The Q3-2024 Newsletter from ATLAS consultants llc
Summertime!
My last newsletter welcomed Spring, and here we are, already deep into summer. I hope everyone is getting the chance to take some time off to recharge, and enjoy the blue skies.
It's been said that "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” While I have been pretty "respectable" this summer, I continue to enjoy working with existing and new clients, learning about their businesses and challenges and providing a variety of services in support of their goals. On a project-specific level, these services included risk mitigation, design + value management, procurement, and expert opinion. Organizationally, they have included evaluations and recommendations on cross-functional effectiveness, communication, accountability and leadership. I'd like to say "thank you" again to my clients for the opportunities, and I look forward to continue providing seasoned guidance as we move into the second half of 2024.
If you're interested in connecting, either for a specific need, or just to see what ATLAS is about, feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to set up a call or meet in person. The best way to initially reach me is through my email gmulac@atlasguidance.com or through the website www.atlasguidance.com
In addition to the newsletter, ATLAS consultants llc can be found on LinkedIn. Please visit the website and subscribe to the Think... quarterly newsletter.
This is the fourth quarterly ATLAS newsletter, built upon the Think... page of the ATLAS website. The use of the word think for the page title was very deliberate. In my experience, spending time on critical thinking is always challenged by a myriad of competing demands. Without time to really think, and truly understand an issue, we tend to go directly to default positions. While these default reactions are typically based on experience, or an experience, they may not be "wrong", but potentially could cause us to miss out on opportunities to realize greater benefits. I touched on this in a brief blog that was posted in February of 2023 ("Seasoned, Learning from Lessons Lived"). So, the idea with the newsletter, is to look at a topic from different perspectives, provide some observations, recommendations, and opinions, and hopefully get us to Think. The topic of the Q3-2024 newsletter is the Schedule. Here we'll take a look at the schedule from the perspective of project master-planning, design, procurement, construction and occupancy. The reference in this newsletter to "Master Schedule," or "Project Schedule" is very deliberate, as the Master Schedule includes the design, preconstruction, construction and occupancy schedules, not to mention other components like financing or governmental approvals. You'll also see a references to "work stream." Generally, a work stream is a group of tasks to be completed by a team. Different work streams may converge to achieve a common goal. Work streams may bring together individuals from cross-functional teams. In this context, Owner, A/E, Builder, Trade Partners, Sub-Consultants.
The Schedule
From a design + construction industry perspective, a schedule is understood to be framework and an estimate of the time required to develop, design, construct and occupy a building. Just like the topic "The Estimate" from the ATLAS Q2-2024 Quarterly Newsletter, a project's schedule is developed along with the design and the budget. The success of a project is directly related to the concurrent development of it's design, schedule and budget. As the projects develops, so does the schedule. At various points in the process, the schedule becomes a contractual obligation for the various stakeholders. The key in developing Master Schedules is to know what you don't know and address it in the Master Schedule, and don't lose site of those pieces.
Some background:
As an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Civil Engineering (2018-2020), I taught a course on scheduling in the Graduate Program. The students were a great mix of continuing undergraduates and working professionals. Within the semester we addressed through lecture and workshop:
The development of scheduling in the 20th century
Specific schedule types
Basic task and milestone relationships
Development of Preconstruction / Design, and Construction Schedules
While we used scheduling software, the focus was not on learning the idiosyncrasies of a specific software, but focused more on concepts. Understanding the mechanics of schedules, and their application in the industry.
In the early days of my career, I remember drawing schedules on a drafting board. Then listening to the clickety-clack of a dot matrix printer generate a schedule that looked like the wiring diagram on the back of an Amana refrigerator. And finally, as an industry, we then progressed rapidly in the development of software that is absolutely amazing. Software that can do things better and faster than I could of imagined. Parallel to that development in the Design + Construction industry, was the development of design software for Architects and Engineers
The above paragraph does two things: First, it dates the author; Secondly, it provides a backdrop to the phenomenon of unintended consequences. With today's technology, schedules look well developed or perhaps "complete" early on; design drawings look well developed and design issues look resolved early on. This is due to the relative ease realistically rendered and hardlines drawings can be produced, or schedules prepared. Gone are the paper schedules and "fuzzy" hand drawings of designs that started the process and represented the early, fluid stages of a project. This fuzziness was a physical reminder that a lot of decisions and development were still needed. It's my opinion that an unintended consequence is born here, a false sense of how far a design, a schedule and a budget have been advanced. For the record, I am not advocating the abandonment of the technological advances made in our industry. I am, however, advocating that the project stakeholders have real discourse up front, identify and address the unknowns, not necessarily have the answer for them, but recognize they need to be answered to support the various stages of the Project Schedule.
What this newsletter will do is shine some light on some common pitfalls in the development of a project schedule and provide a bit of seasoned guidance for your consideration as you start or move through your building project.
