Can Small General Contractors Really Benefit from CPM Scheduling?
Can the use of CPM scheduling help small general contractors better manage their projects?
Technology has definitely changed the way we manage projects. There is more information to be managed than ever before. Part of a Project Manager's job is the daily management of all the information. This is cuts into the time available for the development and management of the project schedule. Developing and managing a project schedule is a big undertaking. Most PM's do not have specialized training and expertise in schedule theory and are not proficient in the specialized scheduling software operation. They can make do utilizing MS Project but only if a simple Gantt Chart is all that's required. And this is how we have been managing work for many years.
If the contractors use a CPM schedule, (created by a CPM Consultant) with fully developed logic and the appropriate level of detail, they could use the schedule as a management tool and see problems and potential delays during the periodic updating. This would allow them to react and plan much more efficiently. The cost savings would be well worth the effort. But it would take a considerable amount of effort to develop and manage the schedule. This is why a planning and schedule professional, (Professional CPM Consultant) is specialized.
Do these smaller projects need to have fully resource and cost loaded schedules like larger projects typically utilize? Unless this is required by the contract, probably not, but they could benefit from managing the invoicing if resource and costs were added. They would also be able to measure the progress of their work against the baseline plan and subsequent updates to track trends and foresee potentials problems. That is basically what we use the fully functional CPM schedules for on larger projects. We use EVMS and curves and resource management on larger projects. That would certainly benefit smaller projects and contractors, but trying to do too much too soon may be what is keeping many small contractors from taking the next step to fully utilizing a complete CPM schedule, (created by a Professional CPM Consultant).
So maybe small general contractors need to start with a more simple planning and schedule approach to better manage their projects. They already use schedules. They already understand the need. They just need to develop schedules they can use to better manage work. Then maybe they will want to try managing the resources or invoicing this way as well.
The small contractor would have to invest in the training to teach their PM's about basic best practices such as breaking the SOW down into a useful WBS; then further breaking the work down into detailed activities which support he WBS deliverables. Many PM's do not realize how much detail is necessary to build a valid CPM schedule. Because of this, they typically end up with generalized activities and then have no way of making any logic work correctly. They would also need to learn how to correctly model the plan in the scheduling software.
If all the small contractor does is WBS development, activity decomposition and computer modeling of the plan, based on the PM team's input for logic and durations, a general contractor can create a schedule they can plan and manage with. Of course, regular perioding updates of progress and revisions to model the plan to execute the remaining work is necessary, but not time-consuming. This provides a schedule that remains valid for the entire project. This also allows the PM to support change order time extension requests with documentation the owner will be comfortable negotiating with. This will have a side benefit of maintaining the positive relationship you need to have with your owner.
The smaller projects and contractors can definitely benefit from using a fully developed CPM schedule (created by a Professional CPM Consultant). The challenge is finding the time to train and the time to actually complete the detailed development.
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Paul Epperson CCM, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP
