AI Overview
A construction program is a timeline showing when each trade and task happens on a job and what has to finish first. It holds up best when the durations come from the same quantities as the estimate. You need one once a tender, a contract or a lender asks for dates, or when one late start would push several trades back.
Key Highlights
- A construction program shows when each trade starts, how long it takes and what it waits on
- Durations worked out from the estimate quantities hold up better than rules of thumb
- Tenders, contracts and lenders often ask for a program before work starts
- The critical path is the chain of tasks where any delay moves the finish date
- An updated program shows what a delay or variation did to the completion date
What a Construction Program Is
A construction program is the timeline for a building job. It lists every task from the first pegs in the ground to handover. For each one it shows how long it takes and what has to finish first.
Most programs are drawn as a Gantt chart, which is a bar chart laid out against a calendar. Each task gets a bar as long as the time it takes, and links between the bars show which task waits on which.
Construction programming means building that timeline. Scheduling is using it day to day: booking subcontractors, ordering materials and setting inspection dates so they line up with the program.
What Is a Construction Program?
A construction program is a schedule showing when each trade and task happens on a building job. It shows how long each task takes and which tasks depend on others, usually as a Gantt chart. A good program takes its durations from the estimate quantities, so the dates match the real scope of work.
What Goes Into a Construction Program
A program you can run a job from shows more than a start and finish date for each trade. It also shows the waiting periods, orders and inspections that set those dates.
| Part of the Program | What It Shows | Why You Need It |
|---|---|---|
| Trade sequence | The order the trades start and finish in | No subcontractor turns up to a site that is not ready |
| Activity durations | Working days for each task | Every trade gets a realistic booking date |
| Dependencies | Which task has to finish before the next one starts | Shows what a late start does to everything after it |
| Lead times | How far ahead an item has to be ordered | Steel, windows and joinery arrive when they are needed |
| Waiting times | Days for a slab to cure, which means slowly gaining strength, before it carries load | They cannot be rushed, so they belong in the dates |
| Hold points | Inspections and sign-offs before work carries on | Work does not run ahead of the engineer or the inspector |
| Milestones | Slab down, frame up, lock-up (doors and windows in) and handover | Progress payments are often tied to them |
The Critical Path and Float
The critical path is the longest chain of linked tasks from start to finish. If any task on it runs a day late, the whole job finishes a day late.
Tasks off the critical path have float, which is spare time they can slip without moving the finish date. A good program shows the float openly, so you know which delays matter and which ones the job can absorb.
Jobs That Need a Construction Program in Perth
A small job with one crew can run off a calendar and a phone. You need a proper program once other people rely on your dates. The same goes once enough trades share the site that one late start pushes the rest back.
- A tender asks for a program with the price, which is common on commercial work
- The contract sets a completion date with liquidated damages, a daily charge for finishing late
- The client or the bank wants dates that line up with progress payments
- Structural steel, windows or joinery need ordering well before they are installed
- The work happens around people still living or trading in the building
On a tender, the program and the price go in together, so they need to agree. Tender estimating and the program can both be done from the same set of quantities.
Why the Program Should Come From the Estimate
Every duration on a program is a quantity divided by how fast a crew works. Take brickwork: the number of bricks on the job divided by what a crew lays in a day gives you the days.
Written without the estimate, those numbers tend to come from memory of the last job. If this house has far more wall than the last one, the frame and brick bars are too short from day one.
When both come from the same quantities, the estimate and the program agree. Change a quantity and you can see which dates move.
Perth Trade Availability
Perth trade availability changes through the building cycle. When work is busy, a trade you priced with early may not be free for weeks. The program has to allow for that booking time as well as the time on site.
Who Writes Construction Programs in Perth
On large commercial jobs, a planner or construction programmer often works inside the builder's own team. Smaller builders and subcontractors usually write their own program or pay someone to write it.
Our lead estimator has 18+ years in commercial and residential construction. Our construction programs and scheduling service covers residential and commercial jobs across Perth, and we confirm the price once we review your plans.
How We Put a Program Together
- 01
Quantities In
If we did the estimate, we already have the quantities. If not, send your trade quantities with the plans.
- 02
Sequence Set
We set the order of the trades and mark every inspection and sign-off as a hold point.
- 03
Durations Worked Out
Each task gets its days from the quantities and what a WA crew gets through in a day. Cure times and long-lead orders go in too.
- 04
Gantt Chart Drawn
Start and finish dates, the links between tasks and the milestones all go on one chart.
- 05
Delivered and Talked Through
You get a PDF for site and an editable file. We talk you through the critical path and the risks before you use it.
If someone else did the estimate, we can still write the program. The durations then come from industry benchmarks, the typical output for that kind of work. That makes them less precise than durations from your own quantities.
What to Check When You Review a Construction Program
Sometimes the program is handed to you, like a head contractor's program attached to your subcontract. Before you agree to its dates, check that:
- Your trade has enough days for the quantity of work
- The trade before you is due to finish before you start
- Cure times, inspections and long-lead deliveries show as their own tasks
- Wet weather is allowed for through winter
- The milestones match the progress payment stages in the contract
- Float is shown openly, not tucked inside longer bars
Query the Dates Before You Sign
If your subcontract refers to the head contractor's program, those may be the dates you are held to. Read the program alongside the contract and raise any date your crew cannot hit before you sign, while it can still be changed.
Keeping the Program Up to Date
A program is only useful while it matches the site. When the scope changes or a delay hits, update it, and the new finish date follows from the links between tasks.
Say a variation, extra work added after the contract was signed, pushes the job back two weeks. The updated program shows which tasks moved and by how much. That supports an extension of time claim, a request for more time to finish without penalty.
The money side runs through progress claims and variations. If we wrote your program, we can update it when the scope changes and show the effect on the completion date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most people use the words for the same thing. In Australia the program usually means the full timeline for the job, often drawn as a Gantt chart. Scheduling means booking trades, deliveries and inspections to match it.
The plans, the specification and the estimate quantities if you have them. If we did the estimate, we already have the quantities. Tell us any dates that are already fixed, like a contract start or a handover date the client has been promised.
A Gantt chart as a PDF for site use, plus an editable file if you want to update it yourself as the job runs.
Yes. Long-lead items such as structural steel, windows, kitchen joinery and specialist equipment go in with their lead times marked. You can see the date each one needs ordering to arrive on time.
Ready to Price Your Job
Reading about it is one thing. Getting the real numbers off your own plans is another. Send yours through and we will do a proper takeoff for you.
Written by the Perth Construction Estimating Team
Our estimators have 18+ years across commercial and residential construction and price Perth jobs every week. We work off real WA supply and labour rates, not a generic national card, so the numbers hold up on site.
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