SUBCON COST

SCHEDULING

ELVIRA A. UCOL
Scheduling for Subcontractors is a very different type of
scheduling than that performed for Owners or General
Contractors. In many ways, the very nature of the
schedules and the tools and measurements used to
create, monitor, and evaluate a CPM schedule for a
subcontractor is entirely different than that used for an
Owner or General Contractor.

Scheduling for Subcontractors is very different from the

type of scheduling done for Owners or General
Contractors. The very nature of the schedules and the
tools and measurements used to create, monitor, and
evaluate a CPM schedule is in many ways different for a
Subcontractor ’s schedule than when performing the same
process for a Owner or a General Contractor.

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 On larger construction jobs, the
Subcontractor is just as involved with
scheduling as the GC is and in fact, the
Subcontractor ’s CPM schedule is often
incorporated into the GC’s master
schedule. What is not reflected in the
GC’s Master Schedule is that this
Subcontractor schedule is only a portion
of a bigger schedule that encompasses all
the different jobs the Subcontractor may
be working on. A Subcontractor ’s real
schedule encompasses all the projects
that he or she is involved with; not just
this one project .

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 A Subcontractor ’s responsibility entails
scheduling jobs, maintaining, and training a
solid workforce, keeping employees busy,
moving on and off jobsites, avoiding
interference from the GC and other
Subcontractors, as well as satisfying the
requirements of the GC and the project itself.
While the GC typically is only scheduling for
the one job, Subcontractors need to schedule
and integrate the schedules of multiple jobs.
They also need to be able to re-schedule these
jobs for optimum deployment whenever any
particular job is advanced or delayed.
Best practices of scheduling for a
Subcontractor over four different time frames;
before signing the contract, building your
schedule, monitoring construction, and
resolving any claims.
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 Before Signing the Contract

 Subcontractors on large projects are

increasingly being asked to pre-qualify. In
addition to finances, they may also be
asked to list their professional expertise
in areas such as scheduling. In these
cases, already owning the proper
scheduling software and having a trained
scheduling specialist may make or break
the pre-qualification. For documentation
purposes, formal schedule training by an
outside firm may trump self-taught
scheduling skills.

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 Subcontractors don't always get to see
the complete set of plans,
specifications, addenda, general
conditions, proposed contract format
and complete contract documents when
asked to submit their bids. Before
signing a contract, it is extremely
important review all plans and project
documents, including architectural,
structural, civil, plumbing, mechanical
and electrical plans; soils reports;
addendums; finish schedules and the
city conditions of approval.

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 It is foolish to sign a contract without
reviewing the complete set of plans and
specifications unless your bid contains a
reasonable contingency for unknowns causing
for underbids. Various portions of the
Specifications that a Scheduler should read
include:
Time is of the Essence - This clause means
that you will be held accountable to meeting
your scheduling obligations without leeway.
Acceleration Clauses - You may be forced
to accelerate you work at your own cost
should your portion of the project be delayed,
even if it is not your fault.
Termination Clauses – How secure is your
contract and what conditions will allow for
involuntary termination?
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 Your rights and responsibilities may be further defined
in,
• Time of Commencement and Completion – Confirm
that this meets your requirements.
• Rate of Progress – If rates are specified, make sure
that your planned crewing levels will meet this
requirement.
• Schedule of Work – Confirm that this agrees with
your work plan. Don’t expect certain work to be complete
if your work is listed to complete before it.
• Coordination of Trades – Who is responsible for
making sure that you have clear space to work and
proper access and storage area? It is a Red Flag if the
contract says that you are responsible for your own
coordination. You will have the responsibility without any
authority.
• Delay Responsibilities – What part of the
contractual delay responsibilities of the GC to the
Owner can be transferred to you? Look for delay and
damage clauses contained within the contract. Verify
how you can remedy situations where you are being
delayed by the Project Owner or a GC not performing 8
Presentation Title
as well as expected .
 The following are also important entitlement clauses,

• No-Damages-for-Delay - Are you going to be

compensated for extra costs incurred when requirements
change or you are forced to change your original
workplan?
• Concealed Conditions – What is the
difference between what you should have been expected
to include in your bid and what you reasonably could not
have anticipated?
• Contract Changes – How far can the Owner
go in changing the nature of your work without
renegotiating your contract? You don’t want to be stuck
fixing the plumber ’s work if you install air handlers.
• Force Majeure – What constitutes a weather
day and who will pay for your overhead during this time?
You may not want to be ‘excused’ from not working if it
means that you will be footing the bill for such
delays.

