Design & Construction Gantt Schedule

Change one start date and the whole schedule recalculates — 70+ tasks from land survey to certificate of occupancy, dependencies and all.

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What It Does

A development project has hundreds of moving parts spread across 12–18 months. Architecture runs two months, planning approvals three, construction ten — and every inspection and loan draw hangs off that sequence. This template lays the entire arc on one timeline with 70+ predefined tasks and auto-calculating dates: adjust a single duration and every downstream date shifts with it.

Three sheets:

Sheet	Covers
Planning phase	~150+ days — surveys, architecture, consultants, submittals & approvals
Construction phase	~300+ days — preconstruction through finishes, with 15+ inspection milestones
Printable Gantt	Bar-chart view showing dependencies and the critical path — built to hand to a lender or investor

What makes it work: auto-updating dates, real task dependencies (framing can't start before the foundation clears), inspection checkpoints, and a notes column for contractor names, permit numbers, and submittal dates.

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The Planning Phase (≈150 days)

• Initial development (30 days) — land survey, geological & percolation tests, program requirements.
• Architecture (60 days) — conceptual (3 wk) → schematic (3 wk) → design development (1 wk) → construction drawings.
• Consultants (45 days) — landscape architect, civil, structural, MEP coordination.
• Approvals (60–90 days) — HOA submittal, planning submittal #1, corrections (~15 days), resubmittal.

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The Construction Phase (≈300 days)

• Preconstruction (60 days) — demo, utilities, grading, underground plumbing/electrical. Inspection: soils compaction.
• Ground-up (90 days) — steel frame, concrete pour, rough framing (~60 days). Inspections: rebar, sewer, electrical, bolts, floor slab, roof sheathing.
• Rough mechanicals (45 days) — plumbing, electrical, HVAC, elevator rough-ins. Inspections: rough plumbing/electrical/mechanical.
• Exterior shell (60 days) — stucco, windows, doors, roofing, waterproofing. Inspection: weather stripping.
• Interior finishes (60 days) — insulation, drywall, paint, flooring, cabinets, counters, appliances, fixtures. Inspections: insulation, drywall, fire protection, final.

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How to Use It

1. Enter project info — address, today's date, acquisition date, planning start date.
2. Adjust durations — defaults are realistic (architecture 60 days, framing 60 days). Simple single-story? Trim ~20%. Complex multi-story? Add ~30%. Fast-track permits? Shorten the planning phase.
3. Let dates cascade — end dates recalculate off dependencies automatically; move one and the timeline re-sequences.
4. Add detail — contractor names, permit numbers, and submittal dates in the notes column.
5. Print the Gantt — the printable tab is the visual you bring to lender meetings and investor updates.

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A Worked Example

Situation: 3,000 SF single-family, seeking a $500K construction loan. The lender asks: what's the timeline, when are the draws, when's completion?

Set a January 15 start, tune durations, and the sheet returns permits issued May 2025, completion March 2026. Print the Gantt and walk the lender through the draw schedule it implies:

Draw	Timing	Amount
Foundation	June 2025	$100K
Framing	August 2025	$150K
Shell complete	October 2025	$100K
Finishes	December 2025	$100K
Final & CO	March 2026	$50K

Result: the lender sees a plan, not a guess. Loan approved.

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Who It's For

Developers coordinating a build permit-to-CO, general contractors sequencing subs and inspections, investors tracking progress against loan draws, and lenders verifying a borrower's timeline is realistic. The value isn't any single date — it's seeing the next 18 months at once, so you know which tasks can run in parallel and when you'll actually need capital.