Month: April 2026

What Is Critical Path In Project Management?

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 21 min

What Is a Critical Path? Why It’s the Worst Thing That Ever Happened to Construction

There are ideas in construction that everybody accepts because everybody has always accepted them. Nobody stops to ask whether the idea is actually good. Nobody traces it back to the system that produced it or asks whose interests it serves. The critical path is one of those ideas. It gets taught in every project management course, embedded in every contract, and treated as the foundational logic of how construction schedules work. And it is one of the most damaging concepts the industry has ever adopted.

Here’s the deal. A critical path is not a neutral scheduling tool. It is a mechanism that removes buffers from the production system, forces contractors into a position where rushing is the only available response, and gives owners, lawyers, and financial institutions a legal instrument to push, panic, and punish the people building their projects. Understanding why it works that way and what to use instead is one of the most important shifts a builder can make.

An Analogy That Makes the Damage Clear

Let me give you an analogy that makes the structure of this problem visible. Imagine a society where the wealth has been deliberately shifted to oligarchs and a corrupt government, leaving the majority of men, women, and children in poverty without proper housing, without food security, without what they need to survive. In that system, theft becomes necessary. Not because theft is good, but because the system produced conditions where there was no other way to keep families alive. You could name the behavior “critical theft” and under those parameters, the name might even be accurate. But the root cause is not the theft. The root cause is the corrupt system that made it necessary.

The critical path works the same way. It produces conditions where panicking, rushing, trade stacking, and trade burdening become the only available responses. Then it uses the contractor’s panicked response as evidence that the contractor failed. The contractor did not fail. The system produced a no-win scenario and then blamed the people caught inside it. That is the structure of the critical path, and it is worth naming clearly before we talk about how it works mechanically.

What the Critical Path Actually Is

A critical path is the longest sequence of activities through a schedule that has no float and no buffers, where any single delayed activity delays the entire project. That definition sounds technical and neutral. In practice, it means this: the schedule is built with zero slack, zero protection, and zero acknowledgment that construction projects encounter variation. Every activity is treated as critical. Every delay is a crisis. Every sequence is as tight as it can possibly be made, because adding any time would mean adding cost that somebody up the chain doesn’t want to pay.

The result is a schedule that models the project as though variation does not exist, resources are infinite and always available, handoffs between trades are instantaneous, and no external factors supply chain, weather, design gaps, inspection delays will ever affect the sequence. None of those assumptions are real. All of them are built into the critical path as if they were. When reality diverges from those assumptions, which it always does, the contractor is exposed to the full legal consequence of a delay on the critical path.

Why Owners and Lawyers Love It

The critical path’s dominance in the industry is not accidental. Research on why CPM scheduling is more prevalent than better alternatives like Critical Chain Project Management found that financial institutions and legal institutions preferred it specifically because it gave them a harsher tool to use against contractors. It created muddier water for lawyers to work in. It made time extension claims harder to win. And it shifted the risk of every variation event even events outside the contractor’s control onto the party with the least leverage to absorb it.

Owners use the critical path to deny time extensions unless the impacted activity was specifically on the critical path. That structure gives the owner enormous power. If the delay happened on an activity with even a small amount of float, no matter how significant the impact, the contractor is denied compensation and told to recover at their own expense. If the delay was on the critical path, the contractor is still denied meaningful recovery they are simply told to rush and push and panic to get back on the baseline that should never have had no buffers in the first place. Either way, the contractor absorbs the cost of the system’s failure to plan realistically.

What the Critical Path Does to the Project and the People

The damage runs in every direction simultaneously. When a schedule is built on a critical path, work in progress balloons beyond the actual capacity of the resources available, because the only way to hit the compressed dates is to push more work into every zone at once. That creates trade stacking multiple trades working in the same area at the same time, fighting for access, damaging each other’s work, and producing quality problems that result in rework. Rework slows the project further. The response is more pushing and more panic. The downward spiral runs until the project either finishes late and over budget or collapses entirely.

The people inside that system pay a real cost. Not a metaphorical one. The mental health crisis in construction is real and documented, and the critical path is one of its root causes. When every schedule is presented as a crisis, when every delay is a legal event, when the production environment is designed around panic rather than flow, the human beings doing the work absorb that stress in their bodies, their relationships, and their lives. The families behind every worker and foreman on those projects feel the cost of a scheduling philosophy that treats people as resources to be burned rather than as the source of all value on the project.

The Freeway Analogy: Why Panicking Makes You Later

Here is the paradox that the critical path cannot acknowledge. The more stable a construction project is, the earlier it will finish. The more it panics, the later it will finish. That is not a platitude. It is a production law.

Think of a freeway. Pack it with as many cars as it will physically hold wall to wall, bumper to bumper, no gaps. Force every driver to accelerate and brake and accelerate again as fast as possible. Fill every lane with as much traffic as the road can absorb. That is the critical path applied to transportation. The result is not maximum throughput. The result is gridlock, accidents, and everybody arriving later than they would have if the system had been designed with spacing, flow, and buffers. The critical path applies the same logic to construction and expects different results. The paradox of construction is that stability produces speed. The critical path produces instability and calls the outcome unavoidable.

Warning Signs That Your Project Is Running on Critical Path Logic

When a project has been built around critical path assumptions, the symptoms show up fast. Watch for these:

  • Trade stacking is being treated as a recovery strategy rather than recognized as the cause of the next delay.
  • Every schedule update involves compressing float rather than acknowledging the variation that consumed it.
  • Time extension requests are being denied on the basis that the impacted activity “had float,” regardless of the actual production impact.
  • The field team is in a permanent reactive mode responding to crises rather than executing a stable plan because the schedule left no room for anything to go differently than planned.
  • Buffers are absent from the schedule entirely, and the project is being run as though every activity will happen exactly as modeled.

Every one of those conditions is correctable. None of them are corrected by pushing harder inside the same system that produced them.

What Works Instead

The alternative to the critical path is a production system built around flow, buffers, and trade movement through zones at a stable rhythm the Takt Production System, supported by the Last Planner System and the First Planner System. In a Takt plan, every phase has buffers designed from a real risk analysis. Every buffer consumption event is logged with its root cause. The path of critical flow which is about production logic, trade flow, and handoff quality is protected by design rather than compressed by assumption.

When a delay hits a Takt plan, the first question is whether the buffer can absorb it. If yes, the production system handles the variation without a crisis. If no, the team does a structured analysis of recovery options delay the line of balance, isolate and decouple the impacted work, recover with resources and presents the owner with a documented, mathematically verifiable picture of what happened, why, and what the recovery path looks like. That is a partnership conversation. The critical path produces a legal argument. The Takt system produces a production decision.

Build for Stability, Not for the Critical Path

The industry that trains every new PM in critical path scheduling and then wonders why projects are chronically late, chronically over budget, and chronically burning out the people inside them has a simple answer available. Stop building schedules that remove buffers from the system and then punish contractors for the consequences. Start building production plans that acknowledge variation, design buffers from real risk analysis, move trades through zones in a stable rhythm, and create the conditions for teams to actually win.

We are building people who build things. The critical path is a system that destroys the people it touches and then blames the rubble for the mess. Every builder who understands that distinction and chooses Takt over CPM is making a decision that protects the projects, the trades, the families, and the future of the industry. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow including the scheduling philosophy that replaces panic with rhythm and blame with accountability.

A Challenge for Builders

Open your current project schedule and look for the buffers. Not the float that CPM claims exists in non-critical activities. Real, intentional buffers time built into the system specifically to absorb variation without triggering a crisis. If they’re not there, the project is already running on critical path logic, and every delay will be managed by pushing the crew harder rather than by absorbing it intelligently. The fix is a scheduling philosophy change that starts at the top and lands in the production plan before the next phase begins.

As Jason Schroeder says, “The more stable you are, the earlier you will finish. The more you panic, the later you will finish.”

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a critical path in construction scheduling?

It is the longest sequence of activities through a schedule with zero float and no buffers, where any delay extends the entire project. In practice, it removes all production protection from the team and gives owners and lawyers a tool to force contractors to rush and push at their own expense whenever variation occurs.

Why is the critical path still the industry standard if it causes so much damage?

Because financial institutions and legal institutions prefer it research shows it was adopted specifically because it gave lawyers a harsher instrument to use against contractors and made time extension claims harder to win. It serves the interests of the parties with the most legal leverage, not the parties actually building the project.

What should replace the critical path on a construction project?

The Takt Production System, supported by the Last Planner System. Takt builds intentional buffers based on real risk analysis, moves trades through zones at a stable rhythm, and logs every buffer consumption event with its root cause creating a verifiable production record that turns impact conversations into partnerships rather than legal disputes.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

What Is The Role Of A Project Manager?

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 21 min

What Is the Role of a Project Manager? The Orchestra Analogy That Changes Everything

Construction has a project manager problem. Not a shortage of them there are plenty. The problem is a widespread misunderstanding of what the role is actually for. Too many PMs enter the seat believing their job is to manage contracts, protect margin, and control information. Too many projects reflect that belief in the outcomes they produce: trades that feel bullied, superintendents who are flying blind, owners who feel managed rather than served, and teams that are technically functional but never quite unified.

The role of a project manager is not to manage. It is to enable. Not to control. To resource. Not to protect information. To make sure every person on the team has what they need to perform. When PMs understand that distinction and live it, projects move differently. When they don’t, the whole system grinds against itself and everyone in it pays the price.

Why Getting This Wrong Is So Costly

The failure pattern looks like this. A PM earns the seat through strong contract management, budget tracking, and the ability to navigate scope disputes. Those are real skills. The problem is they are the supporting skills of the role, not the defining ones. When a PM’s primary identity is the person who protects the budget, the budget becomes the lens through which every request gets filtered. Trade partners asking for fair contract terms get stonewalled. Superintendents asking for field engineering support get told it’s not in the budget. Owners asking for transparency get managed instead of partnered. Consultants who could catch a problem early get cut as line items.

All of that looks responsible on paper. In the field, it produces the dysfunction that everybody in construction has experienced and most people blame on the wrong causes. It is not the trades failing to perform. It is not the superintendent failing to control the site. It is the enabling layer failing to enable, and the whole system underneath it losing the support it was designed to have.

The Orchestra Analogy: A Better Mental Model

Here is a framework that reorients the PM role clearly. Think of a construction project as a professional orchestra. The performance the building only happens when everyone is in sync, on rhythm, properly resourced, and working from the same plan.

The superintendent is the conductor. The maestro on the podium, keeping every musician on rhythm, maintaining the tempo, holding the environment together, integrating the sections so that what comes out of the ensemble is coherent rather than chaotic. No great orchestra produces beautiful music without a strong conductor. The conductor does not play an instrument. The conductor creates the conditions under which every musician can play their best.

The trade partners are the musicians. They carry the knowledge, the technique, and the craft that actually produces the work. A great orchestra requires great musicians skilled, prepared, well-resourced, and given the environment in which their talent can perform at its best. Without the right musicians, selected and supported well, there is no performance regardless of how good the conductor is.

The project manager is the general manager of the orchestra. Not the conductor. Not the musician. The general manager who sets the vision, builds the team, secures the resources, designs the environment, and makes sure that when the musicians take the stage, everything they need is already in place. That is the PM. That is the entire role.

When the Analogy Exposes What’s Dumb in Construction

One of the most useful things about this analogy is that it makes the dysfunctions of construction instantly recognizable as absurd. Consider a superintendent who keeps all the project information in their head and doesn’t communicate the plan visually to the team. In the orchestra analogy, that is the conductor taking the sheet music and the chairs away from every musician and saying “perform without it.” The musicians ask what they’re supposed to play. The conductor says “figure it out.” Nobody would accept that from an orchestra. Yet it happens constantly on construction sites and gets treated as normal.

Or consider a PM who responds to a trade partner dispute by immediately escalating to legal action rather than having a direct conversation first. In the analogy, that is the general manager suing a musician before anyone has talked through what went wrong. It sounds immediately absurd in the concert hall. It should sound equally absurd on a jobsite, but the industry has normalized it.

That is the practical value of the analogy. Any practice in construction that sounds normal when described directly sounds ridiculous when placed inside the orchestra framework, and that recognition is where the motivation to change it starts.

What the General Manager Actually Does

As the general manager of the project, the PM owns five core responsibilities. Each one is visible in the orchestra and equally applicable on the jobsite.

First, shape the vision. What are we building? What does success look like for this owner, this team, and this project? What is the performance we are preparing to deliver, and what will make it remarkable? The PM holds that vision and communicates it clearly enough that every person on the team can see the same destination. Without a clear vision, the musicians are improvising in different keys.

Second, build the right team. The general manager selects the musicians. In construction, that means selecting trade partners with the skill, the capacity, and the values to perform at the level the project requires. A project assembled with the wrong trade partners, no matter how good the conductor, will produce inconsistent work. The PM owns that selection, and it begins in preconstruction, not at bid day.

Third, resource the orchestra properly. Does the team have the right information? The right materials at the right time? The right equipment? The right staffing levels? The right support structures to enable the work? The PM who cuts resources in a misguided attempt to protect the budget is the general manager who takes the tour bus away from the musicians and expects them to show up rested for every performance. The work suffers. The people suffer. The project suffers.

Fourth, design the right environment and culture. The PM is responsible for the relational environment of the project the trust, the communication norms, the way disputes get handled, the way new team members get onboarded. Culture is not an HR concept. It is a production condition. Projects with strong cultures, where trades feel respected and superintendents feel supported, consistently outperform projects that look the same on paper but were assembled without intentional culture design.

Fifth, enable everyone on the team to be successful. This is the daily work of the role. What does the owner need? What does the super need? What do the trades need? What does the field team need? The PM who asks those questions and then goes and gets the answers is the PM who keeps the lights green who ensures that every member of the team can do their job without fighting the environment for what they should have had from the start.

Warning Signs That the PM Seat Has Drifted

When the PM has drifted from the general manager role into something else, the symptoms are recognizable across the whole project:

  • Trade partners feel managed rather than resourced, and the relationship defaults to adversarial rather than collaborative.
  • The superintendent is fighting for information and support that should already be in place, spending energy on upstream problems instead of field execution.
  • The owner is getting managed instead of partnered with, and the trust required for difficult conversations has never been built.
  • Resources that would enable the work consultants, field engineering, training, preconstruction support are being cut as line items rather than protected as investments.
  • The PM’s primary metric is budget variance rather than whether the team has everything they need to perform.

