I recently came across a case [Elec. Mach. Enters. V. Hunt Constr. Group, Inc. (In re Elec. Mach. Enters.), 2009 Bankr. LEXIS 2374 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. Aug, 28, 2009).] wherein Hunt Construction Group entered into a contract with Orange County, Florida to provide construction management services for the construction of the Orange County Convention Center.
Hunt started out issuing project schedules but as the project progressed and delays and coordination issues started becoming a problem, Hunt chose only to issue 3-week look-ahead schedules and then eventually provided no schedule updates at all to the trade contractors. As you would expect, with the fewer schedule updates and less scheduling information provided to the trade contractors, the more problems with trade coordination, trade stacking and material procurement occurred. In this particular case, one of the trade contractors, Electric Machinery Enterprises, ended up going into bankruptcy as result of the delays and conflicts experienced on the project. The courts found Hunt liable for $6million dollars to Electric Machinery Enterprises as a direct result of Hunt’s breach of its contractual duty under the trade contract to properly schedule and coordinate the work.
As most construction managers/ general contractors can attest, the further along projects get, often times the schedule becomes less frequently updated. When several conflicts or changes to schedule logic occur, the schedule changes and updates are often left until later, or as in this case replaced with 3 week look-aheads or the schedule is just forgotten while they’re busy putting out fires. Keeping schedules up to date with current data can be a difficult job, especially if your resources are limited. But if the schedule is kept current, then it can serve as a very useful tool and help to mitigate or reduce the impact of any further scheduling conflicts. It can also be a useful record of the project’s history and help to identify any possible delays.
While 3-week look-ahead schedules are a valid tool to be used in conjunction with an updated master CPM schedule, they are not a viable tool to schedule man-power, equipment or materials beyond the 3-week timeframe. They are also a poor tool to be used as a record of events. Project schedules are usually produced at the start of every job, but are often forgotten by the end of the job. This tends to happen when problems, delays or conflicts arise with the project and the task of updating the schedule seems daunting or not worth the effort. Here at CCL we often are brought in to help defend or prepare claims after the project is completed where the schedule data is incomplete or missing. Not only is the lack of an updated schedule part of what leads to the problems with coordination or lack thereof, but by using an updated schedule these conflicts can often be avoided.
Scott Schafer - CCL Construction Consultants, Inc.
