Critical path in construction: What it is and how it improves project management

Just like anything that involves planning – a party, a wedding, a charity event – building or remodeling a house requires a lot of thought and preparation in order to deliver the best possible outcome. Determining the critical path for a construction job is essential during your project planning process.

The critical path is important because it helps builders finish each job on schedule and within budget. By identifying the critical path, project managers can focus their attention and resources on the most significant tasks.

Read on to see how you can implement a critical path method for your business and the benefits of having this process in place for project planning.

What is the critical path method (CPM)?

The critical path method is a model used in project management to input all necessary factors involved in a project and output the optimal timeline for completing it. The foundation of the critical path method is built on dependent tasks or the idea that a new task cannot start until the preceding task is finished. By stringing the dependent tasks together from start to finish, you define your critical path.

Now, let’s apply this method to construction project management. Laying out a critical path of functions to complete a job will help you prioritize and allocate resources to get the most important tasks done and to reschedule any lower-priority work that may be hindering your team’s progress. Using the critical path method to make these changes will optimize work on the job site without delaying the end results.

What is critical path scheduling?

A critical path schedule represents the successive series of minimum tasks required to complete a project. By using the critical path method, project managers can identify which components of the construction schedule are urgent dependencies that cannot be delayed and which components are flexible and can be addressed later.

As you create schedule items and link them together, you’ll organically form the critical path. Based on these links, you’ll have items that if moved will directly impact the completion date of your schedule.

Why is the critical path important in project management?

The critical path is important in project management because it helps in determining the tasks that are the most essential to the project’s timeline. By identifying the critical path, project managers can focus their efforts on managing and monitoring those tasks to ensure they’re completed on time. Critical path can be used in project management by creating a timeline for a job, identifying critical tasks, setting deadlines, allocating resources and monitoring progress.

The benefits of critical path construction

In construction, time is money, especially when it comes to coordinating a project schedule with team members, trade partners, job site maintenance, materials delivery and more. Any endeavor to help streamline the construction scheduling process is a great way to preserve profit margins and keep schedules on track.

Two of the biggest benefits of critical path construction scheduling are more effective schedule management and the ability to easily identify and react to schedule risks. By following the CPM in construction, home builders and remodelers visualize the alignment of their project tasks and maximize their resources accordingly. This includes being able to see which tasks are a part of the critical path and need more attention and which tasks are not as critical and can be moved.

This type of scheduling also means that when risks to the critical path arise, contractors can identify and appropriately respond. For example, if a delivery of framing lumber is delayed, the project manager can consult their critical path schedule and adjust future schedule tasks to ensure minimal disruption to the project.

By better managing schedules and reducing project timeline risks, home builders and remodelers protect their bottom line from costly delays that stem from materials delivery, labor challenges, scheduling issues or any other unforeseen problems.

The essential elements of critical path calculation

There are four essential elements to include when calculating the critical path for your construction job: time, dependencies, deliverables and deadlines. See how factoring in these four elements will ensure the success of your project management and promote on-time job completion.

1. Time

Time plays an important role in critical path calculation because it allows for accurate scheduling of tasks and provides an estimate of how long each task will take to complete. This ensures that all parties involved in the project are aware of how long a task will take, allowing for better coordination. Additionally, it helps identify any potential delays or problems that might occur during the project, so they can be taken care of quickly.

2. Dependencies

Dependencies are needed for a critical path calculation because they’re used to identify when tasks need to be completed in order to keep the project on schedule and within budget. The critical path method considers all the tasks, their duration and the dependencies between them so that a project manager can easily see which tasks need to be done first, which ones can wait and which ones should be done simultaneously.

3. Deliverables

The deliverables are the tangible products or services that are delivered to the client at the end of each stage of construction. Deliverables serve as milestones that can be used to measure progress and identify areas where additional resources are needed. The critical path method helps identify which deliverable tasks need to be completed in order to move forward to the next stage.

4. Deadlines

The critical path calculation relies heavily on accurate deadlines for each task in order to form a critical path. The deadlines help keep everyone involved and accountable during the project and allow them to plan for potential delays. By having accurate deadlines, construction teams can plan their work more effectively and make sure they’re able to meet their goals.