Any one of those signals means the enabling layer is not enabling. The fix is not a performance improvement plan. It is a role clarification conversation that starts with the orchestra analogy and ends with a PM who understands why “what do you need?” is the most important question in the role.

Leadership as Clarity, Training, and Enabling

The definition of leadership that belongs in the PM role is not the one most people learned. Leadership is not authority. It is not hierarchy. It is not the ability to make unilateral decisions quickly. Leadership in the PM seat is exactly this: clarity, training, and enabling support toward that clarity.

Clarity means the team knows the vision, knows the plan, and knows what success looks like at every phase from preconstruction through warranty. Training means the PM invests in developing the people around them trades, field engineers, the superintendent rather than assuming competence will appear without support. Enabling means removing every obstacle between the team and their best work, not adding to the obstacle count through arrogance, information hoarding, or reflexive budget protection.

That is the seat. The PM who fills it that way is setting up the entire business of the project to win not just the field operations, but the owner relationship, the trade partner relationships, the reputation of the GC, and the financial performance of the project across its full lifecycle from preconstruction through warranty closeout. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow and build the PM culture that enables every layer beneath it.

We are building people who build things. That includes building the project managers who create the conditions for everyone else on the team to be remarkable.

A Challenge for Builders

If you are a PM, ask yourself one honest question this week. When your team comes to you with needs the super asking for field engineering, the trade partner asking for a fair contract revision, the owner asking for more transparency what is your first instinct? If the first instinct is to protect the budget, that is a signal. The general manager who cuts the musicians’ sheet music to save paper does not save the performance. Ask “what do you need?” and then go get it. That is the role. Everything else is supporting it.

As W. Edwards Deming said, “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary job of a project manager in construction?

To enable every person on the project the owner, the superintendent, the trades, and the field team to do their best work. The PM resources, brokers, and removes obstacles. They set the vision, build the team, secure what’s needed, design the culture, and keep the lights green so the production system can function.

How does the orchestra analogy help explain the PM role?

It makes the role clear and the dysfunctions obvious. The PM is the general manager not the conductor, not the musician the person who builds the team, sets the vision, and makes sure every performer has what they need before they take the stage. Any dysfunction in construction that sounds normal when described directly sounds immediately absurd when placed inside the orchestra framework.

What is the difference between a PM who manages and a PM who enables?

A managing PM filters every request through budget protection, controls information, and treats the role as a defensive position. An enabling PM asks “what do you need?” and then goes and gets it for the owner, the super, the trades, and the team. The enabling PM sets up the entire business of the project to win.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Who Performs Impact Analysis In Project Management?

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 20 min

Who Performs an Impact Analysis and How to Do It Right

Every construction project will take an impact. That is not a pessimistic statement. It is a production reality. Design changes, supply chain disruptions, weather events, owner decisions, and dozens of other variables will hit the schedule at some point. The question is never whether an impact will happen. The question is whether the production system sees it early enough to respond intelligently, documents it accurately enough to protect everyone involved, and recovers from it in a way that actually works instead of making the project worse.

There are two frameworks for handling this. One is CPM-based. One is Takt-based. They produce very different outcomes, and understanding the difference is one of the most practically valuable things a PM, superintendent, or scheduler can carry into any project.

Why CPM Creates an Impact-React Cycle

The CPM system narrows every project onto a critical path the longest path through the schedule with no buffers or float where any delayed activity delays the whole project. When an impact hits that path, the contractually specified response is a time impact analysis inserted as a fragment into the CPM software. The format shows the original baseline, the documented impact, the recovery strategy, who is at fault, and what is needed to recover. That structure sounds reasonable until you look at what actually gets recommended inside it.

The typical CPM recovery options are adding labor, working overtime, adding crews, rushing trades, crashing activities, trade stacking putting too many trades into one area or trade burdening, making trades work in too many areas simultaneously. Every one of those responses adds cost, adds stress on the crews, and usually makes the production system worse rather than better. The CPM framework produces an impact-react, impact-react, impact-react cycle that constantly changes the baseline, constantly generates approval requests, and constantly struggles to find a recovery strategy that isn’t just pushing people harder against a schedule that was already broken.

There is also a dimension to the CPM preference that most people in the field have never been told directly. Research on why CPM is more prevalent than CCPM Critical Chain Project Management found that financial institutions and legal institutions preferred it because its complexity gave lawyers more ability to assign blame and gave financial institutions muddier water to operate in. A production plan that serves the project is not the same thing as a legal instrument designed to manage liability exposure. CPM often serves the second purpose while being sold as the first.

What a Takt-Based Impact Analysis Actually Looks Like

In a Takt Production System paired with the Last Planner System and the Kanban method, the impact analysis works fundamentally differently because the system is designed to see impacts early and absorb them systematically rather than reactively.

The first difference is visibility. In a CPM environment, a problem may not surface in the schedule analysis until a week or a month after it happens sometimes longer. In a Takt system, the impact is visible daily. The production board shows where the train of trades is relative to where it should be, and any deviation from the path of critical flow is identifiable before it compounds.

When an impact is identified in a Takt system, the analysis follows a structured path. The team identifies what happened, maps how it affects the path of critical flow meaning the activities, durations, logic ties, sequence, buffers, and trade flow and then evaluates at least twelve positive, production-minded recovery options before making a recommendation. The output of that analysis is a clear picture of the strategic baseline, the documented impact, the available options, the recommended path, what the chosen option does to the buffers and the overall project, and the root cause entry into the buffer log. That is a production conversation, not a legal one.

The Buffer Log: Where the Takt System Protects Everyone

One of the most important features of a Takt-based impact process is the buffer log. Every time a buffer is used, the reason is recorded. That log is not overhead. It is the running record of what happened to the schedule, when it happened, and why. If the project runs past the end date, the buffer log makes it possible to do an honest analysis of who is responsible the owner, the contractor, or a combination based on a verifiable, timestamped record of every buffer consumption event.

That stands in sharp contrast to the CPM baseline change cycle, where the baseline keeps moving and accountability becomes a legal argument about whose version of the schedule was accurate. In a Takt system, the sequence is verifiable through the pull plan. The speed and line of balance are verifiable through the pull plan. The buffers are verifiable through the pull plan based on the original risk analysis. Everything from beginning to end is mathematically and scientifically justifiable. Recovery options can be selected from a production mindset rather than from a legal defense posture.

Warning Signs That the Impact Analysis Process Is Broken

Before a project’s impact cycle compounds into a legal dispute, watch for these signals that the process is not functioning correctly:

  • Impacts are being discovered a week or more after they occur, because there is no daily production visibility system in place to surface deviations early.
  • The recovery plan defaults to overtime, trade stacking, or crashing activities all of which add cost and typically make the production system worse.
  • The baseline keeps shifting with each impact analysis, making it impossible to establish an honest comparison between planned and actual production.
  • Buffer consumption is not being logged with root causes, meaning nobody can verify who is responsible for schedule slippage when it matters.
  • The impact analysis is being prepared primarily by schedulers and lawyers rather than by the superintendent and PM who understand the production logic.

Any one of those signals means the system is reacting instead of controlling. Multiple signals together mean the project has lost its ability to recover predictably.

Who Owns the Impact Analysis

In a proper format, the superintendent and PM own the impact analysis. They are the primary parties responsible for identifying the impact, understanding how it affects the production system, evaluating recovery options, and framing the recommendation. The scheduler is the secondary party brought in to support the technical documentation and format requirements. Legal counsel is looped in when the situation has escalated to arbitration or legal proceedings, or when the complexity of the contract provisions makes their involvement necessary to protect the analysis properly.

This ownership structure matters. An impact analysis written primarily by a scheduler and filtered through legal from the start is a legal document disguised as a production document. An impact analysis written by the superintendent and PM, grounded in production logic and supported by verifiable Takt data, is a real recovery tool. The difference is not just procedural. It determines whether the output actually helps the project or just manages the paper trail around a project that keeps falling further behind.

Recovery Options That Actually Work

The production-minded recovery framework in a Takt system starts with the options that protect the train of trades before reaching for the ones that burden people. The preferred first option is to delay the line of balance slow the Takt time to give the system room to absorb the impact without stacking trades. The second option is to isolate and decouple the affected work from the main train, so the rest of the system can keep flowing while the problem gets resolved. The third option is recovering with additional resources, applied surgically rather than broadcast across the whole project.

What this framework never recommends as a first response is overtime, trade stacking, or crashing. Those are last resorts after the production options have been exhausted, because they introduce overburden that damages the people doing the work and often produces defects and rework that extend the schedule further than the original impact did. If the plan requires burnout to succeed, the plan is broken, not the people. A recovery plan that resolves an impact by overburdening the crew is not a recovery plan. It is a transfer of the impact onto the workforce, which shows up in quality, safety, and turnover.

What Good Documentation Makes Possible

The impact analysis is only as strong as the documentation behind it. A strategic baseline the original production plan showing the planned sequence and pace is what makes any impact analysis credible. Without a baseline, every conversation with the owner is a trust-me conversation. With a baseline, it is an evidence-based conversation grounded in the production plan from day one, compared honestly against what actually happened and why.

This is where daily production tracking, buffer logs, pull plan records, and material procurement logs do their most important work. Not as administrative overhead, but as the verifiable foundation that transforms an impact claim from an assertion into a documented, mathematically supportable analysis. It is also what protects the project team when the conversation with the owner gets difficult. A team that can show exactly what the plan was, exactly what happened, exactly when buffers were consumed and why, and exactly what recovery options were evaluated is a team that can have an intelligent, professional conversation about a new milestone rather than a legal argument about who is to blame.

A Challenge for Builders

Walk your current project this week and ask one honest question: if an impact hit the schedule tomorrow, what would your analysis look like? Do you have a strategic baseline? Is your buffer log current? Can you trace every buffer consumption event back to its root cause? Is the superintendent and PM positioned to lead the analysis, or is it being delegated entirely to schedulers? If the answers are weak, the fix starts with the production system, not with the legal team. Build the Takt plan. Keep the buffer log. Run the pull plan. Do it every week, not just when the impact arrives.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow including the production control discipline that makes impact analysis a routine tool instead of a crisis response.

As Taiichi Ohno said, “Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement.”

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a time impact analysis and when is it required?

A time impact analysis documents the original baseline, the specific impact event, the effect on the schedule, and the proposed recovery strategy. In CPM contracts it is typically required whenever an impact extends the critical path, and it is submitted in whatever format the contract specifies.

Why is a Takt-based impact analysis more effective than a CPM-based one?

Because Takt sees impacts daily rather than weekly or monthly, keeps a verifiable buffer log that documents root causes in real time, and evaluates production-minded recovery options before resorting to overtime or trade stacking all of which protect both the schedule and the people executing it.

Who is primarily responsible for conducting the impact analysis on a project?

The superintendent and PM own it. They understand the production logic and the field conditions. The scheduler provides technical support, and legal counsel is brought in only when the situation escalates to arbitration or requires contract-level interpretation.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Crew Preparation Huddle

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 23 min

The Crew Preparation Huddle: Where the Schedule Finally Reaches the Worker

No schedule is worth the paper it’s printed on unless it makes its way all the way to the workers as a representation of a collaborative effort among the trade partners. That sentence is one of the most important in all of construction, and it exposes the most consistent failure pattern in the industry. We build sophisticated plans. We run pull planning sessions. We maintain Takt boards and weekly work plans. And then, at the final step the one that actually determines whether any of it influences the work we stop. The plan stays in the trailer. The worker goes to the zone. And the gap between planning and execution opens wider every single day.

The crew preparation huddle closes that gap. Done right, it is one of the most powerful production control tools available to any foreman or crew leader on any project. It gathers the wisdom of the team, delivers the plan visually at the place of work, builds standard work at the crew level, and creates the Lean environment that makes everything else in the production system actually function. This is where the industry has to go.

Why the Gap Between Planning and Execution Keeps Opening

The failure pattern is consistent across project types, project sizes, and delivery methods. The upstream planning is real. Pull plans get built. Weekly work plans get updated. The schedule reflects a genuine attempt to design the production sequence intelligently. Then the foreman shows up to the zone, the crew gets to work, and the day unfolds the way it always has based on what the crew leader remembers from the last conversation, what materials happen to be available, and what problems surface that nobody anticipated because nobody walked through them at the crew level before work started.

This is not a foreman failure. This is a system failure. The system produced a plan that stopped short of the worker, and the worker had no choice but to fill the gap with improvisation. The system failed them; they didn’t fail the system. Every hour of improvisation at the crew level is an hour that should have been designed upstream, and the cost shows up as stops and restarts, rework, variation in quality, and workers who never quite feel like they know what success looks like today.

A Field Story: Two Rod-Busting Crews and One Difference

Here’s a story that has stayed with me for my entire career. On a field engineering assignment at a major headquarters project, there were two rod-busting crews working on the same site. One crew was always ahead. The other crew was consistently behind, always scrambling. I asked the foreman of the crew that was ahead what made the difference.

He pointed to the other foreman and asked what that person was doing. I said he was working head down, tools moving. He said, “That’s the problem.” The ahead foreman’s job was not to work alongside the crew. His job was to bring materials and information to the crew all day long so they never ran out of what they needed. The behind foreman was always working with his tools. When he hit a roadblock, the crew hit the roadblock. When he stopped, they stopped. He was never preparing work ahead. He never had his eyes up to see what was coming.

That story is the crew preparation huddle in miniature. The foreman who wins is the one who plans and prepares work before the crew needs it not after the stop has already happened.

What the Crew Preparation Huddle Is and When It Happens

The crew preparation huddle happens after the morning worker huddle. That sequencing matters. The morning worker huddle creates the social group, aligns the whole site on the day’s plan, and communicates safety focus, training, and production intent. The crew preparation huddle is what happens next when each crew leader gathers their own crew near their gang box, their staging area, or their work zone to prepare specifically for the work that crew will do that day.

