We had a problem with construction in the beginning. Every contractor conducts business in a different way. They expect to control both the payment schedule and the work sequence. The problem was that they didn’t communicate either clearly.
When we can’t understand the process, how can we gauge progress? How can we know when to award the next progress payment (draw)? How can we protect the investment? What do we do when the contractor demands a progress payment (draw)? Should we award payment just because he says so?
Believe it or not, that is just what we did in the beginning. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that not all contractors are organized enough to handle larger projects given only a set of plans. Even worse, others are just untrustworthy!
We knew that we had to solve this problem. We needed a system that could clearly communicate the construction process. The system had to show progress and arrange contractor payments based on performance.
How would you organize and sequence construction? There are an uncountable number of possible construction tasks. These tasks must be completed in a particular order. This took a while, but we created the system. We use it for every construction project we manage!
The SHV Construction Sequence has 6 construction phases. The phases are logical groupings where progress payments make sense. Each phase has 8 construction steps. A step is a grouping of like-kind construction tasks. The steps must be completed in a particular order. Every step has a list of prerequisite steps to specify the ordering. The list of prerequisite steps contains all prior steps that must be completed before this step can begin. Very few construction projects use all 48 construction steps. We only use the steps we need for the project.
This PDF Document product explains each of the 48 construction steps and the prerequisite steps in full detail. It also has a full-page, concise, and easy to read overview table and prerequisite flowchart diagram. The product also contains prerequisite long listings, the magic that makes the SHV Project Timeline Template work effortlessly!
The SHV Construction Sequence is designed to be used with the SHV Construction Scope Of Work Software to create a detailed, organized, and sequenced scope of work. The scope of work is used with the SHV Project Timeline Template to create the SHV Project Timeline. This timeline graphically shows the progress for the project while construction is underway!