Case Study 1: Craig Construction

Having completed the quality planning of the project, Nash wanted to set the expectations of schedule performance with Craig. He asked Craig, "What is the order in which you are planning to do the job?". Craig answered, "Let's see...I will write down the activities for you." Nash asked Craig to let him know the order in which the activities had to be completed. Craig took out paper and started writing down the activities with the durations. He wrote which of the activities would take precedence over others. Nash looked at the list and asked Craig, "So the only activities that can be done at the same time are the window installation and the roof and skylight installation?" Craig replied, "Yes". Nash entered all this information into Microsoft Project software.

Activity

Description

Duration

Event Predecessors

A

Site Preparation

2 days

-

B

Install Posts

2 days

A

C

Build base and frame

4 days

B

D

Install roof and skylights

3 days

C

E

Install windows

3 days

C

F

Install siding

2 days

D

G

Interior woodwork

3 days

E, F

H

Lighting and HVAC

3 days

G

I

Interior drywall

3 days

H

J

Painting

1.5 days

I

K

Flooring

1.5 days

J

L

Clean-up

1 day

K

1. Draw a network diagram and conduct critical path analysis.
2. Do a scenario analysis for installation of windows lasting four days.
3. If Craig hires one more person for $80 a day and tries to bring back the installation of windows to two days, what is the crash cost? Hint: Is it meaningful to crash non-critical path activities?
4. How can you fast-track the project? How many days can you save by fast-tracking?

Hint: Talk to construction experts about fast-tracking. What activities can be made as parallel activities?

1. Can you compress the schedule by applying a crashing concept? If so, how would you implement crashing? What would be the extra cost that you would incur? Hint: Talk to construction experts. Try to estimate crash cost and crash time. Then, come up with the crashing sequence and increase in cost.