The tool that makes this possible is the rolling crew board a portable board with magnets and a dry-erase marker surface that can be moved to the place of work. On the front of the board sit the look-ahead plan, the weekly work plan, and the day plan, all visible together so the crew can see where they are in the sequence, what they need to do today, and how today’s work connects to what comes next. That is not a passive display. It is the daily act of making the plan legible to the people executing it, visually, at the zone, before the first tool gets picked up.

What Happens on the Back of the Board

The back of the rolling crew board is where standard work lives. It carries the 6S checklist for the work area, the nine wastes framework the standard eight plus unhealthy conflict and the installation work packages for the crew’s current scope. This is not administrative overhead. This is the visual standard work that makes Lean possible at the crew level. Without standard work, there is no baseline. Without a baseline, there is no improvement. The board’s back side is how a crew leader embeds continuous improvement into daily crew operations, not as a separate initiative, but as part of how the crew prepares and executes work every single day.

In Japan, this is simply how teams do business. It is the non-negotiable infrastructure of a Lean environment. In the United States, some people will laugh at the idea of a rolling board with a crew huddle before work starts, and the projects those people run will keep producing the results they have always produced variation, stops and restarts, and plans that never fully reached the workers who were supposed to execute them.

The Full Crew Preparation Huddle Sequence

The crew preparation huddle follows a sequence that covers every dimension of a productive work session:

  • Shout outs to recognize crew members who performed well, which builds the social fabric that makes participation real.
  • A safety training topic specific to that trade, tied to what the crew will actually be doing that day, not a generic topic read from a poster.
  • Review of the last zone how did it go, what improvements are needed, what does moving into the new zone require from this crew specifically.
  • Plan the day visually on the rolling board, so every worker can see the sequence, the handoffs, and the target.
  • A short Lean training moment, woven into the huddle rather than delivered separately.
  • Stretch and flex to physically prepare the crew for the work ahead.
  • Walk the area with the crew before work starts, so everyone sees the actual conditions rather than working from assumptions.
  • Fill out pre-task plans for the safety review of the specific activities planned for that day.
  • Look for the nine wastes overproduction, excess inventory, waiting, defects, motion, transportation, over-processing, unused talent, and unhealthy conflict while 5S-ing the area and keeping the zone clean and standard.

That is not a long process. Done efficiently, it takes fifteen to twenty minutes. The return on those twenty minutes is a crew that starts work with clarity instead of confusion, with a plan instead of improvisation, and with a foreman who has their eyes up to prepare the next step before the crew hits a wall.

Why Worker Wisdom Is the Missing Ingredient

One of the most underused resources on any construction project is the intelligence of the workers doing the installation. Workers who have been on a scope for weeks or months see things that foremen, field engineers, and superintendents do not see. They know where the sequence creates friction. They know which material is arriving in the wrong sequence. They know which detail is harder to build than the drawing suggests. They know where the quality risk lives in their own scope.

The crew preparation huddle is the daily mechanism for gathering that wisdom. When the crew is gathered around the board, when the plan is visual and legible, when the foreman asks how yesterday went and what improvements are needed before moving into the next zone, the worker’s intelligence enters the production system. That is monozukuri we build people before we build things practiced every morning at the crew level. The plan improves because the people executing it had a voice in refining it. The crew builds ownership because they were treated as the experts they actually are.

Signs the Crew Preparation Huddle Is Missing

When this practice is not running on a project, the symptoms show up across the whole production system:

  • Workers arrive to the zone without knowing the day’s sequence and improvise based on what’s available rather than what’s planned.
  • Stop and restart cycles at the crew level are treated as normal rather than as signals of a preparation failure that should have been caught in the huddle.
  • Pre-task plans are filled out reactively rather than prepared before work begins, which means the safety review is a formality rather than a genuine thought process.
  • Waste in the work area searching for materials, repositioning tools, unnecessary motion is accepted as part of the trade rather than identified as removable friction.
  • The weekly work plan exists in the superintendent’s trailer and never reaches the workers who are supposed to execute it.

Every one of those symptoms is correctable. All of them trace back to the same gap the plan stopped short of the worker, and the crew preparation huddle is the tool that closes it.

Where the Industry Needs to Go

This is not an incremental improvement to how construction crews work. It is a fundamental shift in where the production system ends. The production system ends at the worker. Not at the PM. Not at the super. Not at the foreman. At the individual worker who is picking up the tool and installing the work. Everything upstream of that worker the pull plan, the Takt board, the weekly work plan, the day plan, the pre-task plan exists to set that worker up to install cleanly, safely, and on rhythm. The crew preparation huddle is the last mile of that delivery. It is where all of the upstream planning finally arrives at the person it was designed to serve.

We are building people who build things. That mission starts in the crew huddle every morning in the shout out, the safety topic, the zone review, the visual plan, the waste walk, and the foreman who keeps their eyes up so the crew never runs out of what they need. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow including the daily crew preparation discipline that turns planning into execution every single morning.

A Challenge for Builders

Walk your project tomorrow morning and follow one crew through their first thirty minutes of the day. Did the crew preparation huddle happen? Did every worker see the day’s plan on a board they could read? Did the foreman walk the area with the crew before work started? Did the crew fill out a pre-task plan that reflected what they were actually about to do? If the answer to any of those is no, the plan stopped short of the worker. The fix is not a new schedule. The fix is a rolling board and a crew preparation huddle, run every morning, until reaching the worker is the standard rather than the exception.

As Taiichi Ohno said, “Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement.”

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the crew preparation huddle and when does it happen?

It is a short crew-level meeting that happens immediately after the morning worker huddle, where the foreman gathers the crew near their work area, reviews the day’s plan on a rolling visual board, walks the zone, completes pre-task planning, and prepares every worker to install cleanly and safely before the first tool is picked up.

What is on the rolling crew board and why does it matter?

The front holds the look-ahead plan, weekly work plan, and day plan so the crew can see the full sequence visually. The back holds the 6S checklist, the nine wastes framework, and the installation work packages the standard work that makes Lean improvement at the crew level possible instead of theoretical.

Why is the crew preparation huddle described as a game-changer for production?

Because it closes the gap between the plan and the worker the most consistent failure point in construction production systems. When every worker starts the day with a clear, visual plan and a prepared work area, stops and restarts drop, waste becomes visible, and the crew’s intelligence starts improving the system daily instead of being ignored.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

The Flow of Information

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 19 min

The Schedule on the Trailer Wall Is Not a Plan

Here’s the deal: most construction projects have a beautiful schedule. Detailed, color-coded, logically tied, updated weekly. And most construction workers have never seen it. Not because leadership is hiding it because nobody designed the system that would carry that information from the person who built it to the person who needs it. The schedule exists. The plan doesn’t reach the field. And that gap between a schedule existing and a plan being understood by the crew executing it is where most projects fail not in scope, not in budget, not in design. In the handoff.

Information does not flow by accident in construction. It flows by design. And when the design is missing, the schedule becomes what Jason Schroeder calls it directly: not worth the paper it’s printed on.

What Happens When the Chain Breaks

Every project team that has ever called an emergency coordination meeting in week fourteen has a version of the same root cause. Somebody made a decision based on incomplete information. A trade partner committed to a scope in a weekly meeting that their foreman never received. A crew showed up to a zone to do work that another trade was still occupying because the handoff sequence was never communicated below the superintendent level. A delivery arrived mid-zone because nobody told the worker that the logistics plan had changed.

None of these are execution failures. They are information failures. And they are predictable outputs of a system where the information chain was never designed to close the loop between the people making the plan and the people executing it.

I remember early in my career being on a project where the pull plan was beautiful done correctly, collaboratively, with all the right trades in the room. Zone-by-zone, handoff by handoff, the logic was sound. But by week three, the field wasn’t following it. When I walked the zones and asked foremen what the plan was for the week, the answers didn’t match the weekly work plan. Not because they disagreed with it because they had never seen it in a format they could use. The plan lived in a spreadsheet that the project coordinator updated every Friday. Nobody had designed how it moved from that spreadsheet to the foreman’s daily briefing. The chain was built halfway. The system failed. They didn’t fail the system.

The Five Links That Make Information Flow

The image in this post shows the full information chain from the Takt control boards in the office to the crew board and area board at the zone level. Each meeting in the chain exists to make the next one possible. When all five links are in place, the plan reaches the worker. When one is missing, everything below it operates on assumptions instead of commitments.

The first link is the First Planner Meetings the team weekly tactical and the strategic planning and procurement meeting. This is where the long view is managed. Milestones, procurement lead times, manpower projections, phase transitions, constraint identification. First planners are the people at the beginning of the planning cycle: project managers, superintendents, engineers. Their job is to monitor the overall system, balance the team, and ensure the project stays on the right road strategically. These meetings are not about next week’s work. They are about the conditions that will make or break next month’s plan.

The second link is the Trade Partner Weekly Tactical the Last Planner meeting where foremen make commitments. This is where the look-ahead plan becomes a weekly work plan and where “we plan to” becomes “we will.” Last planners are the last people in the planning cycle the foremen and lead supervisors who are closest to the work. Their input is not just welcome in this meeting; it is the point of the meeting. A weekly work plan built without the buy-in of the foreman executing it is a schedule, not a commitment. And commitments, not schedules, are what move projects.

Watch for these signals that the information chain is broken on your project:

  • Foremen create their own daily plan independently of the weekly work plan
  • Workers cannot describe the coordination handoff happening in their zone this week
  • The look-ahead and weekly work plan are built by the project team without foreman input
  • The afternoon foreman huddle doesn’t exist, so tomorrow gets built on the fly
  • Area boards and crew boards are outdated or don’t reflect the current week’s plan

The Afternoon Foreman Huddle: Where Tomorrow Gets Built Today

The third link is the afternoon foreman huddle one of the most powerful and most skipped meetings in the entire system. Jason Schroeder recommends that the foreman crew preparation huddle happen the afternoon before, specifically so that constraints surface while there’s still time to fix them. This is not a status update meeting. It’s a readiness check. Is the zone ready? Are materials staged? Are permits in hand? Are the pre-task plans ready? Is there anything that would stop the crew from starting productive work at 7:00 AM?

When the afternoon foreman huddle runs well, the morning starts clean. When it doesn’t happen, foremen walk into the morning worker huddle with gaps in their day plan that they’re still resolving while the crew is waiting to start. The afternoon is cheap for problem-solving. The morning is expensive. One conversation at 4 PM is worth an hour of crew downtime at 7 AM. Build the afternoon huddle. Protect it. It’s not optional.

The Worker Huddle and Crew Prep: The Last Hundred Feet

The fourth link is the morning worker huddle where the plan finally lands with the people doing the work. Every worker hears the safety focus, the delivery windows, the zone transitions, and the training topic for the day. The plan is no longer abstract. It’s specific. It’s visual. It’s in front of the people who will execute it within the hour. This is where the weekly work plan that was built collaboratively on Wednesday becomes real on Monday morning.

The fifth and final link is the crew preparation huddle what Jason Schroeder calls “the last hundred feet.” After the morning worker huddle, each crew disperses to their zone and gathers around the crew board. The foreman delivers a task briefing. The quality checklist comes out. The pre-task plan gets reviewed. Materials and tools are shaken out. The work package is opened. And the crew begins the day not with questions but with complete clarity about what they are building, to what standard, and how it connects to the handoff that follows.

This is where the schedule on the trailer wall becomes the plan in the worker’s hands. Not through a poster. Not through a reminder. Through a deliberate chain of five meetings that each carry the information one step closer to the person who needs it most.

Why the First Planner System Is Not Optional

Jason Schroeder teaches clearly: you can’t have a Last Planner System without a First Planner System. The Last Planner makes commitments based on milestones. If those milestones are built on CPM logic that doesn’t reflect real zone-based trade flow, the commitments are made against a false target. The look-ahead plans draw from a production plan that was never designed to be filtered into short-interval schedules. The weekly work plan gets recreated from scratch every week because there’s no Takt plan below the master schedule to filter from.

The Integrated Production Control System First Planner, Takt Production System, and Last Planner working together is what makes the flow possible. The First Planner designs the system. Takt creates the rhythm. Last Planner runs the commitments. When all three are connected, the information chain is coherent from the strategic planning meeting to the crew board. When they’re disconnected, the chain breaks somewhere in the middle and the field operates on whatever information it can piece together from fragments.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. That stabilization starts with designing the information chain every link, from office to zone before the first trade mobilizes.

Build the Chain Before You Build the Building

Here is the challenge. Before your next project begins operations, map the five links of your information chain on paper. Who runs the team weekly tactical? What format does the weekly work plan take and how does it get to the foreman? Is the afternoon foreman huddle on the schedule? Who facilitates the morning worker huddle? What does the crew prep look like and where does it happen?

If you can’t answer any of those questions with a name, a format, and a time the chain has gaps. And wherever the chain has gaps, the information stops flowing and the field starts improvising. A schedule that isn’t delivered is just documentation. A plan that reaches the worker is the beginning of production.

Design the chain. Protect every link. And watch what happens when the plan finally reaches the person holding the tools.

As Jason Schroeder teaches: “The schedule is not worth the paper it’s printed on unless it makes its way all the way to the workers in the field as a representation of a collaborative plan by the Last Planners.” Build the system that makes that happen.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a First Planner and a Last Planner?

First planners are the first people in the planning cycle project managers and superintendents who set milestones and design the production system. Last planners are the last people foremen who make field-level commitments from those milestones.

Why can’t the Last Planner System work without the First Planner System?

Last planners make commitments against milestones. If those milestones are built on inaccurate CPM logic rather than real zone-based Takt flow, the commitments are made against a false target and the whole short-interval system produces unreliable plans.

What is the purpose of the afternoon foreman huddle?

It’s where tomorrow gets built while there’s still time to fix constraints. A problem found at 4 PM costs a conversation. The same problem found at 7 AM costs an hour of crew downtime.

How does the weekly work plan reach the crew?

Through the information chain: it’s filtered from the look-ahead in the trade partner weekly tactical, refined in the afternoon foreman huddle, communicated in the morning worker huddle, and broken down task by task in the crew preparation huddle.

What does “percent plan complete” measure and why does it matter?