How to calculate critical paths

Critical paths are essential to keeping your project on schedule and within budget. Calculating a critical path in construction can be done by following these steps.

Determine the scope of work and estimate a timeline

To implement the construction critical path method, you first need to determine all the tasks and larger projects that are essential for completing your job on time. Making a list of all the necessary work will get the process started and help you estimate a home building timeline. Let’s say you’re building a new house. After meeting with your clients, your scope of work may look something like this:

• Ordering necessary materials
• Preparing the construction site
• Pouring foundation
• Completing rough framing and plumbing
• Installing electrical and HVAC
• Adding insulation and drywall
• Installing interior fixtures
• Completing exterior finishes

From here, you can go on to estimate the amount of time it’ll take for each task, which will give you a good idea of how long the timeline should be for the entire build.

Decide on task and project dependencies

After determining your scope of work and estimating a timeline for your job, it’s time to decide which tasks and projects have dependencies. This is where Buildertrend’s Schedule feature can help.

Our Schedule feature is great for keeping your projects on track, since it can help you organize your tasks from the very beginning. Start by entering in your essential projects and create dependencies along the way. With Buildertrend’s Schedule feature, you can easily link individual tasks or job groups, which will automatically form dependencies.

By laying your dependencies out in our Schedule feature, you’re able to quickly adjust in the event of a timeline shift. Once tasks are linked, all dependencies are automatically shifted accordingly.

Define your project milestones and deliver on deadlines

After deciding on your dependencies, you can then define your deliverables and project milestones. These may be defined as completing a project or larger group of tasks that have an impact on the overall timeline of your job.

That being said, there may be underlying factors that are out of your control. For example, a shortage in the kind of lumber you need to complete framing could delay its delivery, which leads to a delay in framing.

Although the framing is delayed, you can use the critical path method and predetermined schedule to make any necessary adjustments and avoid pushing the overall timeline or completion date of the build.

How residential construction uses critical path scheduling

There are a few ways your construction business can do critical path scheduling. But understanding these different methods is important to choosing one that’s the most efficient. Discover which one is right for your business.

Manual methods

Contractors can create their own critical path schedules using manual methods such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. While not specifically designed for these applications, both programs allow builders to create a version of a Gantt chart to visualize schedule tasks. These programs do not, however, enable contractors to easily rearrange their schedule when changes occur, meaning a lot of manual and time-consuming updates.

Critical path construction software

There are a variety of critical path construction software solutions available on the market today, usually in the form of Gantt chart software packages like Microsoft Project. These packages allow contractors to build out tasks, order and organize their schedule tasks and easily make schedule changes without having to make manual updates. These software solutions offer many time-saving benefits compared to manual methods but are still isolated from the rest of a builder’s workflow, leaving duplicate process gaps that can affect a company’s productivity.

Integrated construction management

Integrated construction project management software gives the benefit of critical path software while also fully supporting the entire construction project process. For example, integrated solutions like Buildertrend not only allow contractors to create and rearrange schedule tasks, but they also assign team members to schedule tasks and automatically update those team members when the schedule changes.

Managing construction projects with Buildertrend

Using Buildertrend to manage your construction projects sets you apart from other builders and keeps you ahead. Our team at Buildertrend can help you easily implement a critical path method construction software. Our platform includes an easy-to-use Schedule feature, efficient project timelines and seamless approval processes that ensure projects are completed on time.

Hasler Homes uses the Buildertrend Schedule to keep its projects on track, specifically with the Gantt view. The Gantt view allows users to link and rearrange schedule items with ease. With built-in dependencies, a shift in one schedule task will cause connected tasks to adjust accordingly, keeping everything in order.

Once in the Buildertrend platform, you can easily view the critical path at any point by clicking the “Critical Path” toggle on the schedule.

If you’d like to learn more about how our software can help you implement the critical path method, give us a call or contact your account executive today to schedule a training.

Ready to take advantage of Buildertrend’s benefits? Schedule a demo today.

Critical path construction FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions about the critical path in construction.