See the pressure before it costs money.
Project controls is not a report someone writes after the fact. At Jacob Wiseman it is part of how the job is run, every week, by the same team that builds it.
Owners should know where the schedule is under pressure before it becomes expensive.
Jacob Wiseman
Jacob Wiseman is a construction company built for complex, high-stakes projects. We bring construction management and project controls together so owners can see how the work is progressing, where the schedule is under pressure, and which decisions need to be made before they become expensive.
Five controls. One job.
The tools are familiar to anyone who has run a large build. What matters is that they are kept current, read together and used to make decisions.
Look-aheads
A three-week plan built with the superintendent and trade foremen. It turns the master schedule into crews, areas and days, and it is where most problems first show up.
Updated weekly with the fieldCritical path and float
The chain of work that sets the finish date, and how much slack is left everywhere else. We watch float being used up as closely as we watch progress.
Reviewed every schedule updateCost forecast
Committed cost, pending changes, allowances and contingency rolled into a forecast at completion. Schedule pressure usually shows up in cost later, so we read them together.
Reported every monthDecision log
Every owner decision the project needs, with the date it is due, the options on the table and what waiting would cost. Once made, the decision and the reasoning are recorded.
Open items reviewed weeklyOwner reporting
One report that matches what the owner sees on site: progress, the milestones under pressure, the forecast and the decisions due. Plain language, no surprises.
Every week, every monthHow the two work together.
- C1
The field feeds the schedule
Progress comes from the people running the work: what is in place, which crews are on site, what was delivered and what was inspected.
- C2
The schedule tells the field where the pressure is
Superintendents know which activities are critical and which have float, so effort goes where it protects the finish date.
- C3
Cost follows the schedule
A slipping activity is checked for its cost effect, including extended general conditions, acceleration and the trades waiting behind it.
- C4
Issues become options
When the plan and the field disagree, the controls team models the choices so the owner sees time and cost side by side.
- C5
Decisions close the loop
The owner decides, the decision log records it and the next schedule update reflects it. Nothing stays in someone’s inbox.
What an owner sees each week.
No separate controls report that only a scheduler can read. One package, in plain language, that matches what you see when you walk the site.
Schedule status
Progress against the plan for each area and trade, measured from the field, with the activities that moved and why.
The three-week look-ahead
What crews will do next, what they need to start and which handoffs are at risk.
Critical path and float
The path to each milestone, the float that is left and any change in the driving work from the previous update.
Cost forecast
Forecast at completion, pending changes, allowance use and contingency, tied to the work that drives them.
Decisions due
Owner decisions coming up, the date each is needed and the cost of waiting.
Issues with options
New risks and problems, raised early, each with clear options for what to do next.
Project controls, answered.
Do we need a separate project controls consultant?
Usually not for the work we build. Scheduling, cost forecasting and owner reporting are part of how Jacob Wiseman runs the job, and the people doing them sit with the field team.
Which scheduling methods do you use?
Critical path method scheduling, with resource-loaded look-aheads in the field and regular updates of the master schedule. We agree the update cycle and the report format with you at the start.
How do you show the effect of a delay?
By updating the schedule with what actually happened and showing which milestones move, how much float is left and which trades are affected. The owner sees the effect, the cause and the options together.
Will the cost forecast match the schedule?
It should, and we check that it does. Changes in the schedule are reviewed for their cost effect, and the forecast at completion is updated alongside the schedule.
Can our own team access the schedule?
Yes. Owners and their representatives get the schedule files and reports agreed in the contract, and we walk through each update with you.
Know where the pressure is.
Send us your scope, your target date and your biggest concern. We will tell you where the plan needs attention first.