Contractors Support Services

Project Consulting & Scheduling Services (PCSS) offers public and private general and trade contractors a broad range of construction project-related support services to help them stay on track, regardless of the typical schedule delays and project overruns a project may experience. The following are brief descriptions of PCSS’s contractor support service offerings:

Onsite Professional Scheduling Consultation

PCSS has over 30 years of experience providing scheduling support services to contractors. The contractor’s scheduler is responsible for forming a solid working relationship with the owner’s construction management team. This is very important to correctly show the contractor’s plan of action in the baseline schedule submittal. The more detailed the baseline, the better the schedule will be at catching potential delays issues early and allowing the contractor to put the owner on notice of potential delays. The contractor may also decide to take steps to either avoid or minimize the effects of the delay upon the contract-imposed milestone completion dates.

Prepare Contractor’s Baseline Construction Schedule Submittal

The baseline schedule is one of the most important documents on the project site. Every baseline schedule deserves a high degree of attention to detail and work sequences, as it shows the contractor’s original plan for performing its work. The contractor’s scheduler will show the contractor’s work plan is reasonable and productive. Anything negatively affecting the baseline schedule may delay the project, so the contractor’s scheduler must make certain the baseline shows all the contract work scope and enough detail so potential delays can be spotted as early as possible and managed accordingly.

Cost and Resource Loading of the Schedules

If the scheduling specifications call for cost and/or resource loading of the construction schedule, this adds more complexity to developing the schedule. Cost loading a schedule may show a breakout of costs by activity, which appears similar to line items in the schedule of values for substantiating the contractor’s payment application. However, sometimes the owners wants to “pay of the schedule” which takes a great deal of care. Line items in a typical schedule of values usually will not be the same as the activities in the construction schedule. In this case, the contractor’s scheduler will work with both the owner’s team and the contractor to show the advantages and disadvantages of using this method of substantiating the contractor’s payment application. PCSS has significant experience in addressing these issues with owner construction management teams.

Provide Onsite Professional Staff Augmentation Services

PCSS can provide onsite professionals to be a part of the contractor’s construction management team. Usually these services include project management, engineers, scheduling, change order management, and potential construction claims investigation and analysis.

Attend Meetings and Prepare Professional Reports

PCSS will attend all meetings that are required by either the owner or the contractor. The firm will prepare professionally-written and documented reports and narratives to demonstrate and defend the contractor’s position regarding disruptions and impacts to their field operations. PCSS has the third-party software to present the data in such a way both parties can agree a delay is underway and what measures should be taken to get the project back on track.

Prepare Contractor’s Construction Progress Schedule Submittals

The contractor’s scheduler will update the previously-accepted construction schedule for the project to show the current period’s work-in-place progress. The contractor’s scheduler is responsible for using industry-standard scheduling techniques and making certain the schedule is “clean.” A clean schedule is one free of potential problems caused by unapproved deleted or added activities, illogical or unnecessary relationship changes, work “out-of-sequence” issues, work not starting or finishing on time, and work showing delays, but could be performed concurrently with other work. PCSS uses specialized third-party software to provide the most thorough review possible, so the chances a schedule submittal being rejected by the owner’s construction management team due to scheduling errors, is very low.

Onsite Verification of Contractors Work-In-Place Progress

The contractor’s scheduler will usually work remotely from the project site. However, the contractor’s scheduler will, upon request of the contractor, walk the site with the superintendent to verify all work-in-place percentages each reporting period.

Prepare and Report on Contractor’s Progress to Date

The contractor’s scheduler will produce professionally-written reports showing the contractor’s progress for the current period and which issues it is encountering in its field operations. PCSS has the software to produce high-quality reports and narratives for the contractor to submit to the owner’s team. Just as importantly, PCSS will not hold up schedule submittals, thus jeopardizing the contractor’s payment for the current period.

Report / Analysis of Contractor’s Earned Value Analysis (EVA) and Payment Application

The contractor’s scheduler will provide all the required earned value analysis and other financial information that is required by the scheduling specifications. These are mandatory for getting the contractor paid on time.