PPC measures how many promised activities in the weekly work plan were actually completed as committed. It reveals the reliability of the system’s commitments and tracking the root causes of misses is how the team improves the plan over time.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

The Path of Commissioning

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 19 min

Most Projects Treat Commissioning Like a Destination. The Best Projects Treat It Like a Direction.

Here’s a truth that every project team eventually learns the hard way: you cannot protect your finishes in a building that isn’t conditioned. You cannot commission a system that isn’t complete through the vertical spine of the structure. And you cannot finish strong if you haven’t been building toward commissioning from day one. The teams who discover this during closeout spend the last six weeks of the project in crisis mode reworking ductwork to accommodate finishes, troubleshooting controls because systems were never properly sequenced, scrambling to balance airflow in a building that was enclosed too late to flush properly. They didn’t cause those problems in closeout. They caused them in preconstruction when nobody asked the question: what is our path to commissioning, and are we building toward it from the moment we break ground?

What Most Projects Actually Do

Most project schedules treat commissioning as a phase something that happens after construction. It shows up near the end of the baseline schedule, compressed between substantial completion and TCO, and it gets squeezed harder than any other phase when the project runs behind. The MEP team is asked to complete their point-to-point in half the time they need. The controls contractor can’t finish programming because the systems weren’t ready when they were supposed to be. The test and balance firm shows up to find that the air handlers can’t run continuously because parts of the building are still under construction. And the building flush which requires the HVAC system to run at full capacity for an extended period never happens properly because nobody protected the time for it.

None of that is a commissioning failure. It’s a sequencing failure that started months earlier. Commissioning doesn’t fail at the end. It fails in the production plan that was never designed around it.

A Story That Changed How I Think About This

I remember being an MEP superintendent on a complex laboratory project early in my career. We had a commissioning agent on the project who was sharp and had seen more troubled closeouts than most teams encounter in a decade. In one of our early coordination meetings, he asked the project team a simple question: when does power reach the roof? Not the full electrical package. Just power to the roof. Nobody could answer specifically. The power distribution sequence hadn’t been mapped against the commissioning sequence they existed in separate parts of the schedule and nobody had connected them.

That question unlocked six weeks of replanning. Because the answer revealed that based on the current sequence, power would reach the roof in time to fly in the air handlers, but not in time to run them before the interior finishes were going in. The building was going to be enclosed with no conditioning capability. Paint going in without controlled humidity. Casework being installed in a building with temperatures swinging thirty degrees between morning and afternoon. That rework potential from cracking casework, failing paint, and humidity damage to specialty systems would have cost more than the replanning effort ten times over. We moved commissioning up by six weeks. It was the right call, and I’ve never forgotten it.

The Four-Step Path of Commissioning

The sequence shown in the image in this post is how great builders think about commissioning from day one. It moves in four deliberate steps each one enabling the next and it is non-negotiable. Skipping or compressing a step doesn’t save time. It transfers the cost to a later phase where it multiplies.

Step one is utilities to the building. Power, water, data, gas, sewer, storm drain all of it stubbed in from the street and brought into the entry rooms at grade level. The service entry section handles power. The main distribution frame handles communications. The mechanical room receives water. Nothing vertical in the building can be powered, tested, or commissioned before this step is complete and verified. This is the foundation of the entire commissioning sequence, and it must be tracked as a system milestone, not buried in the horizontal construction schedule.

Step two is bringing services into the entry rooms. This is where utilities transition from off-site infrastructure to building systems. Fire pump room, mechanical room, MDF, service entry section each system has a specific home at grade, and getting them into those homes completely and inspected unlocks the vertical run up the building. This step requires close coordination between the electrical, mechanical, and low-voltage trades and it is the first place commissioning sequences commonly stall because the coordination didn’t happen in preconstruction.

Step three is running systems vertically through the building. Power up through the electrical rooms stacked floor by floor. Communications and controls cabling through the independent distribution frames and chase spaces. Hydraulic piping hot water, chilled water, domestic rising through the building to feed equipment. Ductwork rising through vertical shafts to the roof. This is the spine of the commissioning sequence. When the vertical infrastructure is complete power, piping, data, duct everything above can be connected. Until it is, the air handlers on the roof are expensive equipment waiting to do their job.

Watch for these signals that the commissioning path is not being built into the production plan:

  • Electrical room sequences are scheduled as part of the interior phases rather than as standalone vertical milestones tracked separately
  • The air handler delivery date is on the schedule but the power and piping hookup sequence leading to startup is not
  • Point-to-point is scheduled as a single block at the end of the project rather than built floor by floor as interior work completes
  • Test and balance appears only in the closeout phase with no protection for the time required to run the system at full load

Step Four: Getting Air Moving

Step four is the air handler flying it in, connecting power, piping, and controls, performing the mechanical startup, completing the point-to-point through the entire vertical system, and then running the system. This is the moment the building starts to breathe. Exhaust pulls stale air. Supply delivers conditioned air. The building environment stabilizes. And then everything downstream of this moment becomes possible in the right conditions: full test and balance, functional performance testing, building flush, and eventually the TCO walk.

Jason Schroeder’s framework for commissioning is clear: you track by system, not by location. Print the one-line diagram. Print the HVAC flow diagram. Put them on the wall. Highlight segments as they’re complete. Build the commissioning sequence into the production plan as a parallel track alongside the interior Takt zones not as a separate, disconnected schedule that nobody references until the team is scrambling. The individual commissioning activities happen floor by floor as each zone completes its dry-side and wet-side connections, pre-functional checklist, and point-to-point. When every floor is done, the building-level point-to-point can begin. That sequencing is not optional. It is the only path that works.

Why Sequencing and Takt Are the Answer

The Takt Production System naturally supports the commissioning path because it creates zone completion discipline. In a Takt environment, trades don’t leave zones partially done they complete each zone before moving to the next. That means the mechanical and electrical work in Zone 1 is fully installed, inspected, and ready for the commissioning sequence before the zone is handed off. The pre-functional checklist can run floor by floor because the work is actually done floor by floor. The point-to-point can progress because the controls cabling was completed in sequence, not scattered across the building wherever trades happened to be working.

Without Takt, without zone completion discipline, commissioning becomes an archaeological dig crawling through a partially complete building trying to trace systems that were installed in fragments across months of work. That dig takes weeks. It produces the compressed, chaotic closeouts that the industry has normalized and should not accept. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. That flow runs all the way to the TCO walk and it starts with a commissioning sequence built into the production plan from day one.

Build It on Paper First. Then Build It in the Field.

Here is the challenge. On your next project, before construction begins, sit down with your MEP trade partners and build the commissioning path visually. Map it in four steps: utilities in, entry rooms complete, vertical spine complete, air handlers online. Put dates against each step. Check those dates against the interior Takt plan to confirm the vertical milestones are achievable in the production sequence you’ve designed. Then move commissioning up by at least six weeks from wherever your first instinct put it. Protect those six weeks. Build the plan that makes the path achievable, and then build to the path.

The best projects don’t ask when commissioning starts. They build so that commissioning is already happening floor by floor, system by system, from the first week of interior work to the last.

As Jason Schroeder teaches: “Plan it first, build it right, finish as you go.” That’s the path of commissioning. Start it now.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the path of commissioning and why does sequencing matter?

It’s the four-step vertical sequence utilities in, entry rooms, vertical infrastructure, air handlers online that must happen in order. Skipping or compressing a step transfers the cost forward as rework, compressed testing, and failed closeouts.

Why should commissioning be moved up earlier in the schedule?

Because every downstream activity test and balance, building flush, functional performance testing, TCO requires stable, running systems. Moving commissioning up by six weeks creates the buffer needed to run those activities properly instead of compressing them into crisis mode.

How does Takt support the commissioning sequence?

Takt requires zone completion before handoff, which means MEP work is done floor by floor in sequence enabling pre-functional checklists and point-to-point to happen progressively rather than as a chaotic end-of-project scramble.

What is point-to-point and when should it happen?

It’s the controls verification process where the controls team confirms every piece of equipment is properly connected and communicating. It should happen floor by floor as each zone’s systems complete not as a single block at the end of the project.

What is building flush and why is it important?

Building flush requires the HVAC system to run at full capacity for an extended period to purge construction contaminants before occupancy. It can only happen when the system is fully operational which is why getting air handlers online early is critical to TCO readiness.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Worker Huddle Area

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 19 min

The Most Important Meeting in Construction Happens Before Anyone Touches a Tool

Here’s the deal: the moment workers step through the gate without alignment, the project is already behind. Not because of a scheduling failure or a material shortage or a coordination gap because fifty or a hundred or two hundred people just entered a shared space with separate agendas, separate priorities, and no shared understanding of what success looks like today. That’s not a workforce problem. That’s a system problem. And the morning worker huddle is the system that solves it.

I have never seen a Lean, operationally excellent project without a Morning Worker Huddle. Not once. Because Lean requires total participation everyone working as a group toward a shared plan and you cannot build total participation if people scatter to their zones the moment they arrive without ever becoming one team first.

What Happens When There Is No Huddle

Most projects start the day the same way. Workers arrive, badge in or sign a sheet, and head to their area. Some stop to talk to a foreman. Some get instructions from a trade supervisor. Some arrive and simply continue what they were doing yesterday. By 7:15, fifty people are spread across eight floors doing what they individually believe should happen not what the project needs to happen as a coordinated, sequenced team.

The mechanical trade is working in a zone the drywall crew expected to enter today. The electrician doesn’t know there’s a concrete pour in the adjacent corridor that will restrict access until noon. The new worker who showed up this morning was never told about the permit required before the hot work can begin. A foreman makes a decision about sequencing without knowing that the adjacent trade made the opposite decision yesterday. Within two hours, the invisible chaos that started at the gate has become visible conflict on the floor.

None of these people did anything wrong individually. They filled information gaps the system left open. The system failed them. They didn’t fail the system.

Why the Huddle Is the Foundation of Everything Else

Jason Schroeder teaches that the Morning Worker Huddle is the most important meeting in construction. Its purpose is to create one social group, win over the workforce, and communicate the plan for the day safety focus, permits, active deliveries, weather, and training. When workers feel listened to and respected in that huddle, something shifts. The project becomes a team rather than a collection of separate subcultures competing for space and resources.

This is not a soft outcome. It is a production outcome. People like people they’re near. People like people they understand. People coordinate with people they know and trust. All of those conditions that make production flow coordination, handoff discipline, willingness to raise a problem before it becomes a crisis they develop through daily connection. The huddle is the mechanism that creates that connection at scale, across all trades, every single morning before a single tool is picked up.

The image in this post shows what a properly designed huddle area looks like. It is not a parking lot gathering. It is a designed space covered to protect from rain, equipped with audio and a platform so every worker can hear the plan regardless of where they’re standing, with enough restrooms and handwash stations for the full workforce, a QR code that displays the day plan on every worker’s personal device, speakers and translation so language is never a barrier to alignment, and coffee and breakfast available as a small but meaningful gesture that says the project team values this time and values the people spending it here. Every element of the setup communicates the same message: this meeting matters, and so do you.

The Human Queuing System

One of the most powerful operational concepts in the morning huddle setup is intentional queuing. Every human being needs connection, information, and alignment before they enter a high-stakes environment. The huddle area enables that no workers are allowed through the second gate until the huddle is complete.

This is not a control mechanism. It is a care mechanism. A worker who enters the project site unoriented to today’s safety focus is exposed to risk they weren’t prepared for. A worker who enters without knowing the daily delivery windows is going to cross paths with equipment they didn’t anticipate. A worker who enters without knowing what the person working adjacent to them is planning to do today will inevitably create conflict that could have been prevented in five minutes. Intentional queuing says: before we ask anything of you, we are going to give you everything you need to be safe, effective, and connected to the team around you.

The primary gate to the left allows workers in. The turnstile to the right opens only after the huddle is complete. Both gates working together create a designed entry one that guarantees alignment before anyone reaches the floor.

Watch for these signals that your project needs a structured morning huddle:

  • Workers arriving and dispersing to zones without any shared briefing
  • Coordination conflicts recurring floor by floor that trace back to separate trade agendas
  • Safety incidents involving information that was available but never communicated to the affected worker
  • New trade mobilizations where workers enter the project without knowing project-specific safety standards
  • Foremen making sequencing decisions in isolation that conflict with adjacent trade plans

What the Huddle Actually Covers

The morning worker huddle is structured, not improvised. It runs through a deliberate agenda: shout-outs that recognize individuals by name, the safety focus for the day, active permits and hot work requirements, delivery windows and logistics impacts, weather conditions and their effect on the work plan, any phase transitions or zone handoffs happening today, and a training topic even two minutes that builds the crew’s Lean knowledge over time.

The training component is worth emphasizing because it is the element most often skipped on projects that run a version of the huddle. Jason Schroeder’s podcast began as miniature training topics he delivered in this very huddle. Two minutes on the eight wastes. Two minutes on the purpose of zone maps. Two minutes on what a perfect handoff looks like. Over the course of a six-month project, that’s more than forty training sessions delivered to the full workforce building a crew that understands the system they’re working inside, not just the task they’re assigned to today.

The QR code on the huddle board allows every worker to pull the day plan onto their own device without printing, without dependence on someone else to interpret it for them. The translation speaker ensures that a worker whose primary language is Spanish, Vietnamese, or any other language receives the same complete information as every other worker in the huddle. Alignment is only alignment if it reaches everyone. Partial communication is partial alignment, and partial alignment still produces chaos just less of it.

Connection Before Production

Jason Schroeder teaches that workers and foremen are the only people who actually add value in construction they are the ones who put work in place. Every other role in the system exists to support them. Until their environment is clean, safe, organized, and stable, the system hasn’t arrived where it needs to be. The morning worker huddle is how that support system shows up at the start of every day. It says: we are going to connect with you before we ask anything of you. We are going to give you the information you need. We are going to treat this thirty minutes as the most valuable thirty minutes of the day because it is.

The trades who experience that quality of morning consistently report something that doesn’t show up in productivity metrics but shows up everywhere else: they care more. They show up earlier. They raise problems. They protect handoffs. They look out for the trade coming behind them. They become one team instead of competing subcultures. That transformation is not manufactured through incentives. It is built, daily, through a meeting that treats people like the professionals they are.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. The morning worker huddle is where that stability is born.

