Last week, you examined the inputs that construction firms use to plan for a construction project. These inputs include an understanding of the project’s scope and objectives, necessary activities, including their sequence and duration, resource requirements, and overall schedule constraints. Construction managers use these inputs to form the basis of the project schedule used to coordinate and control a project’s day-to-day activities throughout its life cycle. However, what happens if the inputs to the schedule are inaccurate?
Imagine that you are the construction manager overseeing a small commercial construction project. You are in the process of planning and developing your pre-construction schedule and you are collecting activity durations from the subcontractors responsible for several components of the project. Based on your history with these types of projects, you believe that some of the activity durations provided are unrealistic. Some subcontractors seem to have inflated their estimates, while others have provided shorter-than-normal durations. From your experience, you recognize that these unrealistic activity durations have the potential to affect the schedule, and the project, negatively.
How would you resolve this issue? How could these unrealistic durations negatively affect your schedule? In your response, focus on at least two ways that your schedule could be negatively affected. Provide rationale for your assertions.
