costs.
How scheduling proves essential
Subcontractor coordination
An accurate schedule ensures that materials, labor and equipment are available exactly when needed. By having a detailed schedule, you align deliveries and labor to ensure a smooth workflow and prevent costly rescheduling of labor teams. Managing multiple subcontractors can be challenging. Each subcontractor may have their own schedule and priorities, which can conflict with the overall project timeline. Coordinating their activities ahead of time and ensuring they adhere to the schedule requires careful planning well in advance of a project’s actual start date.
Hidden material costs
If materials arrive too early, they may need to be stored, which results in additional expenses and risk damage or theft. Materials arriving too late can mean subcontracting teams have left a job site with key work unfinished. By synchronizing labor schedules with material deliveries, builders maximize productivity and minimize downtime.
Budget control
Construction projects notoriously go over budget. A well-planned schedule helps manage costs by reducing the likelihood of unexpected expenses. Seeing task progression in advance, you can anticipate costs more accurately and avoid premium material pricing from last-minute orders or rush jobs.
Client satisfaction
Meeting deadlines and staying within budget builds customer trust because the schedule sets realistic expectations and keeps them informed about how progress will take place. This transparency reduces the likelihood of future customer disputes, and happy clients recommend your services to new clients and return for future business.
Risk management
Every construction project comes with its own set of risks, from weather delays to material and labor shortages. When properly estimated, schedules identify potential risks like these early, allowing builders to prepare. For instance, if you know that a particular task is weather-dependent, you can schedule it during a more beneficial season of the year.
Project milestones
Breaking down the project into phases with specific categories of tasks keeps everyone on track and ensures timely completion. Setting dependencies and critical paths of work serve as checkpoints that provide a sense of accomplishment and motivation for the team as they see tangible progress being made. Regularly hitting scheduled milestones boosts morale of your team and customers
Legal and regulatory compliance
Many construction projects are subject to strict regulatory requirements and inspections. A detailed schedule helps ensure that all necessary permits are obtained and inspections are scheduled at the appropriate times. This not only avoids legal issues but also ensures that the project meets all safety and quality standards.
How technology helps scheduling
While scheduling is essential, good scheduling takes time — time better spent at the job site. That’s why it’s important to incorporate good estimating software to make the work go quicker.
However, integrating new tools and systems into existing workflows can be a bottleneck all its own. Training staff and ensuring that everyone is comfortable with the new technology can take time and effort. That’s why it’s important to choose the right construction management software that includes powerful, yet simple, scheduling tools.
Buildxact, a leading construction management software, offers robust scheduling features designed to keep your projects on track and within budget.
Let’s dive into how Buildxact’s scheduling tools can transform your construction business. Buildxact provides two primary ways to create schedules: the estimate and job management.
From the estimate
Buildxact allows users to rough-in a schedule while still working on the estimate. With this, customers see a first draft of a project schedule at the earliest possible moment.
It includes project categories, tasks and subtasks in the order you expect to complete them along with rough beginning and ending dates.
Because Buildxact is tightly integrated, the tasks used to create your estimate of materials and labor flow directly into your estimated schedule to ensure consistency and that you don’t accidentally leave tasks off the schedule. Color-coding of categories and tasks also helps to keep everything organized and clearly shows how work would progress.
From job management
Once a job is won, the estimate and estimated schedule flow into an actual job management workflow. Here, the tasks a user created in their estimated schedule can be built out with additional details. Importantly, tasks and due dates can be assigned to team members or contractors. From here, follow up reminders via email can be set up.
As a builder’s team works, the Buildxact schedule shows progress toward completion by category, and if work is overdue, point-and-click mouse commands can easily update dependent schedules so that critical paths are always up to date.
Further benefits of Buildxact scheduling
- Drag-and-Drop Interface Easily adjust tasks and timelines with a user-friendly drag-and-drop mouse interface.
- Gantt Chart View Visualize your project timeline with color-coded Gantt charts, making it easier to track progress and identify potential bottlenecks.
- Resource Allocation Assign contractor teams to specific tasks, ensuring that you have the right people and materials at the right time.
- Notifications and Reminders Stay on top of deadlines with automated notifications and reminders for upcoming tasks.
- Improved Efficiency By integrating scheduling with your estimates and job management, you reduce time spent on administrative tasks and focus more on actual onsite construction work.
- Enhanced Communication Keep all stakeholders informed with real-time updates and shared schedules by email and pdf documents
Buildxact’s scheduling feature is a powerful tool for any construction business looking to improve project management and efficiency. By leveraging its intuitive interface and robust capabilities, you ensure that your projects are on time, within budget, and to the highest standards.
Ready to take your construction scheduling to the next level? Explore Buildxact today with a free trial, or if you have more questions, schedule a demo with a Buildxact representative today!
