The master schedule tells you where the project should be. The look-ahead tells crews what they will actually do on Monday. Most schedule slips I have seen started as constraints nobody looked at three weeks out.
What is a look-ahead schedule?
A short-interval schedule, usually three weeks, sometimes two to six, built from the master schedule at a finer level of detail. AIA A201-2017 Section 3.10 requires the contractor to prepare and keep a construction schedule current; the look-ahead is how the field keeps that promise week to week.
| Master schedule | Three-week look-ahead | |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon | Whole project | Next 15 working days |
| Detail | Activities and milestones | Daily tasks by crew and location |
| Owner | Scheduler or PM | Superintendent with trade foremen |
| Updated | Monthly | Weekly |
How do you build one, step by step?
- Pull the next three weeks of activities from the master schedule.
- Break each activity down by location, crew and day.
- Ask each trade foreman for crew sizes and sequence; their buy-in is the point.
- Screen every task for constraints: open RFIs, submittals not approved, material not delivered, inspections not booked, predecessor work not done, access, equipment.
- Assign each constraint an owner and a date to clear it.
- Commit only to work that is ready for next week.
- Review weekly, compare what was done with what was committed, and record why anything slipped.
How do you measure whether the look-ahead works?
The Last Planner System, developed through the Lean Construction Institute, uses percent plan complete (PPC): the share of tasks committed for the week that were finished. Recording the reason for each miss, such as a late submittal or a crew moved to another job, shows which constraints to clear earlier.
What are the common mistakes?
- Copying the master schedule without breaking it down.
- Building it in the office without the trades.
- Listing tasks that are not ready, so the plan fails on Monday.
- Not linking RFIs, submittals and deliveries to the tasks that need them.
How does Patrick help?
Patrick, BAU AI's project management agent, builds the three-week look-ahead from the master schedule, checks each task against open RFIs, submittals and deliveries, and flags the constraints to clear. The superintendent and the trades adjust and commit. Patrick is offered to the founding cohort and is not part of the published plans.
If your look-ahead lives in a spreadsheet nobody updates, join our US founding cohort and test Patrick on one of your jobs.
Tushar Adsul, Founder and CEO, BAU AI
Frequently asked questions
Why three weeks? It is long enough to clear most constraints, such as a submittal or a delivery, and short enough to plan in daily detail.
Who owns the look-ahead? The superintendent, with input and commitments from each trade foreman.
What is a good PPC? Teams track the trend, not one number. A rising PPC means the plan is becoming reliable.
Sources
- AIA A201-2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, Section 3.10, Contractor's Construction and Submittal Schedules.
- Lean Construction Institute, the Last Planner System.