During the inception and due diligence of a new project, a developer is trying to minimize his/or her at risk pursuit costs while verifying as many constraints and challenges as possible that may effect the cost proforma. More times than not, a developer will ask when can we complete the project and turn it over to the user… to which our response is, “WE CAN’T FINISH UNTIL WE START!”.
The decision to move forward with a new project is a huge balancing act and commitment of resources including time, talent and lots of money.
The initial Program Schedule prepared by Paris Projects provides the developer a general road map with critical milestones for major deadline needs to ensure the “timely” completion of the project.
The one thing to always remember when developing a Program Schedule is that TIME IS MONEY, however, our goal is to anticipate and optimize all the various schedule issues and minimize delay and needless costs.
Paris Projects (www.parisprojects.com), initiates the development of a Program Schedule with month durations to construct the various vertical buildings based on our 30 years of construction administration experience. We know that with retail, take McDonald’s as an example, a franchise can be flipping burgers 90 days after pad turnover, the corner drugstore takes 4 to 5 months to dispense prescriptions, a Lowe’s or Kohl’s will have a grand opening sale within 5 to 6 months, multiple retail Jr. boxes takes 7 to 8 months, a typical grocery store takes 9 months and a Target or JCPenney takes about 10 months from pad turnover to start selling clothing.
A building cannot commence until the GRADING is mostly completed and a structural building pad has been provided. We utilize our conceptual information gained during the due diligence phase to block out the Site Work Schedule. It is easy to allocate 2 to 4 weeks to install erosion control and set up benchmarks for GPS equipment. If the site is fully wooded, we calculate that 10 acres of timber clearing can occur per week. Stripping and stockpiling topsoil can start midway through the clearing process, however, many factors must be carefully considered when scheduling the grading durations.
A preliminary geotechnical investigation can indicate existing soil types and rock conditions. Sandy soils allow grading, as soon as, one day after a rain event; plastic and clay materials may require an additional 3 or 4 days of drying before grading can begin again.
A large amount of segmental retaining walls can slow down the rate of fill. Typically 30 days of settlement is required before building foundations can commence. Utilizing conceptual cut/fill quantities, we assume 10,000 cy to 20,000 cy per week can be achieved. Mass rock excavations can easily cut production rates in half. Grading during winter months can add another 30 to 45 days to the schedule due to weather events. Finally, we try to sequence the completion of fill operations at the larger/longer duration anchor stores first.
Water, sewer and public utilities may begin once rough finished grade is achieved, however, unique utility relocations like high voltage transmission lines, fiber optics and gas lines may require 6 to 9 months of prior coordination and design before the actual field work begins.
Underground site lighting, utility sleeves and landscape irrigation is sequenced into production prior to paving. Again, inclement winter weather can significantly delay final paving installations.
“Offsite” work is scheduled separately as it is not usually predicated by any “onsite” work. Considerable design and approval time allotment for DOT roadway and signal improvements must be addressed in the program schedule.
Next, we address the design and permitting durations which include boundary and TOPO surveys, geotechnical investigations, environmental and wetlands assessments, designs for grading, retaining walls, utilities, site lighting, paving, landscaping, irrigation, signage and vertical buildings and structures.
With larger projects, many times we start site work 6 to 9 months before the completion of the vertical building designs, to compress the overall project duration. By understanding which activities can occur simultaneously and which activities require predicated sequencing, we can develop an overall duration schedule based on “Critical Path” activities.
In retail development, we have to work around a “Black Out” period from November to March in which a retail tenant will usually not take delivery or attempt to open a new store. We look at our duration schedule to determine if we can deliver completed buildings and sitework before November or after March and, only then, do we tell the developer when we need to “START” and we can “FINISH” per the Program Schedule.
The design consultant and contractor prequalification is critical in building a TEAM that can perform per the Program Schedule.
Keith Paris
President
Paris Projects, Ltd.
