The Power of Scheduling

There seems to be an idea among some contractors that remodeling doesn’t lend itself to precise scheduling. There are too many variables. Who knows what you’ll find when you open up the walls? What if my vendors or subs don’t deliver on time?

All of these concerns are real, and I think most professional contractors, whether explicitly or not, can figure on some idea of how long a project should take, including visits from Mr. Murphy. What they can’t do is say, precisely, when the thing will be done. When a deadline is looming though, you really need to know.

Lack of precision bugs me, and I’m always trying to fine tune things, especially schedules. In project management, there’s this concept called the “critical path”, which is comprised of a string of tasks whose completion depends absolutely on the ones prior to it. It’s kind of a formal way of saying “first I put on my socks, and then I put on my shoes, etc.” In a remodeling project, like an addition for example, you might see these:

1. excavation 3 days
2. footing inspection 1 day
3. foundations 6 days
4. framing of shell 6 days
5. trade rough-ins 10 days
6. close-in inspections 1 day
7. drywall 5 days
8. interior trim 10 days
9. interior finishes 12 days
10. final inspection 1 day

If you were to add all of these up, you’d get something like 55 days. Are there other things that need to be done on the project? There are, but they are not on the critical path. The tasks above MUST be done before those that follow can start….they are critical.

Those other tasks like exterior trim, siding, exterior painting, landscaping, etc. all need to be done, but they can be fit in around those tasks that are critical. Those 55 days though, give you a good idea of how long the overall project will take. More important though is that by keeping track of how things are going on each of those tasks, you have some idea in advance of any problems that are coming up.

If you know, for example that weather has slowed you down on the shell framing; you also know that, unless you do something, everything down range from that task will be delayed as well. You might then think of how you could make up some of that lost time. Maybe you could overlap the trades a little bit on the rough-ins (don’t do that too often though, or they’ll be cranky!), or maybe you could put another carpenter on the job, to speed up the interior trim.

The point is that only by writing the tasks down, and tracking their progress, will you have that advance knowledge in time to do something about it. It is all too easy, especially on longer term projects, to fool yourself into thinking that you’ve got enough slop time to make your end date. When subs are late to the job, or your crew is lagging (or you screwed up the amount of time you allotted for things…….it happens!), you can see plainly, if you are keeping to your schedule, how this affects things and that no, in fact, you DON’T have enough slop time.

There’s an old saying that goes: “If you’re aiming at nothing, you’re guaranteed to hit it”. Bottom line? Write it down, track it, and hold you and everyone else involved accountable. It’s not rocket science, but it is necessary.

Funny Story……..and True!

I said when I began the blog that I’d share my experience and my experiences from over the years. So, in that vein, a story from early in my career:

Back in the late 80’s, I was an assistant superintendent for a local home builder, working a tract of condos called Hampton Pointe, in Reston, VA. It was an awful job which gave me the beginnings of an ulcer at the time, and a nervous tic that I carry to this day, whenever I’m stressed out. Stressful as it was though, working a large site with lots of trades around was kinda’ fun…..lots of BS’ing at the roach coach (food truck) and, in general, a sense of camaraderie that I sometimes miss.

One morning, I was sitting at my desk in the construction trailer, when one of the framing carpenters walked in, holding his hand. He asked if I had a first aid kit, as he had injured his hand. Apparently he had stumbled while holding on to the trigger of the nail gun he was carrying. In the process of trying to break his fall, he got his hand between the nose of the gun and the floor. As he landed, the gun fired, and drove a 3 ¼” framing nail through the first three of his fingers; pinning them together like a shish kebab.

It was odd looking at the injury, because there wasn’t any blood at all. It looked like a carnival trick. We were both pondering what to do next, and as we did, a few of the other carpenters came in to look. There were the jokes of “Hey, why don’t I get it outta’ there with my nippers…or how ‘bout my cat’s paw? (a nail puller).” The injured carpenter was a good sport, but things were beginning to hurt, and he looked a little glassy eyed.

A few minutes later, Trudy, our on site sales agent came in, to go over one thing or another. She was a kindly, middle aged woman, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. She took a look at the carpenter and almost swooned. After gathering herself up, she asked a question: “Once it started to hurt…” she asked “why did you keep hitting the nail with your hammer?!”

Picture, if you can, coffee being spit through the nose and out the mouth of everyone in that small space, followed by screaming laughter (even from the injured guy). Once things died down, it was gently explained to Trudy how these new-fangled pneumatic nail drivers work. For the rest of my time there, I couldn’t look at her without chuckling to myself.

As for the carpenter, after a week or so off, he was back to work. So there ya’ go…..a funny story….and true!