Good morning team, This week’s topic: look-ahead schedules. 1. From the Field A look-ahead should represent what the project team actually believes is going to happen over the next few weeks. That sounds obvious, but I’ve seen look-aheads continue showing activities that everyone onsite already knows are not going to start on the dates listed. At that point, the document stops being a planning tool and becomes an exercise in updating dates. A useful look-ahead should reflect current field...
1 day ago • 1 min read
Good morning team, This week’s topic: project schedules. 1. From the Field A project schedule is obviously a planning tool, but I’ve found that its real value comes from how well it helps people understand what is supposed to happen next. A schedule can be technically correct and still be difficult to use. If the field team cannot tell what areas should be available, when subcontractors are needed, or what activities are driving the next few weeks of work, the schedule is not doing much to...
9 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #12 Submittals Protect the Work Good morning team, This week’s topic: submittals. 1. From the Field Submittals are sometimes treated as an administrative requirement that must be cleared before the work can begin. In practice, they serve a much more important purpose. A submittal gives the project team an opportunity to confirm that a proposed material, procedure, supplier, plan, or piece of equipment meets the contract requirements before it is incorporated into the work....
16 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #11 RFIs Are Not Just Questions Good morning team, This week’s topic: requests for information. 1. From the Field An RFI is often described as a way to ask the client or designer a question. That is true, but it is only part of its value. A well-written RFI identifies a specific issue in the project documents, explains why clarification is needed, and creates a record of the response used to move the work forward. It can also help establish when the issue was raised, what...
18 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #10 Don’t Wait Until the End to Price the Change Good morning team, This week’s topic: pricing changes while the information is still current. 1. From the Field Change pricing becomes much harder when the team waits until the work is complete to begin building the cost. By that point, timecards have been processed, equipment has moved, invoices may be mixed with other work, and the people who performed the task have already shifted their attention elsewhere. I’ve seen...
19 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #09 Time Impacts Matter Too Good morning team, This week’s topic: schedule impacts associated with change. 1. From the Field When project teams identify a change, the first conversation often focuses on direct cost. Labor, equipment, materials, disposal, trucking, and subcontractor pricing are usually easier to see and quantify. The schedule impact can be just as important, but it is often discussed later or not documented at all. A change may interrupt planned production,...
23 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #08 Extra Work Needs a Paper Trail Good morning team, This week’s topic: documenting extra work. 1. From the Field Extra work is easiest to track when the project team begins documenting it as soon as the work is identified. Once several days have passed, labor hours blend into regular production, equipment moves to another task, and the details behind the original direction become harder to reconstruct. I’ve seen legitimate change costs become difficult to support because...
23 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #07 Change Orders Start Before the COR Good morning team, This week’s topic: change orders. 1. From the Field By the time a change order request is formally written, much of the important work has already happened. Someone identified that the requested work may be outside the original scope, the team discussed how to proceed, labor or equipment may have been committed, and the project started collecting information to support the cost. I’ve seen change requests become...
23 days ago • 1 min read
FRIDAY FIELD NOTES #06 Confirming Conversations in Writing Good morning team, This week’s topic: confirming conversations in writing. From the Field A lot of project direction starts with a conversation. That is normal. Work moves quickly, and not every issue begins as a formal email, meeting minute, RFI, or change order. The risk is when important conversations never get confirmed in writing. I’ve seen this create problems when people remembered the same conversation differently. The work...
23 days ago • 1 min read