Construction Scheduling

Construction scheduling is the process of planning and organizing the tasks and activities of a construction project from start to finish. It involves determining the start and end dates for each activity, allocating resources, and establishing dependencies between tasks. The schedule acts as a roadmap for the entire production process, guiding the project team to complete the job on time, within budget, and according to standards.

Construction scheduling is an essential part of construction project management and involves multiple parties, such as owners, architects, designers, general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. A well-structured schedule helps construction professionals manage resources more efficiently, anticipate potential issues, and ensure that everyone involved knows what needs to happen and when.

There are many different types of construction scheduling techniques, including:

  • Line of balance
  • A diagram that uses the x-axis to represent the project's timeline and the y-axis to represent tasks. This technique is ideal for repetitive work like roads, pipelines, railways, and tunnels.
  • Quantitative scheduling
  • Also known as Q scheduling, this technique uses bar charts to visualize resource quantities and the locations and times they'll be needed. It's the only method that ties the order of tasks to expenses per resource.
  • Gantt charts
  • A common construction schedule that uses a bar chart to depict what activities are being done during a period of time. Schedulers like this approach because it lists out each activity and the overlap between multiple steps.