Start Tomorrow With One Team

Here is the challenge. This week, walk your project gate and watch what happens in the first twenty minutes of the workday. Count how many workers enter without anyone speaking to them. Count how many workers go directly to their zone without any shared briefing. Count how many decisions get made in that first hour that conflict with what another trade is planning. That count is the gap between where your project is today and what the Morning Worker Huddle makes possible.

Set up the space. Build the agenda. Protect the time. Bring every trade together before the first gate opens. Do it for thirty days and watch what happens to your safety record, your coordination quality, and the way your trades talk about this project compared to every other one they’ve worked on.

Training builds people. Structure builds systems. Do both, every morning, before anyone enters the work.

As Jason Schroeder teaches: “We’re building people who build things.” Start there at the gate, with the huddle, with one team.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Morning Worker Huddle and how long does it take?

It’s a structured daily meeting held before workers enter the site that covers safety, the day plan, permits, deliveries, training, and shout-outs. It typically runs fifteen to thirty minutes.

Why must the huddle happen before workers enter the site?

A worker who enters unoriented creates their own plan, which conflicts with others. Alignment before the gate is what converts a group of separate trades into one coordinated team.

What should the huddle agenda include?

Shout-outs, safety focus, active permits, delivery windows, weather impacts, zone or phase updates, and a brief Lean training topic every element serves a specific purpose in creating daily alignment.

How does the QR code on the huddle board help workers?

It puts the day plan on every worker’s personal device instantly no printing, no relying on someone else to relay information, and no language barrier when paired with translation speakers.

What happens after the Morning Worker Huddle?

Workers move to their gang box or work area for the Crew Preparation Huddle a smaller, crew-level meeting that covers the specific task, quality checklist, pre-task plan, and daily tool and material shakeout.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

Multi-dimensional Takt – Germany Series

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 26 min

Multi-Dimensional Takt: When Workers Break Into Song on the Production Line

They’re here with Reno Schroeder, otherwise known by his DJ name Renovate, Spencer Easton, and Felipe Engineer Manriquez. They just want to capture, even if it’s just a couple of minutes, some of the excitement of meeting with Janusz Dłuhi, Saskia, Magdalena, and the team. Reno helped play the simulation. It was really fun. What was it like to tour through the BMW museum, showroom, and factory? “It was awesome.” Reno’s favorite car was the BMW M8. That was really cool to see. But culturally, M3s are pretty awesome. So the M8 and the M3 are both cool to see.

BMW is Bavarian Motorworks. And what Jason learned, and he hopes his German listeners won’t get mad, is they made it clear that Bavaria is much different than just being in Germany. So they got the whole experience. Spencer, what were some of the things that were pretty cool? “We did a simulation of how flow works on a construction site when you do what we know how to do versus getting guided a little bit towards Takt. And it was absolutely amazing. Mind blowing. And I feel like I’m just starting a Takt journey. So really excited about that.”

Another thing Spencer really liked: Janusz took them on a tour of the actual production line. They got to go out on the production line and stand on the freaking production line. Reno actually touched one of the cars. He wasn’t supposed to. He got yelled at. The German angst came out of Janusz and told Reno, Renovate, that was not something he could do. Felipe said it was the best part of the whole trip, having Reno get yelled at. He didn’t even yell. It was a stern German. It wasn’t even stern. It was so nice. He was just like “Hey, you’re not supposed to touch it.”

The Production Line That Moves With the Cars

The actual production line moves with the cars. The cars are on a track up above and they were moving along this line and the platform that the actual manufacturers stand on moves at the same rate as the cars. They learned that in each one of the different shops, the auto body shop, the engine shop, each one of them has a different throughput. In the shop where they were standing, every 58 seconds a car comes out of that shop ready for the next process from the auto body shop. It was really interesting to see how long of a line it was and that every 58 seconds they have a car coming off of it. It was beautiful.

The bottom platform moves with the cars. So when the car goes to the different stations, you can just stand there and move. When they sent the buffers, so they had enough time to do their work and it still stayed in the station area, that’s when the platform actually stopped moving. Where you actually stop moving with the car, that’s an indication that you might not have finished everything or they have time to go back and fix maybe something that is defected. They had a little bit of buffer in those stations to be able to deal with any of those variances or quality issues.

They saw whiteboard visualization everywhere. They saw some Scrum. They saw some lean visual systems. Felipe, what was your big takeaway? “My big thing was, yes, BMW uses Scrum baby for design. And in the auto works baby, in the production, it’s in play. I saw so many different versions of lean visual management. Lean is alive and well. And there was even a whiteboard dedicated to the lean journey for people in this production line, which I thought was incredible.”

Why Starting With Math Changes Everything

Spencer was blown away at something Felipe said when they were with Janusz. Felipe had said that what they’re doing is not what we see anybody else doing. He talked about how line of balance isn’t the first thing you go to. What they’re doing is completely different. When in the United States when we hear Takt, that’s not what people think. Some might have a bad taste in their mouth.

Felipe got Takt training four years ago in Berkeley. It was good. He thought it was good at the time. And it was better than what he knew. It was partnered and paired with Last Planner system. Yesterday with Janusz, they went through multiple simulations. One where they tried Last Planner first before Takt. And then a second one where they started with mathematics first. And it blew away everything Felipe thought was possible with Takt.

“We were in the zone. We were in the flow zone. I have never felt so good. So happy. There were points during the simulation where we broke out into singing while we were working.” What did they sing? They don’t remember, but it was awesome. It was like an 80s song. It never happened before. When Felipe had done Takt training before, there were some things that were kind of forced with line of balance that didn’t even solve a problem that they really had.

In this simulation where they started with math first, you get instantaneous feedback on are we breaking this up to the right level? Do we have our constraints handled? And then once they started, the amount of communication while they were in simulation decreased.

When Janusz would pause them at key moments for control, like you would do in the real field, like Spencer was saying, you pause at the end of the day, do a curb reflection with your worker to make sure everything’s stable. In those moments where you’re looking at what the work is doing, making tiny, teeny, tiny shifts of the approach to the work had massive exponential outcomes to the time it took and the flow state that each person was in. It was incredible. It was life changing, really. And Felipe got that right after Tony Robbins.

The Right Sizing of Batch Sizes: From Two Zones to Six, Not Fifty Four

One of the interesting moments: they each had 60 seconds to do their Takt area. They split it up into six Takt areas, six Takt zones, whereas normal industry stuff probably would have split it up into only two. So they had smaller batch sizes, not too small. When they tried it the first time, and “tried” is the right word for that, they had too many. They had like 54. And it really needed to be six. So we do want smaller batch sizes, but it needed to go from two to six, not two to 54.

They had a great time failing in the first one. And then on the second one, they had a great time winning with the right sizing of batch sizes, right sizing of the Takt zones. When each person got done, let’s say Felipe finished 10 seconds earlier or five seconds early. Spencer had the hardest scope. He was doing the roof. But the support from everybody else helped him succeed.

Here’s how it worked:

  • Felipe was doing his work, then he would cue up Saskia and get the material staged there for her.
  • When Jason got done putting in the last set of beams, the transverse beams not the longitudinal ones, he would go get Spencer’s materials and cue them up.
  • Maybe a logistics company does this in real world, but they were queuing up materials so the next person was ready.

Could you imagine a system of construction where the trade partners come and they’re ready to do their best work and the materials are there packaged and ready? Anything assembled and prefabricated that you might need with the screws and the tools and the gang boxes with a clean swept area, looking all pretty and beautiful, like you’re opening up an Amazon package for your first day ready to go. That is just not what we do. Workers come in, they do the orientation, they come out and then everybody starts their treasure hunt search for the materials and everything else. And it’s chaos.

But the staging of materials, the Friday before, the Thursday before, or even early that Monday morning or on Saturday, whenever it happens, really appealed to Jason. Because if you go back to any point in your life, can you remember a time even when you’re assembling like your crib or your bed, bunk beds or whatever, or your first playground kit for your kids, and you set out the box and you got your screwdriver and you swept everything and you cleared the room out and it’s freshly painted? How good it felt to just have everything you needed there.

That’s the environment we need to set up our trades with. That’s one of the biggest things Jason took away. When they were queuing up other people, when Spencer finally got his roof done on the last area and then on time in 55 or 50 seconds came to the other one, all of his roofing material was staged there ready to go. So he was able to make his time.

How They Increased Throughput Midway Through the Simulation

At the beginning they started seeing that they could get done even with extra time in 50 seconds, not 60. They increased their throughput midway through the thing. They didn’t have to rush to finish early. Jason thinks he was the longest and he took about 50 seconds. So that’s what they set it to. They shaved two minutes off or something like that. No, it went from 15 minutes to nine minutes. They saved all this time just because they made that tiny tweak about four or five Takt zones in with the first trade.

Just that little tweak because they saw that production together, making that small adjustment, it was awesome. Which means they adjusted the Takt time once everybody could verify that everyone would make it. That’s what we do on the team. As long as you can align your supply chains and procurement with those earlier dates, then they did that as a team.

But once they had set the new 50 second rule, they didn’t start new areas until the drum beat hit, which is the key. We have to get away from “Oh, just move people randomly earlier.” We have to get away from that too. Felipe and Spencer came up with this idea: if you start to get into a rhythm where you finish in four and a half days, why not let the crew really enjoy a half a day on Friday setting up, getting their materials shaken out, getting boxes organized, making sure that you have all the inventory, grabbing the lift drawings, going through the quality checklist, doing some training?

Janusz said “Train on rain days, training days, rain days, prep days.” Jason is thinking about some of the clients they work with. When it rains, they just push through the mud and the garbage and pumping and they’re out there miserable. Why not just pause and time out? Let it rain for the first half of this day, clean it up tomorrow or this afternoon, whatever. But bring them in the shop. What can we prefabricate? What can we preassemble and load on the truck? What training can we do? What can we do to make our logistics work? If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: What’s the difference between starting with Last Planner versus starting with mathematics?

Felipe got Takt training four years ago paired with Last Planner. It was good but limited. Yesterday with Janusz they did one simulation trying Last Planner first, then a second starting with mathematics first. It blew away everything Felipe thought was possible. They were in the zone, in the flow zone. They broke out into singing while working. Starting with math gives instantaneous feedback on are we breaking this up to the right level, do we have constraints handled. Then communication during work decreased. Tiny shifts in approach had massive exponential outcomes to time and flow state.

Q: How many Takt zones should you have for a typical project?

Normal industry stuff probably splits into two zones. They split into six Takt zones for smaller batch sizes. When they first tried it, they had 54 zones, way too many. It really needed to be six. You want smaller batch sizes but not too small. Going from two to six is right. Going from two to 54 is wrong. The math tells you the right sizing. With six zones and 60 second Takt time initially, they could verify everyone made it, then adjusted to 50 seconds midway through, increasing throughput and shaving time from 15 minutes to 9 minutes.

Q: Why does the BMW production platform move with the cars?

So workers can stand and move with the car as it goes to different stations. Every 58 seconds a car exits each shop ready for the next process. When they have enough time to do their work and it stays in the station area, the platform stops moving. Where you stop moving with the car indicates you might not have finished or you have time to fix something defected. They have buffer in stations to deal with variances or quality issues. The movement creates rhythm and flow.

Q: What does staging materials properly look like in construction?

Trade partners come ready to do their best work and materials are there packaged and ready. Anything assembled and prefabricated you might need with screws, tools, gang boxes, with a clean swept area looking pretty and beautiful like opening an Amazon package for your first day. Currently workers do orientation, come out, then start treasure hunt searching for materials in chaos. But staging materials Friday before, Thursday before, or early Monday morning means when Spencer got his roof done and came to the next zone, all roofing material was staged there ready to go so he made his time.

Q: What should crews do on rain days instead of pushing through mud?

Train on rain days, training days, rain days, prep days. If you finish in four and a half days, let the crew enjoy half a day Friday setting up, getting materials shaken out, boxes organized, inventory checked, lift drawings grabbed, quality checklists reviewed, training completed. When it rains, pause and time out. Let it rain first half of day, clean up later. Bring them in the shop. What can we prefabricate? What can we preassemble and load on truck? What training can we do? What can we do to make logistics work?

On we go.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Why You Need Tony Robbins! – Germany Series

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 32 min

Go Get What You Deserve: Why Tony Robbins Business Mastery Changed Everything

Felipe and Spencer and Jason are in an Audi A4 on the Autobahn in Germany. People are going twice their speed of 120 kilometers per hour, at least 180 kilometers per hour. They’re going to do a couple of Germany podcasts. This one is an interview with Felipe Engineer Manriquez specifically about his recent experience with Tony Robbins Business Mastery.

They’re huge Tony Robbins fans. They don’t get paid anything for advertising stuff like that. But Felipe and Spencer and Jason fulfill their purpose by recommending good things. So they want you to go to Tony Robbins. They encourage you to do it. When you get some Tony in your life, it’s going to change your life. They totally recommend his books, specifically Unleash the Power Within. Felipe, in his morning or evening radio show voice, what was it like to go to Tony Robbins Business Mastery?

“Business Mastery was the first time that I saw a complete integration of business concepts, psychology, motivation, and continuous improvement all rolled into one. It was extremely high energy, which I did not expect.” Felipe had no idea how much energy was being generated every day. It was virtual. There were 2,600 people participating in over 70 countries, in pretty much every time zone on the planet.

The Setup That Creates Exponential Retention

Tony has a big setup. He’s got screens that are 20 or 30 feet tall in a 360 room. He’s in there. They’ve got Kinergy there. They call them dancers, but they really get you moving and up and running. And then they have this guy Brian that does some stretches with you. They call him the structural ninja.

Brian corrected Felipe’s posture. One of the real fast things Felipe learned was when Brian talked about how sitting is the new smoking. There’s a little thing you can do when you roll the bottom of your spine out and you actually sit up straight. Felipe made the change Brian recommended. They practiced it in their chairs. Felipe grew like two inches.

He was watching himself because he had this habit of slouching. By fixing it, he was able to sit and not even tire at all. Never got tired. And they went 12 or 13 hours with no breaks.

