Construction scheduling glossary
Terms around Gantt charts and construction scheduling, explained briefly and clearly – for site managers, planners and anyone reading a schedule.
- Acceptance of works The legal turning point between execution and warranty – not simply the last date on site.
- Construction schedule The time planning of all tasks in a construction project – from start of works to handover.
- Critical path The chain of tasks with no slack – if one slips, the whole end date moves.
- Dependency The logical link that sets which task must take place before which other.
- Extension of time The extension of agreed deadlines when a delay lies outside the contractor’s sphere of influence.
- Gantt chart The bar view that makes tasks, their duration and their order visible on a timeline.
- Lead time The time between measurement or order and the moment a component is available on site.
- Master construction programme The schedule covering the entire construction process – between the overall project programme and weekly site control.
- Milestone A point in time without duration that marks an important stage of a project.
- Notice of defects The formal objection to a departure from the contract – with its own evidential position before and after acceptance.
- Notice of delay The formal letter by which site management records a delay that has occurred or is foreseeable.
- Project delivery model The procurement model – and the largest scheduling factor before any building begins.
- Schedule programme The schedule in the state in which it becomes contractually binding – approved, dated and versioned.
- Swiss cost classification The system that orders construction costs in Switzerland by cost group and trade.
- Weekly programme The short-term schedule on site – who works where and on what over the coming weeks.