Sharon,
Part of the answer also depends upon the type of project delivery being provided. For example, our duties for schedule review may be less in a bid project vs. in a Cost + Fee CM at Risk project where the architect is reviewing both the costs and the contractor's progress and schedule with each month's pay application.
The schedule is primarily the contractor's tool for planning and managing the Work, but it's also used by the architect, for example, to schedule their own manpower for submittal reviews, field visits, etc. coordinated with the contractor's schedule.
There's not an awful of specific responsibilities for the architect regarding the contractor's schedule in our agreements other than informing the Owner of "known deviations from the most recent construction schedule submitted by the Contractor" (B101 §3.6.2.1 and A201 §4.2.3). The A201 spells out very general minimum requirements for the contractor's schedule (A201 §3.10.1) and our review ought to make sure at a minimum that the submitted schedule meets these requirements. Your own Division One should expand the requirements for the schedule to be appropriate with the project size and complexity. Neither the owner or architect "approves" the contractor's schedule. I will tell you from experience that asking for more breakdowns in the contractor's work on the schedule makes evaluating pay applications easier- for example, maybe asking for a breakdown in the plumbing into below grade, rough in, fixtures and trim on a smaller project rather than just having a single "Plumbing" line on the schedule of values. On larger projects, I've asked for a breakdown to include separate lines for labor and material on some things or for a large project, I may ask to have the work shown in no more than two week segments, since (a) this makes it easier to evaluate progress and (b) often, the schedule of values for the Pay App corresponds to the Contractor's Schedule breakdown, so pay app evaluation also becomes easier to do. Don't be afraid to ask for more detail on a schedule- that doesn't get into the contractor's responsibilities for means and methods or planning his work/establishing the schedule.
Generally, I also like to look at the logic and critical path of the schedule to see if it makes sense, but it's not up to us to make this determination other than if something looks really wacky, I'd ask the contractor about it- they may have a bad logic link or similar problem. I had a contractor starting some interior finishes before the roofing was shown installed, I asked about it, he said that it was how he was going to do it (so the roof did not end up on the project's critical path so when some of that work was delayed, we did not approve a time extension even though in every other project I've ever done, the roof is part of the critical path).
With each month's pay app, I would do a general comparison of the contractor's actual progress vs. what the latest schedule shows, and bring any obvious deviations to the owner's attention as the contract requires. If there's been any approved change order that changes the date of Substantial Completion, make sure that the contractor issues a revised schedule.
The hairiest responsibility that an architect will have with a schedule is when a change order requests a change in the Contract Time, either reducing or adding time. To change the Contract Time, the contractor must show that the change Work also impacts the date of Substantial Completion (which is a quick way of saying the changed work occurs somewhere along the critical path). As the evaluator of the contractor's change order request, you will have to make a reasonable effort to determine whether the work actually changes the contract time or not. Sometimes this is relatively simple, and you can do it, or it can get complicated pretty quickly, in which case you'll have to ask for help or if it's really a large time change or critical issue, get some outside expertise.
The advice William provided in an earlier answer is pretty right on for your responsibilities.
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Arlen Solochek FAIA
Owner
Arlen M. Solochek, Consulting Architect
Phoenix AZ
Arlen.Solochek@domail.maricopa.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2021 09:12 AM
From: Sharon Day
Subject: Review of Contractor's Construction Schedule
Polling others for your take on an architect's obligations when it comes to review of the contractor's construction schedule (outside of anything explicitly stated in the Owner-Architect Agreement and the General Conditions). I have often found information in those documents and the specifications, but maybe not as clear as perhaps I am looking for. Obviously we are not responsible for means and methods, sequencing and such, so that is not what I am questioning.
I have reviewed schedules and have made some comments or asked questions (like if you notice something of significance was not mentioned, questioning if it is included in a particular item). If the Contract Documents only state an NTP and a Date of Substantial Completion, how the contractor gets from A to B is their deal. Some contracts or specs may list some milestones also. So our review is general in nature. Certainly commenting if they try to include a completion date earlier or later than any specified Date of S.C.
Is the Architect's review for information only or are we obligated to take an action (Reviewed, No Exceptions Taken, Exceptions as Noted and so on)? Does the schedule actually need to be approved by the Owner or Architect? In more cases than not I have seen the Contract Docs mention to submit as an informational submittal.
The other side of schedule review is during progress of construction, monitoring the progress and notifying the Owner of any concerns, asking for recovery schedules per the specs when needed and the like.
Would like to hear other's thoughts on this.
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Sharon Day AIA
Senior Associate
GWWO Architects
Baltimore MD
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