Literally, Felipe went to Tony Robbins all night, went to bed at 8 AM. Spencer and Jason flew into Germany, into Munich, landed at noon. So at 1 PM they started heading where they needed to go. Felipe held up and got a couple hours of sleep.

When you go into a Tony Robbins event, you have the dancers that get you queued up. You have stretches, so you have a stretch and flex. You have like a welcome and a greeting. They really get you high energy. So you’re dancing most of the time. But the reason he does it is to anchor you to the information you’re learning. The sounds, the smells, the energy, the dancing, it’s all psychologically designed to program you, like Felipe said, to remember those concepts.

Felipe’s retention of the things, they’ve been together for a week now and he’s been talking. They don’t have enough time to talk about all the things he learned. Jason is his witness. Felipe recalls so many things from the training. He filled an entire notebook. He ran a pen from a brand new pen to nothing. Ran out of ink. And that was just the first three days. He’s never written so many notes. It was incredible.

The concepts he learned. Felipe got his MBA two years ago, a double accredited international MBA, fantastic program. And he still learned things about accounting in an exciting way. Let him say it a second time: he learned about accounting in an exciting way that got him really amped up to look at what they were doing financially. Felipe has made changes. Every day he made some changes from the training. He’s already improved his business by just day one concepts from day one.

I Love Numbers and Numbers Love Me

Did Tony make Felipe say “I love numbers and numbers love me”? Yes. And he also made him say “I love charts and charts love me.” Now when Felipe sees numbers and charts, he gets excited. Jason goes to massive companies and talks to their CEOs and they’re doing organizational health, getting the vision clear. He’ll say “Let’s start to dig into the financials. Let’s see what kind of reporting systems, what is the data that you’re reviewing in your meetings, in your weekly meeting, in your strategic meetings.” And they’ll literally say “Oh, so and so takes care of that. I don’t see it.”

Jason’s like “What? That’s like saying I don’t want to get an AIDS test because I’d rather not know. No, you need to know this stuff so you can get help.” The key to all of this is state. If you are in a crappy state, if you’re feeling like Felipe said earlier, if you’re low energy, if you’re tired, if you’re burnt out, you’re going to make really crappy decisions. If you can raise your state, you can raise your life, your business, your marriage, your family, the whole nine. And state is all about what you’re looking at, what you’re thinking about, what you’re doing. And so one of the things they do at Tony Robbins is they do dancing and moving because it immediately puts you into a higher state.

Here’s what happens when you’re in a high state:

  • Your brain opens up and you can actually absorb concepts instead of filtering everything through fear and scarcity.
  • You make better decisions because you’re not operating from survival mode but from possibility thinking.
  • You see opportunities instead of obstacles because your mental filter shifts from threat detection to pattern recognition.
  • You take action instead of procrastinating because energy creates momentum and momentum creates more energy.
  • You connect concepts across disciplines because your mind is flexible enough to see relationships between ideas.

And they’ll actually move in the direction of increasing, growing, progressing. That’s really 90% of the battle.

Anybody can find out information. Right now in this industry, you want to learn Scrum? You can go learn Scrum. You want to learn Takt? You can learn Takt. You want to learn the Last Planner system? You can learn it. You want to learn about IPD? There’s nothing out there you can’t go learn. The question is, are you in a state like Felipe is describing where you will go learn it? Where you will put in the time? Where you will grind like Eric Thomas always says?

The Philanthropy That Proves It’s Not About Money

When Jason asks people about Tony, they’re like “Oh, I don’t really know much about him” or “Oh, I’ve heard a couple of bad things” or “Oh, I don’t know if that’s for me” or “Isn’t he just like in it for the money?” Felipe, tell the number again. How much did you raise for that charitable organization while you were there?

“While we were in the five days of training, there were multiple charities. There was one in particular where we raised over $1 million in under 30 minutes to help children that are being trafficked into slavery. We saved the lives of 2,600 young girls all over the world, pulling them out of slavery. This year, they will be freed. This year.” It was incredible. And Tony’s working towards being able to feed a billion people meals through his charity. His philanthropy is widely known.

The other thing is the first thing Tony teaches you is to add value and to give and to serve God or whatever you believe in and to be that go giver and to give out into the universe. So anyone who has been to Tony Robbins, they’re wired that way. Give first, give first, give first, give first. Just to set the message straight: when somebody says “Oh, I went to a Tony Robbins event and he put his hands on my shoulders,” yeah, he probably did that. And that’s a part of the training. So toughen up. That’s what you get.

He’s a great guy, great story, giving it away for the most part, and his philanthropy is just amazing. In a couple years, he’ll reach the goal of having fed a billion people. And probably his philanthropies have spent, if we had to guess, hundreds of millions, it might even be over a billion dollars by this point of the money that he’s given out.

The Business Grew 300% in Six Months

Jason was sitting at an Unleash the Power Within event with Tony Robbins. They were selling a business mastery ticket. It’s $10,000 to $15,000. Jason can’t remember what he paid for it. But he just cut the check. He didn’t even have the money to cut the check. He was starting a business. He cut the check, spent the money, went there.

Because the guy next to him at Unleash the Power Within, Jason was like “Is this business mastery for real? Is this like a legit thing?” And he turned to Jason and said “Well, I went, and within six months my business grew 300%.” Jason was like “Okay.”

Then he met a guy in Utah in Park City. He was rich. One of their friends, Weston Woolsey knows him. He’s a multimillionaire. He owns real estate in Park City. Jason said “Well, how did you get here?” And he’s like “I went to a Tony Robbins real estate course 15 years ago.” Over and over and over and over these rich people who are not rich to be selfish, but rich to give. Felipe, what advice would you give?

“If you’re struggling in any type of way, I highly recommend Tony’s got a ton of free content out there. We even heard stories in our groups of people that just listened to one motivational video of his every day for a month and it made an impact on their life.”

If you have the opportunity to go learn something, there’s even an app where Tony’s got different apps available. It’s not a free app, you have to pay. But if you go through the process and you do the work, the results are going to be exponential. There was a woman in Felipe’s group, a realtor. She was having trouble in her business. She went to Unleash the Power Within with Tony. She told them “I was barely doing $3 million in sales” and the market she was in was a hot market. She said “During COVID, I went to doing $45 million in sales in six months after this event.”

Felipe said “That’s a testament to changing your mindset.” She said it was all mindset. 100% mindset. Felipe went in positive. He came out different. When Jason saw him on day one, Felipe had just rolled out of bed, brushed his teeth because he had just been with Tony all night. They started talking and Jason commented that it seemed like Felipe was different. Different good.

Felipe is on a mission to make a massive impact for people who want to work in construction. It’s a great career. That’s what he wants to do. That’s why they’re in Germany right now. They are going to make a massive impact for all the people that want to have a better experience. It’s right there. It’s ready. Reach out and get some.

You’re Obligated to Be Rich So You Can Give

Spencer adds: if anyone is interested in or thinking about going to a Tony event, one thing he did is he watched a Netflix special called I Am Not Your Guru. It really showcases how Tony is a giving person. It mentions a little bit about his philanthropy with the trafficking of young people across the globe and how they raised over a million dollars in a few minutes.

They got on camera a lady who brought up this charity. Because Tony interacts with a lot of people in the audience and what he does is he sits and he listens. We have to listen in order to be able to give properly and this is what Tony did. He heard what this woman was saying and in the end he said “I can add value here. I want to donate to this.”

In that charity event they raised millions or hundreds of thousands of dollars right there on the spot. Everyone just started raising their hands “I can, I will, I will.” They’re all crying by the end of it. Really great example of how giving has a lot to do with listening.

If you’re feeling stagnant, if you’re feeling a little bit low energy, if you’re like “Why am I on this earth or what am I doing here,” then you need to go to one of his events. Jason goes every year and he’ll go every year until the day he dies.

What Jason’s excited about is Tony has Life Mastery, he has Couples Mastery, he has where you can go to Fiji with your spouse, he has Platinum Partnerships, he has Unleash the Power Within, Date with Destiny which is a five or six day course. All of these things are amazing. Jason doesn’t have to worry about from now till the day he dies are there amazing life changing events out there because the answer is yes. He’s already signed up and he’s got discounts for the next section. He’s done Business Mastery 1. He’s currently in Business Mastery 2. It’s absolutely fantastic.

The last thing Jason wants to say is he thinks you’re obligated to be rich or to strive to become rich because the more money you have, the more you can give and help and serve and love. We can’t do that from empty closets, empty shelves, empty bank accounts, and empty minds.

Felipe did a four or five day training. He was so committed to it he spent the money, flew to Germany early a week before they did this trip, did it in the middle of the night. If you’re thinking to yourself “I can’t spend the money, I can’t do this,” just keep in mind yes you can.

Jason doesn’t advocate debt. He’s a Dave Ramsey guy up until he wants to make money, then he’s a Gary Gunderson guy. Then he ditches the principles and starts to risk. But he doesn’t consume debt. He will invest from a debt standpoint. But if somebody said “Should I put a Tony Robbins training on my credit card?” Definitively yes. Just go spend the money and get it done. Go get what you deserve in life. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: Why does Tony Robbins use dancing and high energy at his events?

To anchor you to the information you’re learning. The sounds, the smells, the energy, the dancing, it’s all psychologically designed to program you to remember those concepts. Felipe filled an entire notebook, ran a pen from brand new to nothing in just three days, and recalls so many things from the training weeks later. State is everything. If you’re in a crappy state, low energy, tired, burnt out, you make crappy decisions. If you can raise your state, you can raise your life, business, marriage, family. Dancing and moving immediately puts you into a higher state where your brain opens up and you can actually absorb concepts.

Q: Is Tony Robbins just in it for the money?

No. While at Business Mastery, they raised over $1 million in under 30 minutes to help children being trafficked into slavery, saving 2,600 young girls all over the world. Tony’s working towards feeding a billion people meals through his charity. His philanthropies have probably spent hundreds of millions or over a billion dollars. The first thing he teaches is to add value, give, and serve. Anyone who has been to Tony Robbins is wired that way: give first. He’s a great guy with great philanthropy, giving it away for the most part.

Q: What kind of results do people actually get from Tony Robbins events?

A guy at Unleash the Power Within told Jason his business grew 300% within six months after attending Business Mastery. A woman realtor in Felipe’s group was barely doing $3 million in sales, then during COVID went to $45 million in sales in six months after the event. She said it was all mindset, 100% mindset. Felipe made changes every day from the training and already improved his business by just day one concepts. A multimillionaire in Park City attributed his success to a Tony Robbins real estate course 15 years ago.

Q: How can I afford to go to a Tony Robbins event?

Felipe was so committed he spent the money, flew to Germany early, did the training in the middle of the night for four or five days. If you’re thinking “I can’t spend the money, I can’t do this,” yes you can. Jason doesn’t advocate debt, but if somebody said “Should I put a Tony Robbins training on my credit card?” definitively yes. Just go spend the money and get it done. You’re obligated to strive to become rich because the more money you have, the more you can give and help and serve and love. We can’t do that from empty bank accounts and empty minds.

Q: What’s the difference between knowing information and being in a state to use it?

Anybody can find information. You want to learn Scrum? You can learn Scrum. You want to learn Takt? You can learn Takt. You want to learn Last Planner or IPD? There’s nothing you can’t go learn. The question is, are you in a state where you will go learn it? Where you will put in the time? Where you will grind? That’s 90% of the battle. When you’re in a high state, your brain opens up, you make better decisions, you see opportunities instead of obstacles, you take action instead of procrastinating, you connect concepts across disciplines. State changes everything.

On we go.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

Plan Like A Builder!

Posted on by Danny Jiménez⁩
Read 29 min

Are You Planning Like a Builder? Why This Should Be the Most Fun Part of Your Job

The conflict is that we’re all not planning like builders and we sure could have the opportunity and the invitation to do so. This isn’t a criticism. This isn’t anything negative. This isn’t a rant. It’s an invitation to passionate living. The way a builder plans a project can be so stinking fun and so addictive that Jason wants everybody to be able to experience it. That’s what this is about.

Jason just finished two days with Janusz in Germany and Munich with Spencer, Felipe, and his son Reno. It’s been a blast finishing the simulations that they have that take you through Takt planning and some of the nuances of the formula. It’s been absolutely amazing.

He got to tour the BMW museum, the showroom, see certain parts of the line as a visitor to the Takt simulation. There’s so much they learned. The cab driver from the Munich airport was talking about how in Bavaria, in South Germany, everything is clean and safe and organized and that it’s just really culturally a happy place to be and they really strive and focus on excellence, especially with manufacturing and cars.

Jason was like “Wow, this is my place.” You hear him on this podcast for a year now talking about cleanliness, safety, and organization over and over. Coming to Munich is a visual representation of that philosophy from a cultural standpoint. It’s ingrained in the people here. And that’s what planning like a builder should feel like. Ingrained. Natural. Addictive. Fun.

The Simulation That Shows How Builders Actually Think

Jason was doing the simulation with their group and Janusz was facilitating it. They had decided to break up the building a certain way, got a feel for it. They were definitely rushed. It was part of the simulation they knew they were going to fail the first time. But when they broke it up, they got it done under time, which usually in the simulations doesn’t always happen. But it was fairly chaotic. Then they went through the math, Dehne and Fiedler’s law. It’s basically a form of math from Little’s law where they calculated the throughput time and most especially how much time each trade, each trade partner would have by area.

They were able to break the building up into six Takt zones instead of maybe the representative two that they typically do. So they broke it up into six Takt zones. In looking at it, they found what the standard space units are, meaning the smallest standard unit, and worked into the six units. Janusz taught them about sub Takt and analyzing their time and their productivity rate, their production rates.

Once they knew those basic principles, they did our debriefs and kind of walked through “What should we have done differently?” And then they added workers and they re simulated and they went through it in real time to where they could really feel the benefits of this concept of Takt time planning.

What really stood out is that when you run the numbers, you get a story that tells you how the building wants to be built. Not how you think it should be built. Not what the critical path method forces. How the building actually wants to be built based on the math of throughput time, production rates, and logistics.

How Builders Actually Schedule: The Seven Step Process

Here’s how builders schedule. First, they get a full set of plans in their hands. They get them in print. Now Jason likes to do them, and this is a preference, not a rule, he likes to print them out in half size. Even if they’ll never be updated again, even if he’s not posting ASIs and RFIs, he can just trash them, that’s a $350 investment to print them. However, it speeds him up.

