Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Construction Planner

🎯 Role Definition

The Construction Planner is responsible for developing, maintaining and communicating comprehensive project schedules and sequencing plans that drive on-time, on-budget delivery of construction projects. This role creates integrated master schedules, short‑term lookahead plans, and recovery strategies; performs critical path and delay analysis; coordinates multi-disciplinary inputs from project controls, procurement, subcontractors and site teams; and supports claims, change management and progress reporting. The Planner ensures alignment of resources, logistics and workface planning with contract milestones and safety requirements, using Primavera P6, MS Project, 4D BIM tools and advanced schedule analytics to optimize execution and provide transparent decision-making information to project leadership.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Planning Engineer / Junior Planner who has created baseline and lookahead schedules on small to medium projects.
Site Engineer or Project Engineer with field experience and exposure to CPM scheduling.
Project Controls Analyst with proven skills in scheduling, EVM and schedule risk analysis.

Advancement To:

Senior Construction Planner / Lead Planner responsible for multi-project programs.
Project Controls Manager overseeing scheduling, cost control and risk across large portfolios.
Program Controls Director or Head of Planning for major contractors or owners.

Lateral Moves:

Project Engineer or Project Manager with expanded scope over execution.
Cost Estimator or Commercial Manager focusing on tender planning and risk.
BIM Coordinator / 4D BIM Specialist combining scheduling and model-based planning.

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, maintain and optimize the integrated master schedule for the project using Primavera P6 and/or MS Project, ensuring logical network ties, realistic durations and a maintained baseline for performance measurement.
Produce detailed rolling 12-week and 6-week lookahead plans that translate the master schedule into site-executable work packages, resource assignments and safety-critical sequences.
Perform critical path analysis, identify schedule float, and proactively create and implement recovery strategies to mitigate slippage and protect contractual milestones.
Integrate subcontractor, vendor and supplier schedules into the master plan; review and validate third‑party interfaces and drive corrective action when subcontractor sequences conflict with the primary schedule.
Prepare and maintain a change control and schedule revision log, ensuring all revisions are approved, documented and reflected in baseline updates and stakeholder communications.
Conduct delay and impact analysis to evaluate potential or actual events for entitlement to time, cost impacts and potential claims, and prepare evidence packages to support extensions of time or other contractual remedies.
Generate and present clear, executive-level schedule reports and dashboards (including lookahead, progress vs. baseline, float consumption, and EVM metrics) to project leadership and clients on a weekly/monthly cadence.
Apply Earned Value Management (EVM) techniques to quantify schedule performance (SPI) and integrate schedule and cost analyses for holistic project controls reporting.
Coordinate with procurement and logistics teams to identify and track long‑lead items and delivery milestones, aligning material arrival with installation sequences to avoid delays.
Conduct resource analysis and resource leveling for labor, equipment and materials to produce achievable weekly work plans and prevent overcommitments or underutilization.
Lead weekly planning meetings and interface with site supervision, engineering disciplines and HSE to ensure that planned sequences are safe, compliant and constructible.
Validate progress updates against site records (daily reports, photo evidence, timesheets) and adjust progress inputs to the schedule with traceable audit trails.
Build and maintain 4D sequencing models using Navisworks, Synchro or similar BIM-integrated tools to visualize schedule impacts, clashes and access/installation constraints for stakeholders.
Perform schedule risk analysis and time contingency assessments using Monte Carlo or other quantitative techniques to identify key schedule risks and recommended mitigations.
Assist in the development of contract schedules for tender submissions and early contractor involvement, providing realistic phasing, milestone charts and resource-driven durations to support bids.
Provide technical scheduling support for claims, change orders and delay disputes including preparation of as-planned/as-built, contemporaneous vs. impacted analysis and substantiated chronologies.
Review and provide feedback on construction methods, sequences and staging proposed by engineering and subcontractors to optimize schedule performance and minimize rework or sequencing conflicts.
Ensure alignment of schedule milestones with quality control and commissioning activities, coordinating handovers and punch list sequences to minimize occupancy or operational delays.
Maintain clear interfaces between multiple projects or packages to resolve cross-works conflicts, shared resource constraints and sequencing interdependencies.
Monitor and report on productivity trends, learning curves and installation rates; recommend improvements to methods, crew sizing or shift patterns to accelerate delivery.
Prepare monthly schedule narratives and integrated progress summaries for client reporting, including variation highlights, forecast finish dates and realistic remediation plans.
Implement and enforce schedule discipline and governance including update cadence, data integrity standards and naming conventions to support auditability and reliable forecasting.
Provide constructive mentoring and on-the-job training to junior planners, ensuring consistent use of tools, methodologies and best practices across the planning team.
Coordinate with safety and environmental teams to ensure that planned sequences comply with HSE requirements and that sequencing adjustments account for safe access and egress for crews and equipment.
Support subcontractor pre-qualification and selection by verifying their proposed schedules, resource plans and ability to meet critical milestones prior to awarding work.
Continuously review lessons learned and post-project performance metrics to recommend process improvements and schedule optimization strategies for future projects.