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 In contract law, force majeure is a
common clause in contracts which
essentially frees both parties from
liability or obligation when an
extraordinary event or circumstance
beyond the control of the parties,
such as a war, strike, riot, crime,
epidemic, or sudden legal change
prevents one or both parties from
fulfilling their obligations under the
contract

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  Manage your risk by understanding your
contractual entitlements. Those that grant
entitlement for a broad range of causes for cost
increases pose the least amount of risk. Those that
grant no entitlement pose the greatest risk. The
risk to the Subcontractor increases when the
contract restricts the costs that are recoverable.
The risk to the Subcontractor is greatest when the
contract excludes the recovery of all monetary
damages caused by all schedule disruptions.

 Don’t think that because you haven’t signed

anything, that you are not legally obligated to the
GC. Subcontractors can be forced to meet even an
informal verbal bid if the GC relied on this
information to determine their bid. The exception to
this is when the GC later imposes strict scheduling
requirements afterward that were not mentioned at
the time that a bid was requested.
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 Scheduling Before the Work

Subcontractor's schedules need to reflect their

responsibilities to the project they are working on
while maintaining their company-wide schedules. It
is critical that Subcontractors have detailed
schedule expectations so that they can coordinate
'project' scheduling with their company-wide
schedule. If this information is not effectively
delivered to Subcontractors, their individual
schedules will control their activities and may result
in unresponsiveness to the project and increased
expenses.
Sub-contractors should estimate and schedule the
work by system instead by geographical area. This
allows the cost accounting to flow up properly. Area
planning also does not work in cases of feeder runs
going up and down the building (where no single
area exists.)
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 Subcontractors should create and share their
schedule for work with the GC. Be sure to
coordinate your schedule structure with the GC
before building the schedule. If both the master
schedule and the subcontractor schedule are
structured and formatted similarly, you will have
created the most effective method for
communicating and maintaining schedules. This will
allow the GC and Subcontractor to share and
integrate their schedules without additional input.
Lost profits generally can be attributed to improper
scheduling of crews, poor supervision and lack of
field coordination. A schedule that's too optimistic
will result in a crunch at the end of the project,
which costs everyone money. Also be careful to
verify that your major suppliers can meet the
schedule.

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  With the cost and ease of CPM computer
programs, all projects should at least initially be
scheduled using a CPM schedule and that
schedule should be submitted to the GC. You
should also make sure that your short interval
schedule is coordinated with your CPM
schedule to facilitate later claims, should they
arise.

 The key to proper scheduling for Subcontractors

is to consider the resources involved.
Subcontractor work is typically crew-oriented.
The more crews that you have, generally the
faster you can complete the work. A realistic
resource plan will save you money and
inefficient work later. Since many of the
scheduling issues of Subcontractors involve the
balancing of personnel, all subcontractor
schedules should be resource-loaded at least as
to the number of crews involved in each task.
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 Typical scheduling requirements demand that you
break down the work into activities of 20-days or
less. Because of this, a single job is often broken
down into sections of identical work, only in
different locations. The Subcontractor can work at
any location, meaning that the work could be
scheduled in parallel.

Due to the crew limitation issue, “soft logic” is

added to the schedule to schedule each location to
follow another. This order may be chosen at random
and is always subject to later modification. On the
field, the Subcontractor may choose a different
order of work, looking as if they were working, “out
of sequence.” Even if they were working “in
sequence,” as soon as a problem occurs (conflict,
RFI, etc.) the Subcontractor will often maintain
momentum by switching over to another section,
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.
 Subcontractors are subject to multiple mobilizations.
Mobilization is often very expensive for a specialty
Subcontractor. In addition to installing their own trailer
for coordination and paperwork requirements, they
must provide a secure storage for their tools and raw
materials. Things such as electric wire can be very
expensive while HVAC ductwork can be fragile.
Subcontractors do not like multiple mobilizations while
it is often in the GCs interest for subcontractors to
mobilize many times.
Subcontractors typically rough-in and then wait for the
other Subcontractors to perform other work, install their
material, and then let the painters come in, and then
install covers or finish fixtures or test, and finally
punchlist. Each of these phases can require a complete
or partial mobilization. Each mobilization requires
planning, coordination, inefficiencies, and cost. It is
extremely important that the Subcontractor be aware of
the number of planned mobilizations and that this is
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 The nature of subcontractor scheduling radically
changes if the ‘subcontractor ’ has a contract
directly with the Owner. This is called, “Multi-
prime Contracts.” Several states require that all
contracts on government work be directly
negotiated with the Owner (the State) and not
through a broker GM. The States of Ohio and
New York are two of such entities requiring
Multi-Prime Contracts. New Jersey allows for
either type of contracts. In the cases involving
Multi-Prime Contracts, the individual schedules
are difficult to coordinate without a Master
schedule with Project Milestones indicating the
various phases of the project such as “Building
Weather Tight.”

