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5 Ways to Boost Your Scheduler Income, Gratitude Pays, Project Control Roles,

5 Ways to Boost Your Scheduler Income, Gratitude Pays, Project Control Roles,

Micah Piippo
May 26, 2025

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Welcome back to Beyond Deadlines newsletter—a free perk for people looking to improve in Planning and Scheduling. Each week, we provide tactics, prompts, jobs and food for thought. We want you to succeed today, tomorrow and throughout the rest of your career.

When our brains constantly scan for and focus on the positive, we profit from three of the most important tools available to us: happiness, gratitude, and optimism.

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There are only 5 ways to make more money as a scheduler
Most people only try one. That’s the problem.

If you're serious about earning more, taking control of your career, or working on your own terms, here’s your full playbook:

1. Ask for a Raise

This is the easiest move to make.
But it usually gives you the smallest return.
If you’re underpaid and adding real value, speak up. Timing matters. So does how you present the ask.

2. Get Promoted

You don’t always need to leave your company to earn more.
Moving into roles like Lead Scheduler or Project Controls Manager increases your pay and expands your influence.
These roles put you closer to decisions that shape the project.

3. Land a Higher-Paying Job

This is the fastest way to boost your income.
Changing companies can lead to 20 to 50 percent more pay if your skills and visibility are growing.
Staying put and hoping for a raise can hold you back.

4. Take On Clients and Build a Consultancy

Start small.
Help a subcontractor build a baseline. Support a GC with a delay analysis.
Once the work is consistent, create packages, raise your rates, and bring others in to help.
You go from freelancing to building a real business.
This is where your income and freedom can grow without limits.

5. Create and Sell a Product

Turn your knowledge into templates, tools, or training.
Schedulers are always looking for better ways to plan, analyze, and report.
If your solution saves time or solves a real problem, people will pay for it.

Most people stop at asking for a raise.
A few aim higher and switch companies.
The bold ones create something of their own.

Which one are you choosing next?

Create Excellent Process

Copy and paste this prompt into ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.

Act like a senior construction scheduler and forensic planning analyst. You have over 20 years of experience writing schedule narratives and delay analyses for large-scale infrastructure and vertical construction projects. You are highly skilled at interpreting Primavera P6 schedules, Owner-Architect-Contractor (OAC) meeting notes, labor hour trends, cost/cash flow data, and contract milestone requirements to produce detailed and compelling schedule narratives. Your audience includes project executives, claims consultants, and public agencies, so your tone must be technical, clear, and backed by evidence from provided sources.

Objective:
Your task is to write a full project schedule narrative that clearly and comprehensively communicates the current state of schedule performance and forward-looking projections. You must synthesize the provided data sources—including the latest P6 schedule, meeting notes, cashflow reports, labor reports, and contractual milestone documentation—into a cohesive and logically structured narrative.

Instructions:

Follow the outline below and generate a detailed narrative for each section:

Project Overview
- Briefly describe the project scope, location, contract value, delivery method, and stage of construction.
- Reference original contract milestones and the notice to proceed (NTP) date.
Milestone Summary
- List all contractual milestones (interim and final).
- Report baseline dates and current forecast dates with variances.
- Flag any milestone at risk and summarize contractual implications if applicable.
Schedule Performance
- Summarize progress to date against the baseline.
- Provide earned value commentary if applicable (e.g., % complete vs. time elapsed).
- Highlight areas of acceleration or delay with specific P6 activity examples.
Critical Path Analysis
- Identify the current critical path and how it has shifted compared to the baseline.
- Describe which trades and activities are driving the project's completion date.
- Indicate if multiple critical paths exist and their relative float values.
Key Drivers and Constraints
- Identify key activities or resource constraints affecting performance (e.g., subcontractor availability, permit delays, weather impacts).
- Support findings with references to labor hour trends, meeting notes, or risk registers.
Look-Ahead Activities (Next 30-60 Days)
- Detail upcoming critical activities that require close monitoring.
- Include sequencing concerns or coordination requirements.
Recovery or Acceleration Plans
- Describe any implemented or proposed schedule recovery strategies (e.g., resequencing, additional shifts, concurrent operations).
- Clarify which activities are impacted and how recovery affects overall logic and float.
Schedule Risks and Opportunities
- Identify remaining schedule risks and mitigation strategies.
- Highlight any schedule opportunities (e.g., fast-track tasks, early finishes) that may reduce project duration.

Data Sources You Must Use (if provided):

Primavera P6 XER or PDF export
OAC meeting notes
Cost and cash flow forecasts
Labor hour productivity data
Contract milestone tables and change order logs

Be specific, quantitative where possible, and use clear and formal technical writing. Ensure each section logically connects to the next. Add section headers and subheaders for clarity.

Take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step.