As a young man, Chris Davis worked for a family-run general contractor, responsible for picking up trash and making runs to the local Dunkin’ Donuts. It may not have been glamorous, or even enjoyable, but it was his start to a successful and fulfilling construction career. Today, Davis is the scheduling manager for Holliston-based construction management firm Colantonio, an AGC of Massachusetts member, charged with critical path method (CPM) scheduling on all Colantonio new-build and renovation projects. Construction scheduling managers know all too well that the past few years have posed significant challenges for keeping projects on task and on target. These challenges include, but are not limited to, COVID-19, supply chain issues and increased costs. So how has the industry tackled these issues? Davis sat down with Constructor recently to give us (and you) his take.
Q: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get started on your construction career path?
A: In high school, I worked as a laborer for a small concrete company installing stamped concrete for residential construction. The work included mostly pool decks, patios and a couple of public sidewalk projects. After college, I worked as a laborer for a small, family-run general contractor that did mostly residential renovations and additions. During this time, I fell off a ladder and, soon after, was in a car accident that left me with a back injury and unable to return to the field. A family member, who owned a scheduling consulting company, suggested I give scheduling a try. Starting with Rhode Island DOT and Massachusetts DOT, I began scheduling civil and heavy highway projects. From there, I quickly found a niche with building construction.
This was my first experience with Colantonio as a scheduling consultant working on a few of their projects. I quickly realized how great a company Colantonio was, and when the opportunity to return full-time arose, I jumped on it.
Q: Was there a lesson learned in the early days?
A: One of the early lessons that I carry with me today is that it’s important to be truthful and transparent with the schedule. The documents I produce will be used by owners, designers, subcontractors and the GC (my company) to plan deliveries and coordinate on-site tasks or events. Many people rely on this information to plan how their businesses are run, determine whether they need to hire or lay off employees, or determine when they should start advertising the opening of their building. Being forthcoming with truthful information, whether good or bad, is important for my audience to use for critical decision-making. Over my career I have had requests to run multiple schedules for one project, meaning telling the owner one thing and the subs something else. I have never done this as I see it being untruthful, unhelpful, and generally, something that may complicate the process and damage your credibility. My mom always told me to tell the truth: It’s easy to remember. It also helps me sleep at night.
Q: Tell us a little about Colantonio.
A: Founded by Chairman and CEO Fran Colantonio in 1978 as a framing contractor, Colantonio Inc. is now a $120 million general contracting and construction management firm with self-performance capabilities. It is based in Holliston, Massachusetts and employs 69 people. The company focuses on medium- to large-sized public and private projects in the affordable housing, academic, industrial and historic renovation markets, specializing in occupied renovations. Some of our unique projects include:
• Renovation of the Massachusetts State House Senate Chamber in Boston included upgrades to accessibility, HVAC, acoustics and lighting systems, as well as restoration of historic interior architectural woodwork, plasterwork, stained glass and lighting fixtures. Work was performed without interruption of State House daily operations.
• The McCormack Building Immediate Needs Project involved upgrades to the MEP, accessibility and life safety/fire suppression equipment of a 21-story state office building on Boston’s Beacon Hill. The work required the use of a helicopter to lift a new 25,000-pound back-up generator, in pieces, to the building’s rooftop.
• The Forest River Outdoor Recreation and Nature Center in Salem, Massachusetts, located on Salem Harbor, called for the construction of two new pools, an addition to serve as a community room and a support building for lifeguards and filtration equipment, as well as bathhouse renovations. The scope included site demolition, utilities and restoration of
portions of the historically altered shoreline. The project has won historic preservation awards.
Q: Describe your typical work day.
A: My day varies depending on the project. Some days I’m glued to my computer flipping through drawings or reading specs, preparing to develop a baseline schedule. On other days, I’m running pull planning sessions with subcontractors. The days I enjoy the most are spent in the field, seeing progress as it occurs. I find that being on-site helps me better understand spatial relationships, visualize the construction sequence and see how delays in one area can affect another. I selfishly admit that I enjoy being around the jobsite, where the action is.
Q: What have been some recent challenges that complicate construction scheduling?
A: Post-COVID challenges are very real and continue to impact construction. I still see uncertainty when it comes to procurement durations, specifically for items with electrical components such as generators, ATS’s (automatic transfer switches) and specialty lighting. We are also challenged with inconsistent production rates and crew sizes, which are getting smaller and older due to a shortage of young people entering the trades. This situation will continue to get worse without a major change in the industry. Having a perfect schedule will not benefit any project without qualified tradespeople getting the work done.
Q: What can alleviate the procurement problem?
A: Increased leniency on alternate products with smaller procurement durations on the design/owner’s side of the project would help. I’ve been involved with a project delayed because of light fixtures that the owner could not live without. Proceeding with the alternate option could have saved a few months on the end of the project. Also, an easy fix that’s often hard to achieve is to increase the preconstruction duration to allow for a more complete procurement process to take place before materials are needed on-site. This would add time for coordination, the submittal process, procurement of materials, accomplishment of RFIs, constructability reviews and planning. This scenario would possibly increase costs for material storage but would significantly decrease the risk of project slippage due to delays of
material procurement. It’s the “better to be looking at it than looking for it” mentality. Project risk is costly; I think it makes sense to pay some storage fees to decrease risk, especially in a
tight timeline project like an occupied school renovation or a dormitory project.
Q: Do you have some scheduling tips and tricks you can share?
A: A project schedule is a tool to be used by the GC for planning, communication and documentation. I feel it should be used transparently with the owner and all stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned with the project’s progress, direction and changes. It is important to document your baseline schedule with the owner and to submit updates regularly. I am also a proponent for including schedule narratives with the updates. Before anyone creates a project’s schedule, they must have a plan on how to build it. Planning provides a road map on how to get from the start to the end of a project; scheduling determines how fast you must drive to get there on time.
Q: What is CPM and how does it work?
A: CPM is a process of planning and scheduling a construction project where activities are arranged based on activity relationships. An algorithm is run from beginning to end to determine the earliest start date and earliest finish date, then in reverse to find the latest start and latest finish dates for each activity. The difference in time between the early and late dates is called float (or slack depending on software). The activities with high float values are less critical than those that have lower float values. The chain of activities with the lowest float values is considered the critical path. It is within this chain where any loss of time to an activity equates to slippage to a completion milestone.
Q: How has technology helped construction scheduling?
A: I am old enough to remember Oracle’s P3 and have seen great improvements in scheduling software since then. Now, with cloud-based systems, anyone on the project team with an internet connection and the right credentials can access the live file at any time. This allows teams to use a “divide and conquer” approach to maximize scheduling efficiency. Other improvements include the ability for scheduling software to generate risk analysis and to send notifications of missed dates to subcontractors. Technology has led to great improvements in process and communication, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds.
Simplicity is key for me. I will take a perfectly straightforward system over a complicated one any day. However, sometimes the project size or scheduling specifications might not offer much choice. Also, a scheduling manager doesn’t always have to use every feature of the software. I suggest getting good at the “101” stuff, though, before moving on to more advanced functionalities.
Focus on what you really need the software to do, not on everything it can do. I always ask “How is ‘X’ going to add value? How could it create problems for me?” Take small steps, mastering something before moving on. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was any project I ever worked on.