Construction Schedule

For many contractors and subcontractors “fast-track” is a dirty word. It often means compressing a building schedule, thereby causing conflict between trades as they scramble to finish their work. Fast-track construction can reduce the quality of a project by forcing installations before conditions are right. More

What Marquette University, Milwaukee, wanted for its new Al McGuire Center sounded simple enough—a 22,000-square-foot maple gym floor that would be flat and would not buckle and warp over time due to moisture problems. For Milwaukee's Opus North (specialists in design/build construction), the floor was a critical-path item on the construction schedule. Opus North wanted fast construction but without problems between the concrete and flooring contractors. In order to honor the schedule for the wood flooring installation, the moisture content in the concrete floor slab had to be low enough. Making all this happen would be a challenge involving good technology and attention to the details. More

Two expressways with a total price tag of $3 billion and a construction schedule that could span 15 years have been referred to as "highways of hope" for the region around Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania. The Mon/Fayette Expressway will extend about 70 miles south from Pittsburgh through the Monongahela River Valley and western Fayette County to Interstate 68 near Morgantown, W.V. The Southern Beltway will form a 30-mile arc around Pittsburgh between the Mon/Fayette and Beaver Valley expressways, with a radius of about 15 miles measured from Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation have completed the first 18 miles of the Mon/Fayette. Seeking cost-effective ways to enhance the quality and safety of its new route, the commission has specified white concrete for all the mainline bridge parapets on both the Mon/Fayette and the Southern Beltway. The decision to use white parapets came from the recognition that more accidents per mile driven occur at night than during daylight hours. The first white parapets on the Mon/Fayette were constructed in September 1998, and the parapet work continues as the route is extended. A few parapets were cast in place in fixed forms, but on the longer bridges, they are being slipformed. More

For many concrete contractors, it seems that all projects taking placing in late fall end up being "rush" jobs to beat the cold weather. But even contractors who don't work in areas with the potential for bad winter weather find that jobs get pushed and squeezed at the end of the year. Some projects are budgeted to be completed by year-end, so customers press their contractors to finish on schedule. The need to occupy building, retail, or parking space can also push a customer's hot button. More

When Taylor Ball Construction got the contract to pour almost 60,000 lineal feet of riser seating for the new Kansas City International Speedway, it faced a forming dilemma. Because setting the riser forms fast and accurately was the top priority, Taylor Ball originally intended to use a gang-form system moved into position by crane. However, crane access on the job was restricted. Deciding instead to use hand-set forms, the contractor was confronted with another problem--how to meet the high production rates required by the project schedule. More

The Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant is an immense project requiring 135,000 cubicyards of concrete. The plant is spread out over 12 areas of Pacific Ocean front, making multiple concrete pours necessary for nearly every working day. To achieve the goals of the project's general contractor of getting concrete to each pour location with a minimum of setup time and completing each pour quickly, a pumping subcontractor with long-boom equipment was brought in. Then the general contractor set up its own concrete crew rather than subbing out the work. More