How to create a construction project schedule: Best practices, templates and pro tips

Completing projects without a construction schedule is like taking a road trip without directions or not making a grocery shopping list. You may reach your goal, but not without wasting time and money – two things you definitely want to avoid.

And although scheduling in construction can often be a daunting task, we’re here to give you the pointers you need to feel confident and coordinated in your next project.

We’ll dive into construction scheduling basics, outline how to create a project schedule that serves you and your crew and point to some of Buildertrend’s construction management features that will make managing your schedules easy and efficient. Let’s do this.

What is construction scheduling?

When it comes to project management, construction scheduling is the act of outlining each step that should be completed by a certain deadline before the next step can be taken. It involves creating a detailed timeline or roadmap that outlines when specific construction activities will be performed, the sequence in which they’ll occur and the resources required to complete them.

For example, you’d certainly want to complete the build of a kitchen island before installing countertops. There are loads of different steps in every kind of construction project, so tracking and managing all the moving parts is no easy task — but it might be the most important part of construction project planning and execution.

Why is a construction schedule important?

A well-organized project schedule is important for builders because it keeps everyone – including subs and clients – up to date with how the build is progressing.

You and your team can refer back to your project schedule to see when and where you’re supposed to be, what delays or challenges you might encounter and what your clients can expect as the build advances.

Not only is construction scheduling a vital part of managing your time, it’s an essential quality control measure. Being able to depend on a construction plan and project schedule allows you to streamline resource management in every phase of the build.

Who uses construction scheduling?

Lots of seasoned builders depend on reliable construction scheduling software every day to get the job done. Take Buildertrend users NOVUS Building Services and Sidar Builders, for example.

These two companies have improved their construction project management and their bottom line by integrating dynamic project scheduling methods to their workflow. 

The best part? The Buildertrend Schedule tool is a helpful resource for project owners, crew members, subs and clients alike.

For example, a project owner can easily view the Schedule to keep track of the overall project or workflow, while a crew member might utilize the Schedule to manage daily tasks and keep their work on track.

Meanwhile, subs and clients can use the Schedule to see where their input is needed, how things are progressing when they aren’t on-site and keep an eye on any time-consuming delays.

“Things can change on the job site at any moment. With the project schedule, we can easily navigate through those changes and move on to the next part of the project quickly.” – Charielle Sowers, Director of Business Development at Owen Homes

What are the types of construction scheduling?

Not all construction companies or construction projects have the same workflow. There are several methods to arrange your project schedule. Buildertrend allows users to view and manage their schedules with multiple views.

Construction schedule type	What it is	Key benefits	Best for
Month, week or day view	A flexible calendar-style view that lets you zoom out to see long-term milestones or zoom in to monitor daily tasks.	Offers high-level project visibility, easy timeline forecasting and a clear breakdown of day-to-day responsibilities.	Builders managing multiple active projects who need both macro and micro schedule control.
List view	Converts all upcoming tasks into a clean, chronological list with the nearest deadlines at the top.	Simplifies prioritization, reduces clutter and makes it easy to focus on what needs attention immediately.	Busy project managers who want a fast, linear snapshot of their construction schedule.
Gantt Chart	A visual bar-chart format that links tasks, shows dependencies and adjusts automatically when dates shift.	Helps prevent bottlenecks, improves sequencing and provides an interactive picture of how one deadline impacts another.	Complex jobs with multiple trades and tight timelines.
Agenda view	A filtered view that displays tasks assigned to a single user or role across all projects.	Improves workload balancing, clarifies responsibilities and ensures no team member is overloaded.	Larger teams where leadership needs insight into crew and subcontractor capacity.
Baseline view	A “snapshot” of the schedule at a specific moment in time used for comparison as work progresses.	Reveals delays, helps analyze performance and supports accurate forecasting on future jobs.	Builders focused on improving accuracy, refining timelines and scaling operations.
Workday expectations view	Shows which days the team is working, not working or impacted by conditions like holidays or weather delays.	Aligns internal teams and clients, improves communication and sets realistic expectations on progress.	Any project where external factors – weather, inspections, client changes – impact production.
Phases list	A filtered breakdown of all tasks associated with specific phases of construction.	Makes it easy to track phase-by-phase progress and identify when work is ready to advance to the next stage.	Builders who standardize workflows or rely on phase-based billing and inspections.

