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The Cost of Overloaded Schedules, Canada Jobs, Giga Projects

The Cost of Overloaded Schedules, Canada Jobs, Giga Projects

Micah Piippo
February 10, 2025

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The Hidden Cost of Overloaded Schedules (And How to Calculate It)

Most schedulers don’t realize it until they’re buried in updates—but too much schedule detail isn’t just a reporting nightmare, it’s a resource drain.

If you’ve ever wondered exactly how long it takes to update a construction schedule, here’s how you can calculate it for your project.

Step 1: Determine Your Update Frequency

Most projects update progress biweekly or weekly. For this example, let’s assume biweekly updates (twice per month).

Step 2: Identify the Number of Activities Per Month

Your schedule should have an activities-per-month distribution that aligns with project execution. If your project has 25,000 activities over 18 months, those activities won’t be spread evenly. Instead, they’ll follow a curve—likely peaking during peak construction months.

Create a breakdown of how many activities fall within each month.

Example for a left-skewed bell curve:

Month	Activities
1	170
2	170
3	180
4	200
5	220
6	250
7	500
8	900
9	1,310
10	1,710
11	2,120
12	2,520
13	2,930
14	3,330
15	3,160
16	2,830
17	1,670
18	830
Total	25,000

Step 3: Assign an Estimated Time Per Activity Update

From industry benchmarks, updating an activity (including gathering progress, entering data, reviewing impacts, and generating reports) takes about 5 minutes per activity.

Step 4: Calculate Biweekly and Monthly Update Time

For each month, divide the total activities by 2 (for biweekly updates), then multiply by 5 minutes per activity. Convert minutes to hours.

Example for Month 12 (2,520 activities):

Biweekly Update: 2,520 / 2 = 1,260 activities per update
Time per Update: 1,260 × 5 = 6,300 minutes (or 105 hours)
Total Monthly Time: 105 × 2 = 210 hours per month

Repeat for each month in your schedule.

Step 5: Break Down the Scheduler’s Workload

Managing schedule updates isn’t just about raw time—it’s about workflow efficiency. Breaking the 105-hour workload into major tasks helps identify pain points:

Task Category	% of Time	Hours per Update
Collect & Verify Progress Data	30%	30 hours
Analyze & Adjust Schedule	40%	40 hours
Collaborate for Clarifications	15%	15 hours
Generate Reports & Forecasts	15%	15 hours
Total	100%	105 hours

Step 6: Address the “Just Hire More Schedulers” Argument

At this point, someone will say: “Just hire more schedulers.”
Here’s why that’s flawed:

More detail ≠ more control. Excessive activity detail leads to diminishing returns.
More schedulers = more coordination headaches. Every additional scheduler adds communication gaps, inconsistencies, and friction.
The right solution? Smarter scheduling. Instead of more people, focus on right-sizing the level of detail and prioritizing meaningful updates.

Final Thought: Make Your Schedule a Decision-Making Tool, Not Just a Report

Schedulers don’t just enter progress—they help projects succeed. By understanding the true cost of schedule updates, you can build leaner, more effective schedules that serve their purpose without wasting resources.

Want to run these calculations for your project? Start with your activity count and time estimate—then let the numbers tell the story.

Calculating Time to Progress

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

Act as a construction scheduling expert who specializes in calculating the time required for progress updates. Develop a structured approach to determine how long a progress update will take based on factors such as the number of activities, update frequency (e.g., biweekly), and estimated time per activity.

Break down the key steps, including gathering progress, entering and adjusting data, analyzing impacts, and generating reports. Provide a formula or method that schedulers can use to estimate their workload and highlight efficiency strategies.

Additionally, address why excessive schedule detail can slow down updates and why simply hiring more schedulers isn’t always the best solution. The tone should be authoritative yet practical, ensuring clarity for both experienced and newer schedulers. Before you begin, ask me 3 questions to help improve your answer.