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 Scheduling During Work

 The definition of “criticality” changes when you

transition from the GC to the Subcontractor ’s
viewpoint. Subcontractors have their own
critical path that is sometimes different from
that of GC.

 Owners & GC worry about Total Float while

Subcontractors really only consider Free
Float. Many GCs do not even share what the
project total float is for the Subcontractor.
Subcontractors should look at their last
activities in each chain of work, note the Free
Float value, and then disperse that float
throughout their chain of work.
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  Total Float indicates the amount of ‘free time’
that the activity has in relationship to the
project. Free Float indicates the amount of ‘free
time’ that the activity has in relation to the
following activity. If a Subcontractor uses up
Total Float when they do not have any Free
Float, then they will be reducing the Total Float
for everyone who logically follows them, not just
themselves. This is why GCs do not typically
show Subcontractors the Total Float.

 GCs want the Subcontractor to finish when they

said they would (on the early dates.) GCs do not
want their Subcontractors to pull their workers
off of their project to go work on some other
project where the Subcontractor is being
Presentation Title pressured by a different GC to accelerate. 19
  The ‘easiest’ way for a GC to accelerate a
Subcontractor is to work them overtime. This
is also the least efficient and prolonged
overtime quickly causes a loss in overall
productivity and quality.

 The next option for acceleration is to add

additional crews. Done early, this is a viable
option for long-term acceleration. Keep in
mind that the first crew is likely to be the “A
Team” with the most experience and
productivity. Later crews will suffer from
start-up learning curve issues as well as
having less experience and lower
productivity.
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  The ‘best’ option for acceleration is to simply
make the existing crews more productive. This can
be done by having the GC assist the
Subcontractor in non-productive work in very
special instances where the Subcontractor is
controlling the project’s completion. While the
Subcontractor ’s work is project-controlling, they
should be designated a, “Critical Subcontractor.”

 Subcontractors waste a lot of time clearing the

work site, carrying in materials, and cleaning-up
afterwards. To make them more productive,
designate priority laydown areas for the selected,
Critical Subcontractors. Clear hallways when
Critical Subcontractors are bringing-in their
materials. Advance permanent power installation
so that the Critical Subcontractors can use it and
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  Subcontractors often are required to
coordinate their work around other
Subcontractor’s work even though they
do not have a contract between the two.
Sometimes Subcontractor contracts
require them to coordinate their work and
accommodate other Subcontractors,
legally leaving the GC out of the
responsibility for this typical contractual
requirement. This sort of contractual
requirement should raise a ‘Red Flag’ to
the Subcontractor that extra risk is being
assumed.

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  Subcontractors should status their schedules daily, if
not by the hour. This is to facilitate optimum
coordination, cost control, material control, as well
as to support the types of claims that Subcontractors
have (micro productivity issues as opposed to macro
delays.) They also need to write down the verbal
directions given to them by the GC and even the
Owner in order to prove that their loss of productivity
was not just ‘means and methods.’

 The CPM schedule should be periodically updated at

least weekly for status to eventually produce an As-
Built schedule. The further back you need to
remember in order to update your status, the less
accurate and believable your status figures will
become. You should submit this status schedule to
the GC when done to protect your rights.

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 Dispute Resolution

 Planning your resource usage is a valuable

procedure. After that, most of your work can be
scheduled using a bar chart. So why should you care
if your CPM schedule accurately reflects your actual
work?

 Many construction claims involve a Subcontractor

suing the GC to recover for additional costs due to
changes in the work outside of the conditions listed
in their contract. These claims depend on the same
schedule analysis techniques used in claims
between Owners and GCs. Therefore, you must be
able to accurately show the planned work and the
effects of a delay on that work. This is where a
properly built schedule with accurate status and
documentation of the unplanned changes becomes
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  Default determination may invalidate a Subcontractor ’s
claim. Many subcontracts forbid a delay claim from a
Subcontractor to the GC (“No damage for delay.”) This
is a standard clause in the AGC form contracts. Even if
this clause is in effect, most GCs will still allow ‘pass-
though claims’ against the Owner. In this situation, the
Subcontractor must be careful in their daily log to not
‘vent’ their frustration with the GC’s Foreman when it
turns out that the Owner was actually responsible for
the delay. The log entries might be used to determine
that it was the GC’s fault and thus, deny any future
claim on this issue.

 The Subcontractor typically indirectly recovers

damages caused by the Owner only to the extent that
the General Contractor recovers those damages from
the Owner. When this is insufficient, often times the
subcontractor will issue a “pass-through claim” to the
Owner via the GC.
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  A “pass-through” claim may be defined as a
claim by a party who has suffered damages (in
this case, a Subcontractor) against a
responsible party with whom he has no contract
(such as the Owner), and which are presented
through an intervening party who has a
contractual relationship with both (namely, a
GC).