Free webinar: How I save 20 hours per week: Get an in-depth look at how Tankersley Construction manages scheduling, budgeting, estimating and more – all in one place. Watch the webinar

How to create a powerful construction schedule with Buildertrend

The easiest way to standardize your approach is by using construction scheduling software. Buildertrend’s Schedule tool helps construction companies around the globe keep their projects on track, maintain their timelines and take on more jobs. Let’s be real, who doesn’t need a hand with that?

Here are a few ways to leverage Buildertrend and make construction scheduling a breeze.

1. Use construction scheduling templates to save time and repetition

We’re big fans of templates, and we think you should be, too. Why? Well, next to data entry, templates are one of the biggest time savers for our users. You can create a template within almost every feature within Buildertrend.

From pre-sale to job end – whether it’s a schedule, job settings, bid packages or client selections – you can template it. Using templates is a huge time saver when creating a schedule for a new job. Instead of having to start from scratch, you can use a pre-saved template as the foundation and make changes as needed to fit each specific job.

And, have you ever really liked the way you set up a job schedule, but forgot to save it as a template before closing it? No worries! You can create templates from closed jobs, too. By creating templates, you’ll save yourself from having to manually fill in information every time you start something new.

Grab this free construction schedule template that top builder Cardinal Crest Homes actually uses to complete every project on time.

2. Share building schedule items with your trade partners

Would you say you spend a large portion of your day on the phone giving and getting updates from your team and subs? We thought you might. We can help.

By using Buildertrend’s Schedule feature to share upcoming tasks for each job with your team and trade partners, you can easily minimize the amount of time you spend on the phone. This will not only save you time but will make for a more seamless scheduling process that keeps everyone on the same page.

3. Use tags for easy tracking and searchability

Tags are great tools for many reasons and can be used in multiple ways throughout Buildertrend. For example, you can use tags to track certain stages of each job or make it easy to search different phases like demolition, foundation or framing.

Let’s say you need to make a change to the phase of a job or shift the completion timeline. You can simply search the tag for the phase you’re wanting to change, and it’ll pop up in seconds. No more unnecessary time spent on searching for tasks or adjusting scheduled phases.

4. Assign Tasks to schedule items

We talk about Tasks a lot. That’s because it’s one of our most used features, helping Buildertrend users stay organized and on track.

By adding Tasks to your schedule, you can easily track what’s getting done and by who. That’s right – you can assign task items to your team members or subs, making it easy for you to track the project progress and know who’s responsible for each task. Adding Tasks will streamline your job processes and ensure accountability, alleviating the need to constantly check in.

5. Try multiple views to enhance your experience

It helps to see the entire project from all angles. Lucky for you, our Schedule feature can be seen through multiple views – nine to be exact. Each view has a purpose, depending on the task at hand, giving you the choice to decide which type of construction scheduling is right at that very moment.

Here’s an example: Say you’re on the month view, but you need to rearrange a couple of schedule items. We would suggest switching over to the Gantt view. The Gantt view allows you to link and rearrange schedule items with ease. This means when you move one item, the others follow suit and adjust accordingly, keeping everything in order. Cool, right? We think so, too.

Why this works: Real results from a pro remodeler

Jkath Design Build + Reinvent – a Twin Cities–based design + remodeling firm – dramatically improved its project management by relying on Buildertrend’s construction schedule tool with results that speak for themselves.

• Revenue growth: Using a disciplined scheduling process, Jkath grew from managing about $2 million in annual revenue to $5 million.
• Productivity boost: Their use of a shared, centralized construction schedule – coordinating cabinetry, design, subcontractors and client selections – increased productivity by at least 50%.
• Administrative savings: By entrusting scheduling, documentation and coordination to their software system instead of a full-time admin hire, Jkath effectively replaced a dedicated administrative position, freeing up resources to invest in growth and craftsmanship.

“Using the scheduling tool to communicate with our subcontractors has been a game changer. We can just go to Buildertrend to find that one document … it eliminates any of the additional communication internally that would have historically happened again over the course of a dozen emails.” – Katie Kath, Partner and Interior Designer at Jkath Design Build + Reinvent

For established builders planning to scale, Jkath’s story shows exactly how a well-managed construction schedule delivers more completed jobs, smoother workflows, stronger margins and fewer headaches.

Ready to become a construction scheduling pro?

If the above caught your eye and you want to learn more about the endless capabilities of Buildertrend’s Schedule feature, give us a holler! Reach out anytime to your Buildertrend account team with any questions. Or if you’re new here and ready to take your business to the next level, schedule a demo with us today.