He’ll go from page to page, he’ll get his highlighters, his colored pencils, he’ll get his markers, he’ll get sticky notes, and he’ll start going through there and get a feel for the building. He’ll ask the building “How do you want to be broken up?” Where are the electric rooms? Where are the comm rooms? Where are the elevators? Where is the access? Where will the hoist be? Where will the flow of the concrete and steel go? Are there any constraints like the basement or the cores or anywhere that would somewhat dictate the sequence of where I start on the building?

He’ll start to sketch those, and by virtue of sketching and making those colored marks and highlighting and shading and just doing all the fun stuff like he’s back in school, like he’s back in kindergarten, that’s what gets your mind really wrapped around how you want to build this thing.

Now, he would add what Marco and Janusz have added: the concept that we can take the ideal sequence by representative Takt zone and the projected Takt time and the number of areas, the number of Takt zones. So you have your Takt wagons, Takt zones, and Takt time, and go through the formula to not only calculate your overall duration but actually calculate how much time each individual trade partner has per Takt time and therefore their overall duration, which matters to them and their work and the quality they’re able to do.

Here’s the seven step process builders follow:

  • Get a full set of plans in print, even half size if budget allows, because physical interaction with plans engages your brain differently than screens.
  • Ask the building how it wants to be broken up by studying electric rooms, comm rooms, elevators, access, hoist location, concrete and steel flow, constraints.
  • Sketch and mark up plans with highlighters, colored pencils, markers, sticky notes like you’re back in kindergarten because this tactile process wraps your mind around the building.
  • Go through the formula to calculate throughput time, production rates per trade, and determine optimal Takt zones (not too many causing diminishing returns, not too few losing efficiency).
  • Identify the general flow by asking should I work from middle out (rarely start in corners on rectangles because middle out gives more logistical control and access).
  • Simulate logistics day by day, drawing where pumps go, where forklifts go, where concrete goes, where rebar stages, where deck formwork goes, because you can’t see conflicts unless you visualize time and space.
  • Create your Takt schedule or Takt train covering entire phases, tie it all together for your overall plan, build your complete schedule.

You go through those formulas and you’re really able to break it up. You’ll be able to look at these floors and say “Well, instead of two, this should be six representative Takt zones. It doesn’t want to be eight, it doesn’t want to be 12, it doesn’t want to be 18, because then you have diminishing returns, your batch size would be too small. But you don’t want them to be too large. You want to optimize your batch sizes.” Once you know “Hey, for this concrete deck, instead of two sequences I have three, and on this floor instead of two I have six,” then you’re able to start to piece them out and get a really nice logistical flow.

Why Logistics Are What True Masters Study

Jason heard from Janusz that rarely would you start in a corner on a rectangle or square building because working from the middle out gives you more logistical control and access. You’ve heard Jason say in the past that quote from Nathan Malam: “Amateurs study tactics, armchair generals study strategy, but true masters study logistics.”

That’s really what it comes down to. When we’re on a construction project, we have to take into consideration the logistics. Once you’ve identified the general flow, you’ve gotten a feel for the building, you’ve sketched it out, you’ve drawn it, you’ve gone through the math which Elevate Construction or Tacting can help you with to optimize mathematically, the question is logistics.

Simulation is what’s going to get you where you need to be. A lot of people say “Let’s go ahead and do a 4D model.” Jason loves that. He can create a model in Revit. He used to be able to use other software. He can personally create a 3D rendered sequence for a proposal in Synchro. He can do that to a certain extent in Navisworks Manage.

But he has not found them, maybe there’s something new he doesn’t know about, he has not found those models to keep up quickly enough. When 4D schedules become as easy as plugging in symbols and hitting play and adjusting in seconds, we’re going to be jamming because it’s all about simulation.

When Jason creates a schedule for a floor or for a basement or for a concrete core, he will literally on the schedule go from day to day and literally just sketch. Where’s everything going to be? Where’s my pump going to be? Where’s the forklift going to be? Where’s the concrete going to be? Where’s the rebar staging? Where am I going to put my deck formwork? Whatever the case may be because logistics are what experts really study.

Once you have your ideal Takt wagons with your Takt sequence, once you have the number of Takt zones, once you have your Takt time and your overall duration, and you have your general plan through that math, then it really comes down to can we feed the areas?

That’s why for a basement, you have to draw that out day by day. You can’t do spot footings while you’re also shotcreting a wall with shoring and you have pumps and you have concrete trucks in there. You can’t do everything together and you can’t see that unless you look at the visualization of time and space.

Why You Must Simulate Four Times More Than You’re Doing Now

You must simulate it. You must visualize it. The greatest generals of old, Napoleon, Sun Tzu, were talking about this. You can read stories of it in The 33 Strategies of War. You can watch almost any war movie. They’re looking at, once they have the production rates, once they know how fast the military can go, once they have their capacity, it really is all about logistics after that.

Superintendents, schedulers, project managers, you probably need to do at least four times as much simulation as you’re doing right now. Do you have a basement schedule underground? Great. Did you print out 90 sheets and every day draw where everything’s going to be and make sure that you fit?

Did you just finish your concrete sequence? Great. Did you draw out visually exactly where everything’s going to be? Who’s using crane time, where you’re storing materials, where your wall forms are going to go, the whole nine? If not, you need to simulate that.

You’re installing a pipe 12 feet into the ground with trench boxes. Great. Did you create your schedule and then every day draw where your track hoe is going to be? Your trench box is going to be, your pipe’s going to be, your heel man’s going to be, your backfilling crew’s going to be, when are you staging pipe throughout the day? All of the things.

When you create your base sequences, that’s when you’re going to start to break or finish the rest of the scheduling of the building and start to create your complete Takt phase or what the Germans would call Takt schedule, where it basically covers a phase, that entire Takt train. You’re going to start to create those and then you’re going to tie it all together and create your overall plan and build your schedule.

The Critical Steps You Cannot Skip

Do not skip the drawings step. Do not skip the math optimization step. Please do not skip the critical step of drawing and identifying your flow. Please do not skip the logistical step. This is how builders schedule. Jason wants to say one other thing: he has not found a scheduling system better than Takt planning to actually simulate how builders think, how they should think, how they have thought in the past on how to break up a building and really be great.

He’s saying this with passion: if this isn’t fun, if, and now if you’re a general superintendent you have to do 10 of these a day maybe it’s not fun. But planning a project is so fun. And Jason wants you to be able to have fun. If you’re not having fun, please reach out and get some help because we want it to be.

The great builders of old really understood the art form and the science to this. And you can too if you put yourself to it and stick to the basics. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

FAQ

Q: Why should I print plans when I can look at them on a screen?

Because physical interaction with plans engages your brain differently than screens. Get a full set in print, even half size for $350. Go from page to page with highlighters, colored pencils, markers, sticky notes. By virtue of sketching and making colored marks and highlighting and shading and doing all the fun stuff like you’re back in kindergarten, that’s what gets your mind really wrapped around how you want to build this thing. The tactile process creates understanding that scrolling on a tablet never will.

Q: How do I know how many Takt zones the building wants?

Go through the formula to calculate throughput time and production rates per trade. You’ll be able to look at floors and say “Instead of two, this should be six representative Takt zones.” It doesn’t want to be eight, twelve, or eighteen because then you have diminishing returns and batch size becomes too small. But you don’t want them too large either. You want to optimize batch sizes. The math tells you the story. Ask the building how it wants to be broken up based on electric rooms, comm rooms, elevators, access, hoist location, flow constraints.

Q: Why should I work from the middle out instead of starting in a corner?

Rarely would you start in a corner on a rectangle or square building because working from the middle out gives you more logistical control and access. Amateurs study tactics, armchair generals study strategy, but true masters study logistics. Once you’ve identified general flow, sketched it out, gone through the math, the question is logistics. Can you feed the areas? Can you get pumps, forklifts, concrete, rebar staging, formwork where they need to be? Middle out gives you more options.

Q: What does it mean to simulate day by day?

When you create a schedule for a floor, basement, or concrete core, go from day to day and literally sketch where everything’s going to be. Where’s my pump? Where’s the forklift? Where’s the concrete? Where’s the rebar staging? Where am I putting deck formwork? You can’t do spot footings while shotcreting a wall with shoring and pumps and concrete trucks. You can’t see conflicts unless you visualize time and space. Superintendents probably need to do four times as much simulation as they’re doing now. Print 90 sheets for basement schedules and draw where everything goes every day.

Q: What are the critical steps I cannot skip when planning like a builder?

Do not skip the drawings step where you get plans in print and mark them up. Do not skip the math optimization step where you calculate throughput time, production rates, and optimal Takt zones. Do not skip the critical step of drawing and identifying your flow by asking how the building wants to be broken up. Do not skip the logistical step where you simulate day by day where pumps, equipment, materials, crews will be. This is how builders schedule. Takt planning is the best system to simulate how builders think. If this isn’t fun, reach out for help.

On we go.

If you want to learn more we have:

-Takt Virtual Training: (Click here)
-Check out our Youtube channel for more info: (Click here) 
-Listen to the Elevate Construction podcast: (Click here) 
-Check out our training programs and certifications: (Click here)
-The Takt Book: (Click here)

Discover Jason’s Expertise:

Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.

On we go

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    faq

    General Training Overview

    What construction leadership training programs does LeanTakt offer?
    LeanTakt offers Superintendent/PM Boot Camps, Virtual Takt Production System® Training, Onsite Takt Simulations, and Foreman & Field Engineer Training. Each program is tailored to different leadership levels in construction.
    Who should attend LeanTakt’s training programs?
    Superintendents, Project Managers, Foremen, Field Engineers, and trade partners who want to improve planning, communication, and execution on projects.
    How do these training programs improve project performance?
    They provide proven Lean and Takt systems that reduce chaos, improve reliability, strengthen collaboration, and accelerate project delivery.
    What makes LeanTakt’s training different from other construction courses?
    Our programs are hands-on, field-tested, and focused on practical application—not just classroom theory.
    Do I need prior Lean or takt planning experience to attend?
    No. Our programs cover foundational principles before moving into advanced applications.
    How quickly can I apply what I learn on real projects?
    Most participants begin applying new skills immediately, often the same week they complete the program.
    Are these trainings designed for both office and field leaders?
    Yes. We equip both project managers and superintendents with tools that connect field and office operations.
    What industries benefit most from LeanTakt training?
    Commercial, multifamily, residential, industrial, and infrastructure projects all benefit from flow-based planning.
    Do participants receive certificates after completing training?
    Yes. Every participant receives a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion.
    Is LeanTakt training recognized in the construction industry?
    Yes. Our programs are widely respected among leading GCs, subcontractors, and construction professionals.

    Superintendent / PM Boot Camp

    What is the Superintendent & Project Manager Boot Camp?
    It’s a 5-day immersive training for superintendents and PMs to master Lean leadership, takt planning, and project flow.
    How long does the Superintendent/PM Boot Camp last?
    Five full days of hands-on training.
    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp curriculum?
    Lean leadership, Takt Planning, logistics, daily planning, field-office communication, and team health.
    How does the Boot Camp improve leadership and scheduling skills?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    Who is the Boot Camp best suited for?
    Construction leaders responsible for delivering projects, including Superintendents, PMs, and Field Leaders.
    What real-world challenges are simulated during the Boot Camp?
    Schedule breakdowns, trade conflicts, logistics issues, and communication gaps.
    Will I learn Takt Planning at the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Takt Planning is a core focus of the Boot Camp.
    How does this Boot Camp compare to traditional PM certification?
    It’s practical and execution-based rather than exam-based. You learn by doing, not just studying theory.
    Can my entire project team attend the Boot Camp together?
    Yes. Teams attending together often see the greatest results.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    Improved project flow, fewer delays, better team communication, and stronger leadership confidence.

    Takt Production System® Virtual Training

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training?
    It’s an expert-led online program that teaches Lean construction teams how to implement takt planning.
    How does virtual takt training work?
    Delivered online via live sessions, interactive discussions, and digital tools.
    What are the benefits of online takt planning training?
    Convenience, global accessibility, real-time learning, and immediate application.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. It’s fully web-based and accessible worldwide.
    What skills will I gain from the Virtual TPS® Training?
    Macro and micro Takt planning, weekly updates, flow management, and CPM integration.
    How long does the virtual training program take?
    The program is typically completed in multiple live sessions across several days.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. Recordings are available to all participants.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses for the virtual training?
    Yes. Teams and companies can enroll together at discounted rates.
    How does the Virtual TPS® Training integrate with CPM tools?
    We show how to align Takt with CPM schedules like Primavera P6 or MS Project.

    Onsite Takt Simulation

    What is a Takt Simulation in construction training?
    It’s a live, interactive workshop that demonstrates takt planning on-site.
    How does the Takt Simulation workshop work?
    Teams participate in hands-on exercises to learn the flow and rhythm of a Takt-based project.
    Can I choose between a 1-day or 2-day Takt Simulation?
    Yes. We offer flexible formats to fit your team’s schedule and needs.
    Who should participate in the Takt Simulation workshop?
    Superintendents, PMs, site supervisors, contractors, and engineers.
    How does a Takt Simulation improve project planning?
    It shows teams how to structure zones, manage flow, and coordinate trades in real time.
    What will my team learn from the onsite simulation?
    How to build and maintain takt plans, manage buffers, and align trade partners.
    Is the simulation tailored to my specific project type?
    Yes. Scenarios can be customized to match your project.
    How do Takt Simulations improve trade partner coordination?
    They strengthen collaboration by making handoffs visible and predictable.
    What results can I expect from an onsite Takt Simulation?
    Improved schedule reliability, better trade collaboration, and reduced rework.
    How many people can join a Takt Simulation session?
    Group sizes are flexible, but typically 15–30 participants per session.