Report / Analysis of Contractor’s Manpower and Other Resources

The scheduling specifications may require the contractor to show man-hours and other resources, such as rental equipment and materials, in the construction schedule. Since this information depends to a large extent upon how the contractor bid the project and their means and methods of performing the work, the contractor’s scheduler will work closely with the contractor’s team to make certain the resources are fairly represented and the quantities are realistic.

Prepare Recovery / Revision Schedules as Necessary

If the contractor is encountering frequent delays, disruptions, or other impacts requiring the re-sequencing of its work, or if the project is starting to show negative float, then the owner may require either a recovery or revision schedule be submitted separately from the update schedules. This allows the owner’s construction management team to see a more realistic view of where the project is at that time. If the owner’s team accepts these schedules, then they become the new baseline or updated “schedule of record” for the project.

Prepare Recovery / Revision Schedules as Necessary

If the contractor determines it is behind schedule due to reasons beyond its control, the owner will require the contractor to submit a time extension request along with a time impact analysis (TIA) generated from the construction schedule. It is important that proper notifications were given to the owner’s construction management team as to the delay in question. PCSS has a great deal of experience in presenting the contractor’s side of the story, and getting the contractor the requested time extension. Without the time extension, the contractor is on the hook for the liquidated damages associated with the number of days they miss the contract completion milestone dates.

Incorporate Change Orders and Time Extensions into Schedules

The contractor is required to incorporate change orders into the construction schedule if they affect the schedule. Examples of these situations include deleted or added work scope, resequencing of the work or of the trades in performing the work, or change the contract specified milestone completion dates to new dates.

Assist Contractor with Subcontractor Coordination

PCSS is prepared to code the schedule activities in such a way as to allow the preparation of individual sub-contractor (trade) schedules from the overall Project construction schedule. PCSS believes it is necessary to gain sub-contractor “buy-in” to their schedules, before the project starts, to better manage their forces and minimize surprises later.

Provide Supporting Data for Contractor’s Potential Delay Claims

PCSS is prepared to use any number of investigative techniques to graphically demonstrate the delays in question and their effect upon the contract-specified milestone completion dates. Usually this entails performing a “windows analysis” and using a backwards “schedule delay analysis” technique to show which activities were most critical during any single day of the delay period. By doing this, PCSS can determine not only how many days of the delay were outside the contractor’s control, but also determine who the delaying parties are and how many days of delay are attributable to each party.

Provide Litigation, Arbitration, or Mediation Services in Support of the Contractor

PCSS will defend the contractor by performing an investigation of the facts in the case, and preparing the necessary reports and narratives to help substantiate the constructor’s allegations. This investigative work requires a high degree of precision and very accurate note-taking in order to meet the standards required for presentation in a court of law. PCSS will work in conjunction with the contractor’s attorney to present the case for the best possible outcome.

Assist with Change Order Preparation and Management

Change orders are very important to a contractor, and possibly make the difference between recording a profit on a project or not. PCSS can perform these services, which include investigating and quantifying the change, writing and submitting the change order, and lastly, negotiate the change with the owner’s construction management team.

Assist with Preparation of Other (Non Delay Related) Construction Claims

There are numerous types of potential construction claims that are not necessarily schedule delay related, such as unforeseen conditions, constructive acceleration, excessive RFIs and change orders, design deficiencies, and interference from other parties to the project. PCSS will try to sort out all the issues that negatively affected the contractor’s field operations, and offer its opinion as to the merits of the allegations and a quantification of the damages owed to the contractor.

Report / Analysis of Contractors Constructive Acceleration Delays

Constructive acceleration is a term used to define a situation in which the contractor has notified the owner’s team of a delay situation that is beyond its control. The owner’s team either will not or cannot give directions to the contractor to avoid the delay. In other words, the contractor is in a situation where it cannot control events, but the owner is still holding the company to the contract-specified milestone completion dates anyway. This exposes them to liquidated damages when the dates are exceeded. Thus, the contractor is “constructively accelerated” when they have to add resources and work longer hours than what was in their original plan to attain the original contract completion milestone dates. PCSS will monitor this situation, and make certain all schedule submittals during the period of acceleration place the owner on notice of the “constructive acceleration” and that the contractor will pursue this claim later.