If you've spent any real time in the development of projects, as an Owner, Architect or Builder, you inevitably have a lot of what I call "default" opinions. As I stated above..."While these default reactions, or opinions, are typically based on experience, or an experience, they may not be "wrong", but potentially could cause us to miss out on opportunities to realize greater benefits." Far worse than not realizing a great benefit, is not realizing that a fatal flaw has been built into your project planning. My thoughts and recommendations are based on my actual experience(s) over my career.
Some basic master planning schedule components include the determination of project goals (the need, if you will); Site Evaluation; the Design & Preconstruction Process; Budget Development; Procurement; Construction and Occupancy. Let's focus on some potential schedule flaws that can get baked into a few of these components.
Site Evaluation:
The challenge with site evaluation is that it often appears that there was not much thought given to a budget for investigative services, and consequently the minimum seems to be what gets done. A soils report and qualified recommendations based on a few borings, and perhaps a Phase One Environmental Survey are usually what is produced, and the design of the project moves forward on that basis. This limited investigation creates the potential for an issue to arise later in the development of design, or even in the construction phase that negatively impacts the project timeline and budget.
Recommendation: Get after it early. Develop, and incorporate into the Project Schedule, a work stream for site investigation that addresses the timing and execution of site investigation activities. Coordinate this with the design process. Evaluate the potential impact of deferring a higher level of investigation. What is the cost benefit? Having your schedule derailed late in design, or worse yet during construction is a costly proposition both in terms of schedule and budget.
The Design & Preconstruction Process:
The American Institute of Architects officially organizes the design timeline of a building into five design phases: Schematic Design (SD), Design Development (DD), Construction Documents (CD), Bidding or Negotiation and lastly Construction Contract Administration (CCA). Note that the Pre-Design Phase is not officially counted in the five phases. This organization is well-understood in the industry, and is typically the framework of Master Schedules found in Requests for Proposals for both A/E and CM services. The A/E moves to the next phase of the design at Owner's direction, typically after design & estimate are approved. So here's how a flaw get's baked into that schedule. RFP Master Schedule defines (or the A/Es response defines) the duration of each design phase. Too frequently, requisite approvals upstream of the Owner's day-to-day management team are not allowed for in that schedule; and/or time is not allowed for the preparation of an estimate or review of the design. Now what happens? Frankly, nothing good. The A/E may keep advancing the design at its own risk because of contractual obligations (completion dates for design phases) or the A/E adheres to the need of Owner approval, and the design schedule lengthens. If the time to estimate wasn't addressed in the schedule, the CM's time to prepare an estimate either gets drastically reduced, or the estimate is based on an earlier "tear-off" issuance or "release" than the Milestone issuance. Now the Owner is reviewing a Milestone Design issuance that was not the basis of the Milestone estimate. The CM, either pro-actively, or as directed, generates cost savings ideas to be considered. If this VE process wasn't accounted for in the master schedule, the preconstruction schedule lengthens. Consequently, the design documentation falls out of sync with estimates, budget reconciliation and approvals. The punchline is that design & preconstruction activities are taking longer than allowed for, and previously communicated communicated upstream. Based on my experience, this results into a pressurized design and construction schedule that negatively impacts quality, budget and obviously schedule from the get-go. Read here unintended consequences.
Recommendation: Develop and Incorporate Processes. Part of what I enjoy about the design and construction industry is the opportunity to understand the operations of the various stakeholders (owner, designer, builder) in a building project. Here are some thoughts and recommendations:
Owner : I have experienced projects where Owners communicate their internal levels of authority; what upstream approvals are necessary; the board meeting schedule; ward meetings, etc. etc. These are incorporated into the Master Schedule. I have also experienced projects where there wasn't that clarity. Strive for the former, avoid the latter.
Architect: I mentioned earlier the clarity provided by the industry-understood SD, DD and CDs. What do you need to truly achieve each design milestone? Is that being communicated? In that time period allowed for a particular design phase, how has document QC, and production of documents been accommodated? How does it really happen? While working on a large Design-Build project as the lead, we began missing issue dates as the design advanced. Using some basic pull-planning interim milestones were defined along with "pencils-down" milestones. Strive to define and communicate your process, with a greater level of detail to the project team.
Builder: The CM's primary tasks during preconstruction is to prepare construction cost estimates, construction schedules and construction logistics at a minimum at the various stages of design. Should any of the activities exceed the Owner's construction budget or construction schedule, the CM should be providing options to recover, and meet budget and schedule. In order to contribute to the development of a Master Schedule, the CM needs to understand the Owner's internal levels of authority; project-level and "upstream" approval processes; the A/E's processes, as described above. And frankly, the CM needs to define their own processes. Similar to the A/E comments above, what is the process in developing an estimate? When is it "pencils-down" for the A/E? How have you addressed estimate and schedule QC time? While my above comments fall under the "seek to understand" category, it is as important that the CM "seek to be understood" by the stakeholders.
