Scheduling

Utilizing a well developed project schedule gives Harper & Company Builders the ability to coordinate all activities with their respective required start and finish dates as well as coordinate all material deliveries. Our schedule gives us a tool that can be used to monitor and stay on top of all activates so that no activities are allowed to vary from the plan without question. Our construction schedules are maintained by the scheduler who produces the original schedules and who remains involved with the project until completion. Once a week the scheduler will walk the jobsite and make notes on the progress of each scheduled activity. This allows the project team to consistently keep the subcontractor(s) responsible and accountable for their work.

The Two-Schedule Approach

For every project that we build we develop two schedules. The first schedule serves as a big picture view of the project as a whole. This big picture schedule will allow us to coordinate months in advance the materials, men and equipment with their required date of arrival on the jobsite. The overall schedule is also a tool that will give the Owner and Architect a graphical representation of the construction progress.

The second schedule developed will be a week by week activity schedule with the responsible parties name listed by each activity. This week by week schedule is a tool that the subcontractor can utilize in order to keep their scope of work on track. Not only does the week by week schedule allow the subcontractor to keep track of their progress, it allows Harper & Company Builders the ability to keep track of the subcontractor. It has been our experience that by giving the subcontractor a constant reminder of their progress and our expectations, the subcontractor is forced to keep their respective scope of work progressing. Aggressive scheduling and pushing the people involved to live up to our expectations has allowed Harper & Company Builders to consistently complete jobs ahead of schedule and below budget.

Techniques and Utilization

Harper & Company Builders implements the use of Microsoft Project scheduling software to plan, track and update schedule activities. Microsoft Project schedules are easy to update and read. The basic schedule provides a simple tool tool that all parties involved can easily review and understand. This scheduling software is capable of producing reports that allow the user the ability to track various aspects of the construction at any given time during the projects life.

A pre-construction schedule will be produced that directly relates to the overall project schedule. The schedule of all preconstruction activities will show the required completion date of the pre-construction activity so that time can be allowed for that scope of work to be implemented in the field. The required dates of arrival for all scopes of work will dictate the time that can be allowed for each pre-construction timeline will have to be had in order not to delay the actual implementation of any particular scope of work.

Once the plans have been reviewed and various value engineering items can be suggested, alternatives can be explored that may shorten the original proposed schedule. Helping produce production oriented scopes of work will help in reducing timelines for activities. Being capable of having input into what is required in implementing certain scopes of work will also help in reducing the time required to install the work. Harper & Company Builders prides itself on its continued ability to turn out projects over faster than our competitors. We have a staff of no nonsense seasoned professionals that realize time is money.

Early completion of projects is in the best interest of all parties involved. Early completion allows us to remain profitable and allows the Owner the ability to take beneficial occupancy of their buildings faster than expected. We continually push our projects so that early completion will be realized.