CPM Scheduling
A construction schedule is a contract document that most owners never actually read. That is where projects lose time.
We develop baseline schedules, review contractor submissions for logic that will not hold, run monthly updates against the critical path, and produce the recovery plans and impact analyses that determine who owns a delay.
The schedule is only useful if someone is auditing it
Contractors submit schedules because the specification requires one. Whether that schedule reflects how the work will actually be built, whether its logic is defensible, and whether its float has been quietly appropriated are questions that go unasked on most projects until the completion date is already at risk.
We ask them monthly.
Baseline development and review
On owner developed schedules we build the baseline from the actual construction sequence, resource availability, agency review windows, permit and inspection requirements, long lead procurement, and seasonal constraints. On contractor submitted schedules we review for the things that matter: open ended activities, excessive constraints, negative float at submission, unrealistic durations, missing agency and owner activities, out of sequence logic, and float suppression.
What owners consistently leave off the schedule
- Agency plan check and resubmittal cycles, which routinely take longer than assumed
- Utility company design, scheduling, and energization lead times
- Permit issuance conditions that must be satisfied before certain work can start
- Owner decision and submittal review durations
- Long lead equipment procurement and fabrication
- Seasonal grading restrictions and storm water requirements
- Environmental and biological monitoring windows
- Testing, commissioning, and agency final acceptance
Monthly updates and critical path narrative
Each month we review the contractor's update, verify reported progress against actual field observation, identify logic and duration changes made since the prior update, and produce a written narrative of the current critical path with a plain language statement of whether the completion date is achievable.
Recovery scheduling
When a project falls behind, the contractual response is a recovery schedule. Most recovery schedules are the original schedule with durations compressed and no explanation of how. We require a resourced recovery plan showing what changes: crew sizes, shifts, sequence, or scope, and we evaluate whether the plan is physically achievable before accepting it.
Time impact analysis
When an event threatens the completion date, the question is whether the delay is excusable, compensable, both, or neither. We perform contemporaneous time impact analysis using the accepted methodology for the contract and the jurisdiction, producing an opinion that will hold up in negotiation and, if necessary, in a proceeding. See our delay claims analysis service for disputes already in motion.
Scheduling capabilities
- Baseline schedule development
- Contractor baseline review and acceptance recommendation
- Schedule specification drafting for bid documents
- Resource and cost loading
- Monthly update review and progress verification
- Critical path and near critical path narrative
- Float ownership and consumption tracking
- Look ahead schedule review
- Recovery and acceleration schedule evaluation
- Time impact analysis
- Window and as-planned versus as-built analysis
- Program level master scheduling
What you receive
Every engagement is scoped in writing before it begins, so you know exactly what is being produced and when.
Baseline schedule
A resource logical CPM schedule reflecting the actual construction sequence, agency windows, procurement lead times, and seasonal constraints.
Schedule review memorandum
Written evaluation of a contractor's submitted schedule with specific findings on logic, durations, constraints, float, and completeness.
Monthly update analysis
Progress verification, logic change identification, critical path narrative, and a clear statement on completion date risk.
Schedule specification
Bid document language defining the scheduling requirements, submission format, update cadence, and float ownership for your project.
Recovery plan evaluation
Assessment of whether a proposed recovery schedule is physically achievable and what it will actually cost to execute.
Time impact analysis
Contemporaneous analysis of a delay event's effect on the critical path, with a written entitlement opinion.
Questions owners ask about this service
What scheduling software do you use?
Primarily Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, which cover the specification requirements on virtually all California public and private work. We can review and analyze schedules in either, and we can work in a contractor's file format so nothing is lost in translation.
Who owns float on a construction project?
It depends entirely on the contract. Absent explicit language, courts and boards have reached different conclusions, which is why we recommend addressing float ownership directly in the schedule specification. Where the contract is silent, disputes over float consumption become disputes about everything.
Can you write the scheduling requirements for our bid documents?
Yes, and it is one of the highest leverage things an owner can do. A well drafted schedule specification defines submission format, update frequency, required activity coding, float ownership, the delay analysis methodology, and the consequences of nonsubmission. It costs almost nothing and prevents a great deal.
We are already behind. Is it too late?
No. A contemporaneous analysis of what has happened so far, combined with a resourced recovery plan, is exactly the right response. The earlier that analysis is performed the stronger the record, but useful analysis can be performed at any stage, including after completion.
Talk to us about CPM Scheduling
Send us the project details and we will tell you what a defensible scope of work looks like and what it would cost. Initial consultations carry no fee.
Send us the project
Tell us the site, the scope, and the deadline. Initial consultations carry no fee and no obligation.