How to Prepare a Construction Schedule with a Template and Step-by-Step Instructions

Building a solid schedule is crucial to completing a construction project on time and under budget. Learn how to create a construction schedule with our in-depth how-to guide, advice from experts, and a free downloadable template.

What Is a Construction Schedule?

A construction schedule is a timeline for a building project that construction managers use to determine the order and duration of construction activities. Construction schedules also track milestones, deliverables, and dependencies to help ensure projects stay on schedule and on budget.

Types of Construction Schedules

Construction managers can choose from many types of construction schedules. A team may also use multiple scheduling methods for one construction project. By understanding the differences between scheduling techniques, you can choose the most appropriate method for your construction project.

Review the following methods for building an effective construction schedule and consider which approach might best suit the needs of your project or team:

Critical Path Method (CPM): Estimate the total completion time of a construction project by identifying all dependent tasks in your timeline. These are tasks that a team cannot begin until another task is complete. When using the critical path method, managers can anticipate changes to the completion date when there is a speed-up or delay in any critical path activity.

Find free construction schedule templates, including residential and two-week schedules, in our comprehensive collection.

What Makes a Good Construction Schedule?

A good construction schedule is realistic, accurate, and well-sequenced. It enables the project to stay under budget and takes into account resource and time constraints. By keeping an organized and accurate schedule, teams can make progress at a consistent pace without wasting resources.

Successful construction schedules are the result of input from all project participants. By encouraging open communication between management and employees, managers can set realistic scheduling goals, which keeps morale high, maximizes efficiency, and minimizes risk.

Implementing construction scheduling best practices promotes quality and safety and helps keep cash flow predictable. Poorly designed construction schedules, however, can lead to delays and cost overruns. Depending on contractual agreements, scheduling problems can even leave contractors vulnerable to penalties or lawsuits.

Tips for Good Construction Scheduling

An accurate construction schedule is essential to a successful construction project, but building projects are complex, with dynamic conditions, task dependencies, and many participants. We’ve gathered advice from experts to help you prepare a construction schedule and avoid common pitfalls:

Take the Full Scope of the Project into Account:

How Do I Create a Construction Schedule?

Understanding the high-level process of creating a construction schedule is a good starting point for learning how to plan for your next project. The following are the five main steps to creating any successful construction schedule:

1. Gather Project Information

To create an accurate construction schedule, you need to know and understand every aspect of the project. This requires a thorough review of plans, specifications, budget, list of subcontractors, regulations on zoning and building codes, bill of materials, and procurement plans. Creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) will help you stay organized as you complete this process.

2. Select a Project Management Tool

A variety of construction-specific applications and software that make scheduling easier are available. Spreadsheets in Excel or Google Sheets are also excellent options. Lean toward tools that project participants already know, and consider ease of use for construction stakeholders. Communication features, available templates, and scheduling functionality are important criteria to consider when selecting a project management tool for any construction project.

3. Create a Draft Schedule

When drafting the initial schedule, make sure to factor in task dependencies and include buffers, extra time built into the schedule to account for unexpected delays. Add buffers to common sticking points, such as code inspections, and research seasonal or site factors that might influence the pace of work. By doing so, you can ensure that completion estimates are realistic before sharing your draft schedule with the client or stakeholders.

Tip: Mopsick says buffers will depend in part on the type of project and local conditions. Ask yourself whether the open date for this particular building is flexible or how long building permits take to acquire in this specific location. The best way to determine buffers is to review past projects with similar specifications.

4. Refine the Basic Construction Schedule

Share the draft schedule with stakeholders and confirm the viability of the schedule. Make sure you document all communications for later reference and include the procurement and lead times of all tasks in the work-breakdown structure and Gantt chart. Note any project milestones that affect release of financing. Once finalized and approved, this document becomes the project schedule.

5. Maintain Open Lines of Communication

Your schedule and Gantt chart will evolve as the construction project progresses. Keep the schedule up to date. Even if delays occur, you may be able to prevent them from impacting the project completion date by reallocating resources or adjusting other phases in the schedule.

Tip: Mopsick recommends holding regular meetings with project participants and agreeing upon means of communication. Updates can be sent via email or notifications in the project management tool. Whatever the method, it is important that everyone knows how they will receive information.

How to Create a Construction Schedule in Excel

This commercial construction schedule Excel template allows you to list project activities, start and end dates, duration, and percentage complete. Track the progress of construction with a built-in Gantt chart.

Follow the steps below to learn how to create a construction schedule using this template.

Enter Details for Your Project

1. Download the Commercial Construction Schedule Template for Excel. The template should automatically open in Excel.
2. Click cell B1 and replace the project title with the name of your construction project.
3. Click cell B3 (Project Name) and type the name of the building.
4. Click cell D3(Project Manager) and type the name of the project manager.
5. Click cell G3 (Start Date) and enter the date of the Sunday for the first week of the project. This will automatically populate the dates for each week in the columns to the right.

List Activities in the Construction Schedule Excel Template

1. Click the first cell (C7) under the Task Name column, delete the existing copy, and list the first work package from the work breakdown structure. Add each work package from the work breakdown structure to a row in the Task Name column. In the WBS column, enter the number of each major component as it appears in the work breakdown structure.
2. Enter the subtasks for each work package in the Task Name column. Subtasks are identified with the parent’s number and a numeric extension. For example, site surveying is 6.1 as a subtask of site preparation.

Add Dates to the Task Rows and Calculate Duration

1. On the work package line, in this case Site Preparation, enter the start date in the Start Date column.
   Enter the start and end date of the first subtask (Site Surveying) in the start date column using duration estimates and dependency information from your planning documents. Repeat for each subtask in a work package. The Duration column automatically calculates the number of days from the dates. You can use this to check your schedule against your estimates.

Show Completed and Future Work in the Gantt Chart

1. In the Gantt chart to the right, locate the corresponding dates to those of the start and end times for each work package and subtask. Select the cells that match the duration of a task or work project, then click the Fill icon in the ribbon and click a color.
2. In the Percentage Complete column, enter the percentage of each task that is finished by comparing days of work done to total estimated duration. The template will automatically shade a portion of the cell that reflects the percentage.
3. Click and drag the orange line to the current date so you can see your progress.

Customize the Schedule

1. You can change colors, fonts, and other elements to suit your preferences by clicking the Home tab, highlighting the element in question, clicking on the relevant button (color, font, cell formatting, etc.) in the ribbon, and selecting new options.
2. You can also click on a cell, right-click, click Format Cells, and choose new colors and other formatting options.
3. Click and drag the borders of a column to adjust the width.

Construction Schedule Example

Download this construction project schedule with sample text that shows how the template looks when filled out. This example gives schedule details for a manufacturing plant.

For more free, downloadable resources, see our comprehensive collection of construction timeline templates.

Master Scheduling with Smartsheet for Construction

From pre-construction to project closeout, keep all stakeholders in the loop with real-time collaboration and automated updates so you can make better, more informed decisions, all while landing your projects on time and within budget.

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.