Requirements Regarding Structure and Level of Detail for Schedules and Sequence Plans for Construction Projects - Part 1: Status Quo and Fundamentals of Organization

For each awarded package, contractees and contractors agree on terms and deadlines for a contract for work. Therewith the executing company takes the task of transferring the target construction substance into physical reality. Principally by submitting an offer the contractor confirms his ability to complete the agreed task within the timeframe given by the principal along an unimpaired schedule. Yet, with numerous projects contractual terms seem to be violated and cause severe disputes about the respective reasons and consequently about compensation and damage claims. These are mostly based on "schedules modified by disruptions" or retrospectively constructed theoretical schedules. On this background needs to be clarified how such a project could have been controlled and led to success at all, in particular whether the therefore inevitably required sequence planning was available at the necessary level of detail. Furthermore would this plan need to rest on a very accurately and completely elaborated production plan including all required activities, their duration, interactions and assignment of resources which if existing may have served to avoid the situation. Finally the question arises whether the contractual deadlines determined by the principal for each awarded package have principally been reasonable regarding the requirements of division of work therewith enabling the principal to fulfil his coordination duties. The presented research points out that terms like "Schedule" and "Sequence Plan" are presently according to the literature not defined unambiguously and therefore used synonymously. Furthermore the level of detail derived from requirements of the specific project are not given. Hence at first "Schedules" were assigned to the sphere of the principal while "Sequence Plans" were located at the contractor's side. Based on this, the required level of detail is determined according to the geometrical and the contractual structure of the respective project.