 In theory, the subcontractor only has a contract

with the GC, not the Owner or other
subcontractors. In reality, the GC will “pass
through” any claims against them, as this is
easier to do. If the Owner is willing to entertain
the subcontractor ’s claim (through the GC,) then
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the problem will ‘pay for itself.’ 26
  A pass-through claim may not be allowed by contract.
According to the Severin decision, where a contractor,
by reason of a release clause in the subcontract, has
no liability to his Subcontractor for the Owner ’s breach
of the general contract, the contractor may not
successfully pass through the Subcontractor ’s damages
claim to the Owner. Even when not allowed, such
claims may be reasonably considered by the Owner,
especially when the Owner is a public entity. Many
Owners are very sensitive to public opinion and do not
like to see themselves cast as “uncaring bullies.”

 The Owner is frequently at a disadvantage in a pass-

through claim. This is because the Owner has no
contractual access to review the records of the
subcontractor making the claim. Often times, the
Owner is required to try to verify claimed costs and
impacts by independent means.

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  The analysis of the apportionment of liability is always
complex and imprecise. Often, Subcontractors tend to
include all of their cost overruns in their claim without
necessarily taking into account the causation issue.
Similarly, in submitting both their own claims and the
pass-through claims of their Subcontractors, GCs often
do not necessarily undertake a fair (or any) analysis of
fault.

 Without being permitted the opportunity to review a

multitude of back-up documents and to understand the
premises underlying the claims, the Owner is not in a
particularly advantageous position to evaluate those
claims. A well-documented Time Impact Analysis using
an approved CPM schedule will vastly improve the
acceptability of a claim, and the likelihood of success.
Subcontractors need to make it easy for the Owner to
say, “Yes.”

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 Conclusion

 Scheduling for a Subcontractor has all of the

standard scheduling requirements and many
new issues not ordinarily dealt with by Project
Owners and General Contractors. Profit margins
depend upon good schedule planning. Execution
requires daily Scheduler involvement. In
addition, the Subcontractor must be prepared to
present an accurate and technically acceptable
delay analysis every bit as rigorous as the
General Contractor ’s if they wish to recover
delay damages. A well-trained Subcontractor
Scheduler is a very valuable resource.

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 Conclusion

 Scheduling for a Subcontractor has all of the

standard scheduling requirements and many
new issues not ordinarily dealt with by Project
Owners and General Contractors. Profit margins
depend upon good schedule planning. Execution
requires daily Scheduler involvement. In
addition, the Subcontractor must be prepared to
present an accurate and technically acceptable
delay analysis every bit as rigorous as the
General Contractor ’s if they wish to recover
delay damages. A well-trained Subcontractor
Scheduler is a very valuable resource.

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EQUIPMENT
COST
SCHEDULING

ELVIRA A. UCOL
 CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS:
1. Use of 3-D Modelling : A 3-D model defines
and communicates the architect's design vision to the
various stakeholders and is a unique digital document
that can be used for all phases of design, procurement,
construction, and operation.
• It can be used for design, analysis, and fabrication, and
can help detect conflicts, interferences, and
incompatibilities, achieve improved tolerances and
quality, and reduce change orders and rework.

2. Use of 4-D Models: The 4-D software generates a

sequence of configurations of the project representing its
status through time, as determined from the schedule
and the 3-D model, thus creating an animation of the
construction process.
• 4-D modelling allows communicating actual
construction sequences and can help detect
constructability problems, interferences among trades or
subcontractors, and interference between moving
equipment and on-going activities.
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 3. Web-based Project Management
Systems: It use project collaboration
software to provide access for all parties
(design consultants, contractors,
subcontractors, managers, and others) on a
large construction project in order to conduct
all daily project management and
administrative activities.

• The main benefits of such systems are

increased productivity, reduced cycle time,
and elimination of multiple iterations of the
work process for project management, invoice
submittal processing, and payment operations
by allowing the members of a geographically
distributed group to interact as.
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 4. Aesthetics: Aesthetic enhancement of projects
increases their attractiveness and desirability, can
serve to establish the identity of a district or city,
and represent a statement of its spirit.
• Furthermore, much of the aesthetics features of
most projects can be enjoyed by the general
public, and aesthetics thus contributes to the quality
of life.
5. Marketing and Communications: The success
of many projects depends on funding and public
support, which in turn often depends on how
communication with the public, elected officials,
decision makers, and the media is handled.
• Successful communication techniques stress the
need for establishing and maintaining credibility,
communicating the value of the project, ensuring
that media coverage is more help than
hindrance, avoiding mission expansion, and building
a sense of pride and ownership.
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THANK YOU

Presenter Name
Email
Website

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