    Foreman & Field Engineer Training

    What is Foreman & Field Engineer Training?
    It’s an on-demand, practical program that equips foremen and engineers with leadership and planning skills.
    How does this training prepare emerging leaders?
    By teaching communication, crew management, and execution strategies.
    Is the training on-demand or scheduled?
    On-demand, tailored to your team’s timing and needs.
    What skills do foremen and engineers gain from this training?
    Planning, safety leadership, coordination, and communication.
    How does the training improve communication between field and office?
    It builds shared systems that align superintendents, engineers, and managers.
    Can the training be customized for my team’s needs?
    Yes. Programs are tailored for your project or company.
    What makes this program different from generic leadership courses?
    It’s construction-specific, field-tested, and focused on real project application.
    How do foremen and field engineers apply this training immediately?
    They can use new systems for planning, coordination, and daily crew management right away.
    Is the training suitable for small construction companies?
    Yes. Small and large teams alike benefit from building flow-based leadership skills.

    Testimonials

    Testimonials

    "The bootcamp I was apart of was amazing. Its was great while it was happening but also had a very profound long-term motivation that is still pushing me to do more, be more. It sounds a little strange to say that a construction bootcamp changed my life, but it has. It has opened my eyes to many possibilities on how a project can be successfully run. It’s also provided some very positive ideas on how people can and should be treated in construction.

    I am a hungry person by nature, so it doesn’t take a lot to get to participate. I loved the way it was not just about participating, it was also about doing it with conviction, passion, humility and if it wasn’t portrayed that way you had to do it again."

    "It's great to be a part of a company that has similar values to my own, especially regarding how we treat our trade partners. The idea of "you gotta make them feel worse to make them do better" has been preached at me for years. I struggled with this as you will not find a single psychology textbook stating these beliefs. In fact it is quite the opposite, and causing conflict is a recipe for disaster. I'm still honestly in shock I have found a company that has based its values on scientific facts based on human nature. That along with the Takt scheduling system makes everything even better. I am happy to be a part of a change that has been long overdue in our industry!"

    "Wicked team building, so valuable for the forehumans of the sub trades to know the how and why. Great tools and resources. Even though I am involved and use the tools every day, I feel like everything is fresh and at the forefront to use"

    "Jason and his team did an incredible job passing on the overall theory of what they do. After 3 days of running through the course I cannot see any holes in their concept. It works. it's proven to work and I am on board!"

    "Loved the pull planning, Takt planning, and logistic model planning. Well thought out and professional"

    "The Super/PM Boot Camp was an excellent experience that furthered my understanding of Lean Practices. The collaboration, group involvement, passion about real project site experiences, and POSITIVE ENERGY. There are no dull moments when you head into this training. Jason and Mr. Montero were always on point and available to help in the break outs sessions. Easily approachable to talk too during breaks and YES, it was fun. I recommend this training for any PM or Superintendent that wants to further their career."

    agenda

    Day 1

    Foundations & Macro Planning

    • Introduction to Takt Production System® principles
    • CPM vs TAKT comparison
    • Macro planning, zoning, and density analysis
    • Quantities and production rates
    • Hands-on application to participants’ projects with LeanTakt PM experts

    day2

    Norm Planning & Flow Optimization

    • Review and refinement of Day 1 work
    • Pull planning and sequence optimization
    • Work packaging for balanced flow
    • Project integration session with LeanTakt PM coaching

    day3

    Advanced Tools & Comparisons

    • Macro work packaging and example walkthrough
    • Calculator Norm for production optimization
    • Stacking comparison to avoid trade conflicts
    • Hands-on application to participants’ own schedules

    day4

    Buffers, Controls & Finalization

    • Review of Day 3 implementation
    • Buffer management strategies and placement
    • Takt control principles and steering methods
    • Project plan finalization with expert guidance

    day5

    Control Systems & Presentations

    • Takt steering, control systems, and real project examples
    • Participant project presentations with LeanTakt PM feedback
    • Wrap-up, feedback, and action planning for post-training implementation

    faq

    UNDERSTANDING THE TRAINING

    What is the Virtual Takt Production System® Training by LeanTakt?
    It’s an expert-led online program designed to teach construction professionals how to implement Takt Planning to create flow, eliminate chaos, and align teams across the project lifecycle.
    Who should take the LeanTakt virtual training?
    This training is ideal for Superintendents, Project Managers, Engineers, Schedulers, Trade Partners, and Lean Champions looking to improve planning and execution.
    What topics are covered in the online Takt Production System® course?
    The course covers macro and micro Takt planning, zone creation, buffers, weekly updates, flow management, trade coordination, and integration with CPM tools.
    What makes LeanTakt’s virtual training different from other Lean construction courses?
    Unlike theory-based courses, this training is hands-on, practical, field-tested, and includes live coaching tailored to your actual projects.
    Do I get a certificate after completing the online training?
    Yes. Upon successful completion, participants receive a LeanTakt Certificate of Completion, which validates your knowledge and readiness to implement Takt.

    VALUE AND RESULTS

    What are the benefits of Takt Production System® training for my team?
    It helps teams eliminate bottlenecks, improve planning reliability, align trades, and reduce the chaos typically seen in traditional construction schedules.
    How much time and money can I save with Takt Planning?
    Many projects using Takt see 15–30% reductions in time and cost due to better coordination, fewer delays, and increased team accountability.
    What’s the ROI of virtual Takt training for construction teams?
    The ROI comes from faster project delivery, reduced rework, improved communication, and better resource utilization — often 10x the investment.
    Will this training reduce project delays or rework?
    Yes. By visualizing flow and aligning trades, Takt Planning reduces miscommunication and late handoffs — major causes of delay and rework.
    How soon can I expect to see results on my projects?
    Most teams report seeing improvement in coordination and productivity within the first 2–4 weeks of implementation.

    PLANNING AND SCHEDULING TOPICS

    What is Takt Planning and how is it used in construction?
    Takt Planning is a Lean scheduling method that creates flow by aligning work with time and space, using rhythm-based planning to coordinate teams and reduce waste.
    What’s the difference between macro and micro Takt plans?
    Macro Takt plans focus on the overall project flow and phase durations, while micro Takt plans break down detailed weekly tasks by zone and crew.
    Will I learn how to build a complete Takt plan from scratch?
    Yes. The training teaches you how to build both macro and micro Takt plans tailored to your project, including workflows, buffers, and sequencing.
    How do I update and maintain a Takt schedule each week?
    You’ll learn how to conduct weekly updates using lookaheads, trade feedback, zone progress, and digital tools to maintain schedule reliability.
    Can I integrate Takt Planning with CPM or Primavera P6?
    Yes. The training includes guidance on aligning Takt plans with CPM logic, showing how both systems can work together effectively.
    Will I have access to the instructors during the training?
    Yes. You’ll have opportunities to ask questions, share challenges, and get real-time feedback from LeanTakt coaches.
    Can I ask questions specific to my current project?
    Absolutely. In fact, we encourage it — the training is designed to help you apply Takt to your active jobs.
    Is support available after the training ends?
    Yes. You can access follow-up support, coaching, and community forums to help reinforce implementation.
    Can your tools be customized to my project or team?
    Yes. We offer customizable templates and implementation options to fit different project types, teams, and tech stacks.
    When is the best time in a project lifecycle to take this training?
    Ideally before or during preconstruction, but teams have seen success implementing it mid-project as well.

    APPLICATION & TEAM ADOPTION

    What changes does my team need to adopt Takt Planning?
    Teams must shift from reactive scheduling to proactive, flow-based planning with clear commitments, reliable handoffs, and a visual management mindset.
    Do I need any prior Lean or scheduling experience?
    No prior Lean experience is required. The course is structured to take you from foundational principles to advanced application.
    How long does it take for teams to adapt to Takt Planning?
    Most teams adapt within 2–6 weeks, depending on project size and how fully the system is adopted across roles.
    Can this training work for smaller companies or projects?
    Absolutely. Takt is scalable and especially powerful for small teams seeking better structure and predictability.
    What role do trade partners play in using Takt successfully?
    Trade partners are key collaborators. They help shape realistic flow, manage buffers, and provide feedback during weekly updates.

    VIRTUAL FORMAT & ACCESSIBILITY

    Can I access the virtual training from anywhere?
    Yes. The training is fully accessible online, making it ideal for distributed teams across regions or countries.
    Is this training available internationally?
    Yes. LeanTakt trains teams around the world and supports global implementations.
    Can I watch recordings if I miss a session?
    Yes. All sessions are recorded and made available for later viewing through your training portal.
    Do you offer group access or company licenses?
    Yes. Teams can enroll together at discounted rates, and we offer licenses for enterprise rollouts.
    What technology or setup do I need to join the virtual training?
    A reliable internet connection, webcam, Miro, Spreadsheets, and access to Zoom.

    faq

    GENERAL FAQS

    What is the Superintendent / PM Boot Camp?
    It’s a hands-on leadership training for Superintendents and Project Managers in the construction industry focused on Lean systems, planning, and communication.
    Who is this Boot Camp for?
    Construction professionals including Superintendents, Project Managers, Field Engineers, and Foremen looking to improve planning, leadership, and project flow.
    What makes this construction boot camp different?
    Real-world project simulations, expert coaching, Lean principles, team-based learning, and post-camp support — all built for field leaders.
    Is this just a seminar or classroom training?
    No. It’s a hands-on, immersive experience. You’ll plan, simulate, collaborate, and get feedback — not sit through lectures.
    What is the focus of the training?
    Leadership, project planning, communication, Lean systems, and integrating office-field coordination.

    CURRICULUM & OUTCOMES

    What topics are covered in the Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction, team health, communication systems, and more.
    What is Takt Planning and why is it taught?
    Takt is a Lean planning method that creates flow and removes chaos. It helps teams deliver projects on time with less stress.
    Will I learn how to lead field teams more effectively?
    Yes. This boot camp focuses on real leadership challenges and gives you systems and strategies to lead high-performing teams.
    Do you cover daily huddles and meeting systems?
    Yes. You’ll learn how to run day huddles, team meetings, worker huddles, and Lean coordination processes.
    What kind of real-world challenges do we simulate?
    You’ll work through real project schedules, logistical constraints, leadership decisions, and field-office communication breakdowns.

    LOGISTICS & FORMAT

    Is the training in-person or virtual?
    It’s 100% in-person to maximize learning, feedback, and team-based interaction.
    How long is the Boot Camp?
    It runs for 5 full days.
    Where is the Boot Camp held?
    Locations vary — typically hosted in a professional training center or project setting. Contact us for the next available city/date.
    Do you offer follow-up coaching after the Boot Camp?
    Yes. Post-camp support is included so you can apply what you’ve learned on your projects.
    Can I ask questions about my actual project?
    Absolutely. That’s encouraged — bring your current challenges.

    PRICING & VALUE

    How much does the Boot Camp cost?
    $5,000 per person.
    Are there any group discounts?
    Yes — get 10% off when 4 or more people from the same company attend.
    What’s the ROI for sending my team?
    Better planning = fewer delays, smoother coordination, and higher team morale — all of which boost productivity and reduce costs.
    Will I see results immediately?
    Most participants apply what they’ve learned as soon as they return to the jobsite — especially with follow-up support.
    Can this replace other leadership training?
    In many cases, yes. This Boot Camp is tailored to construction professionals, unlike generic leadership seminars.

    SEO-BASED / HIGH-INTENT SEARCH QUESTIONS

    What is the best leadership training for construction Superintendents?
    Our Boot Camp offers real-world, field-focused leadership training tailored for construction leaders.
    What’s included in a Superintendent Boot Camp?
    Takt planning, day planning, logistics, pre-construction systems, huddles, simulations, and more.
    Where can I find Lean construction training near me?
    Check our upcoming in-person sessions or request a private boot camp in your city.
    How can I improve field and office communication on a project?
    This Boot Camp teaches you tools and systems to connect field and office workflows seamlessly.
    Is there a training to help reduce chaos on construction sites?
    Yes — this program is built specifically to turn project chaos into flow through structured leadership.

    agenda

    Day 1

    Agenda

    • Intro to Camp
    • Set Expectations
    • Morning Routine
    • Plan Day
    • Explain "Why"
    • Teams Intros + Yells + Expectation
    • Focus, Physiology, Words + Yells
    • Blocks to Leadership
    • 50 Million
    • Biggest Thing
    • Choose Your Word
    • Marketing Exercise
    • Interview for the Project
    • PO Homework and Close the Day

    Outcomes

    • Understand how to get into a proper state to lead
    • Understand how to dig deep to find the confidence to lead
    • Team work and collaboration
    • Understand marketing
    • Understand how to interview for and win a project

    Day 2

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Macro Takt planning
    • Setup jobs + Signs + Logistics
    • Explain the IPCS™
    • Detailed logistics training
    • Team balance & health training

    Outcomes

    • Learn the IPCS™ understand how to integrate the entire project from start to finish with First Planners™ and Last Planners® through the Takt Production System®
    • Learn how to review a project
    • Learn advanced logistics
    • Learn team balance and health

    Day 3

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Review How Big Things Get Done
    • Review IPCSTM
    • Fix (Schedule, zone, logistics, trailer, org & procurement)
    • Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Pre-Con Overview
    • TAKT SIMULATION
    • Recap and Review

    Outcomes

    • Understand why and how to plan
    • Understand the benefits of using a Takt production plan
    • Learn the steps to proper pre-con that sets the project up for success
    • Learn how to review a project in a Fresh Eyes Meeting
    • Learn flow from Takt planning

    Day 4

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Opposing Squares
    • Pull Plan
    • Takt Remaining
    • Norm Update
    • Re Zoning
    • Risks & Pre-Con Align
    • Meeting System
    • Problems
    • Recap

    Outcomes

    • Understand the Norm level Takt plan for weekly/daily planning
    • Benefits and outcomes of rezoning strategies
    • Using meetings to feed information through the system and to the Foremen

    Day 5

    Agenda

    • Morning Routine
    • Day Planner
    • Plus & Delta
    • Huddle I.D.S
    • Day Plan
    • Worker Huddle
    • Norm Update
    • Team Huddle
    • Lean Systems Recap
    • Feedback Exercise
    • Final & Close

    Outcomes

    • Know what information is needed and how to get it to the Workers
    • Better understand how to give feedback and why it’s crucial for everyone
    • How to problem solve as a team
    • Understand how all systems tie together
    • Know how the information gets all the way to the worker
    • Have perfect clarity on the individual’s personal organization planner