Milestone
A milestone is a notable point in a project’s course – for example the start of works, structural acceptance or handover. Unlike a task it has no duration; it marks an event, not an activity.
What milestones are for
- They give the schedule fixed points of reference.
- They suit communication with the client and the authorities.
- They make it visible whether a project is on schedule.
The client’s milestones
In building construction a recurring chain of milestones has become established, which the client uses for orientation. It usually sits at the very top of the master programme:
- Award of the structural works on the basis of the tender.
- Start of works.
- Completion of the structure – at the same time the start of building services.
- Facade scaffold removed – only then can external works begin.
- Pre-acceptance.
- Handover to the client.
These points are more than reporting points: the start of entire trades depends on several of them. It is therefore worth keeping them as markers in their own right, rather than letting them disappear into the bar of a task.
Between completion of the works and handover there is also a period of its own for pre-acceptance, defect rectification and cleaning – around five weeks is a common guide value. If handover is placed directly after completion, that time is missing from the schedule.
In Swiss practice such milestone chains are usually set in calendar weeks and across both years of construction – “structure complete by the end of week 41” rather than a date. At this level the week is the more honest figure: it keeps the milestone binding without claiming a precision that the construction sequence cannot deliver a year in advance.
In Menira milestones are shown as a diamond in the Gantt chart and can be linked to tasks.