Secondary Functions

Maintain the project planning folder and schedule documentation in the project control system, ensuring versions are archived and accessible for audits and claims.
Support procurement by providing procurement lead-time analysis, critical vendor path identification and suggested expediting strategies for long‑lead deliveries.
Assist the commercial team with schedule input for contract negotiations, interim milestone structuring and payment-trigger timing.
Participate in project shutdown and demobilization planning to ensure efficient sequencing and final handover activities.
Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by developing planning templates, checklists, and automated reports that standardize scheduling practice across projects.
Facilitate post-incident schedule recovery workshops and lessons learned sessions to capture root causes and corrective actions for improved future scheduling.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Primavera P6 expert-level proficiency including baseline management, resource and cost loading, Primavera layouts and global change functions.
Advanced MS Project skills for schedule creation, resource leveling and reporting, including use of macros and custom views.
4D BIM sequencing and model integration experience using tools such as Navisworks Manage, Synchro or equivalent to link schedules with the BIM model.
Strong knowledge of Critical Path Method (CPM), logic ties, lag/lead usage, and schedule compression techniques (fast‑tracking, crashing).
Practical experience with Earned Value Management (EVM) metrics (SPI, CPI) and integrating schedule performance with cost forecasting.
Schedule risk analysis and quantitative Monte Carlo simulation experience using Primavera Risk Analysis, @Risk, or similar tools.
Advanced Excel skills including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, data visualization and experience building schedule dashboards.
Familiarity with Asta Powerproject, Tilos (linear scheduling) or other specialized planning software for road, rail and linear projects.
Understanding of contract scheduling requirements, EOT entitlement principles, NEC/FIDIC/Fed/owner contract clauses and delay analysis methodologies.
Strong competence with construction sequencing, resource productivity modeling, and production rate estimation.
Ability to produce high-quality schedule narratives, claims chronologies and substantiated change order schedule impacts.
Experience with project control systems such as SAP for materials tracking, ICMS for cost reporting, or bespoke PMIS platforms.
Knowledge of health, safety and environmental constraints as they relate to planning and sequencing of site activities.
Basic scripting/automation skills (VBA, Python) to automate repetitive schedule reporting tasks and data reconciliation.

Soft Skills

Excellent stakeholder communication and presentation skills with the ability to translate complex schedule data into clear, client-facing narratives.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capability with attention to detail and a structured approach to troubleshooting schedule issues.
Collaborative mindset and ability to influence project teams and subcontractors to adhere to agreed sequencing and milestones.
Time management and prioritization skills to manage competing schedule inputs, update deadlines and reporting cycles.
Leadership and mentoring aptitude to develop junior planning staff and embed consistent planning methodologies.
Negotiation skills for scheduling conflicts, subcontractor interface resolution and schedule mitigation agreements.
Adaptability and resilience working under pressure on live sites and during critical recovery phases.
Diplomatic conflict resolution to reconcile differing commercial and execution priorities while protecting project objectives.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Quantity Surveying or a closely related technical discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Construction Project Management, Engineering Management or equivalent.
Professional certifications such as PMI-SP (PMI Scheduling Professional), Primavera P6 Certification, AACE PSP, or PMP.
Formal 4D/BIM certification or training for model-based planning.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Civil Engineering
Construction Management
Architecture
Quantity Surveying
Project Controls / Engineering Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3 – 10+ years of progressive planning/scheduling experience in construction, civil infrastructure, oil & gas, power, or building sectors.

Preferred:

5+ years as a Planner on medium to large-scale construction or infrastructure projects with direct responsibility for developing and controlling project schedules.
Demonstrable experience creating and defending schedule baselines, performing delay analysis and preparing EOT/claims substantiation.
Prior exposure to multi-disciplinary coordination, subcontractor integration and 4D BIM sequencing on complex projects.