Procurement:
This is obviously a very broad topic, so we'll limit it to the procurement of design and construction services from an Owner's perspective. Any contract has the big three components: Scope, Schedule and Cost. I'd be remiss not to mention here the Q4-2023 Think... Newsletter addressed scope considerations in design contracts. So the distilled question here is "what" are you buying, and "how" are you buying it.
Recommendation: Incorporate a defined plan: This topic again speaks to the process. As it relates to the Master Schedule, is there going to be an RFQ process separate from the RFP, with a shortlist invited to the RFP? When might there be interviews? Is there a selection criteria in the RFQ/P? Is there a design competition? Or perhaps there is a list of participants already determined, and there is a singular RFQ/P?
What is the anticipated delivery method for both design and construction? In my opinion, the need to create a separate work stream in the Master Schedule to answer these questions and formulate a procurement plan should be obvious. Take (the relatively small amount of time) to explore and challenge your default opinions. Don't miss out on the opportunities to realize greater benefits.
Construction & Occupancy:
Let's look at each of these and the interplay with the preconstruction phase, and each other. Okay, the relationship between preconstruction and construction could fill a few volumes. To build on my earlier comments in preconstruction, the Owner will have processes that need to be included into the project schedule. As critical as the design and budget approvals, are approvals of trade awards, payment applications and the myriad of submittals and shop drawings. Again, who has the decision-making ability, and at what level does a decision need to go upstream? How will the construction schedule be managed? In the Q2-2024 ATLAS Newsletter we discussed contingencies, not just dollars, but schedule. How does the Owner's Occupancy plan work with the construction schedule? Is it phased, or is it all or nothing?
Recommendation: Define Early: Establish a work stream that will define these processes, and populate it with the leaders at the project level. This is not a big lift with the right people in the room. The benefit is that the process can be incorporated into construction schedules early on. Challenge your default positions, define the goals of reviews and approvals. Don't miss out on the opportunity to realize greater benefits, or at the least, have a solid plan. Contractually define your holidays, weather days and schedule float. Don't assume that delays in the preconstruction process can all be magically absorbed in the construction duration. Basically fight the temptation to put off defining processes until later. While procedures are addressed in contracts, it needs to be coordinated between stakeholders to be effective and as efficient as possible.
Using a chess analogy, define your "end game." How and when do you plan to occupy the building? In the initial master schedules there is typically a chunk of time at the end for the Owner to occupy the building. It's presumably based on prior experiences, or understandings. Test your occupancy assumptions early on. This is again another opportunity to establish a work stream to vet this schedule assumption. This could be started early in Design Development, when the design is essentially settled. The base assumption could be that there will be a single start of occupancy date, and the occupancy plan contingency could be a phased occupancy. What is the cost benefit of having life safety and comfort systems designed in a manner to provide this option?
Working in the real world, and not in Wonderland, I understand that there never seems to be enough time or resources to design and build any project. But it's always amazing to me that there always seems to be enough time and resources to try and fix something later on, and at a much greater expense. The simple concept of using separate work streams to get after issues is very effective, especially with the engagement and commitment of Owner, A/E and Builder. While what I touched on in this newsletter requires effort, it is time and/or money well-spent.
If you have a project that would benefit from a Project Health Assessment, or support in the development of a Project Schedule, please don't hesitate to contact me for an initial discussion. From there we can collaborate on potential next steps.
Perspectives:
One of my older posts was on feedback and perspectives. While that post was not topic-specific, it underscored the value in soliciting, and then actually listening to, the viewpoints of others. Please note that I haven't changed my opinion on the afore-mentioned values. But, given that this newsletter is coming out in the heart of summer, I thought I would be respectable ("Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability") and respectable of other people's summertime.
Coming next time....."TBD"
For the Q4 Newsletter I thought I would switch it up a bit. Consider this as a general invitation to all of you readers to submit any topics you might like addressed, or if you'd like to contribute to the newsletter.
Current work
Here's a brief update as we move past the halfway point of 2024:
Delivery of the fabricated components of a significant Fine Art installation has started. With stone fabrication nearing completion, ATLAS continues to support Quarra Stone Company on a retained basis. ATLAS worked with the Quarra team to develop the contract framework, commercial terms and procurement of services. The project's Non-Disclosure Agreement does not allow me to share any details at this time.
ATLAS' current work includes advisory engagements in risk mitigation, functional effectiveness, value management, procurement and expert opinion & testimony
ATLAS' current client make-up includes Builders, Fabricators, Specialty Contractors, and Owners, all active in the Design + Construction Industry.
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