Construction schedule from the BOQ: Gantt, resources and VDC sheets
A construction schedule answers the question that comes right after the bill of quantities: how long will the work take, and with what resources? In AiN Engine, the software I develop and work with, the answer is built in sheets inside the bill of quantities window, in the "Execution & finance" group of tabs: a Resources sheet, three Gantt sheets at different levels of detail, and an Auto VDC sheet that ties the model, the quantities and time together. This page covers what you see in each sheet, what it gives you, and what to check before you rely on it.
What you see in the construction schedule sheets
The sheets work from the project's bill of quantities that is open in the window. This is the order in which I go through them:
- Resources: every item in the bill of quantities gets a duration, a crew, equipment, materials and a daily cost. The sheet can be filled automatically from the bill of quantities, and everything else builds on it.
- General Gantt: about ten main construction stages with their foremen. This is the level of detail for a conversation with a developer or with management.
- Contractors Gantt: one bar per contractor. You can drag and resize the bars, and sliders set the duration and the percentage complete.
- Detailed Gantt: one Gantt row for every item in the bill of quantities, for when you need to work at item level.
- Auto VDC: VDC stands for virtual design and construction. This sheet runs the whole chain as one flow: model, bill of quantities, resources, Gantt, a cost S-curve and the planned percentage complete. A date slider over the model shows the plan on the building itself as time moves, and further sliders set durations and progress.
What it gives you
The first advantage is the starting point. Instead of building a schedule on a blank page and copying quantities from file to file, I start from a Resources sheet filled from the bill of quantities. Every item comes with a first duration, crew and daily cost, and my job is to check and correct them rather than type them in from scratch.
The second advantage is three levels of detail in one window. A developer wants to see stages, a project manager coordinates contractors, and a site engineer or a quantity surveyor works item by item. Each Gantt sheet serves one of those conversations, without three separate files.
The third advantage is time and money on one screen. The cost S-curve shows how the planned cost builds up over the project, and the date slider shows the plan on the model. For people who do not read Gantt charts every day, that is a clear way into a plan. Whatever does not fit, you change: drag and resize the contractor bars, and move durations and progress with the sliders.
How to use it, step by step
- Load a model and open the full bill of quantities with the BOQ button in the top bar. When a model finishes processing, the window also opens by itself.
- In the tab row, go to the "Execution & finance" group and open Resources. Go through the durations, crews and daily costs, and replace any assumption that does not fit the project.
- Open the General Gantt and check the order of the stages. Then move to the Contractors Gantt and set the bars and sliders to the pace at which the contractors really work.
- If you need more detail, continue to the Detailed Gantt, one row per item.
- Finally, open Auto VDC, check the cost S-curve and the planned percentage complete, and move the date slider over the model.
If the tab row shows only the bill of quantities and the Pivot, the compact view template is probably selected; it shows just those two.
What it assumes, and what is still being checked
These sheets are a planning aid. A construction schedule built from the BOQ is only as good as the bill of quantities and the resource assumptions behind it. When an item has no quantity, the bill of quantities shows it as missing, not as zero, and it is worth closing those gaps before you trust any duration. The programme a site team works to also needs delivery times, approvals, weather and the contractors' real pace, and whoever runs the construction checks and adds those.
About costs, and what is still a pilot: the daily cost in the Resources sheet is an assumption, not a quote. Its default labour rate comes from a third-party price book, not from AiN and not from a contractor, and I replace it with the project's own rates before I look at the cost curve. The quantity forecast window in the Tools menu of the bill of quantities is still a pilot, so I have left it out of this page.
The other half of the same tab group, with orders, delivery notes, invoices, a work diary and contractor accounts, is described on the construction cost control page. How the bill of quantities itself goes out to Excel, with an active subscription, is on the Excel export page, and all the windows of the software are collected on the BOQ software page. My own work as a quantity surveyor for construction projects is on the home page.
Frequently asked questions
Does a construction schedule from the BOQ replace the site programme?
No. It is a first plan based on the quantities and the resource assumptions, a planning aid by design. The site programme is built and kept up to date by whoever runs the construction.
Where do the costs in the Resources sheet come from?
From the assumptions in the sheet: duration, crew, equipment and materials for each item, plus rates. The starting labour rate comes from a third-party price book, and the rates should be adjusted to the project. Real prices for a project come from contractors' quotes, not from a default in the software.
Can I change durations by hand?
Yes. In the Contractors Gantt you drag and resize the bars and move the duration and percentage sliders, and Auto VDC has sliders for durations and progress. Every such change is your professional decision, not the software's.
Are these sheets in the English interface?
Yes. In the English interface the tabs are called Resources, General Gantt, Contractors Gantt, Detailed Gantt and Auto VDC, and they sit in the "Execution & finance" group of the full bill of quantities.
Want to see AiN on your own model? The AiN Engine site has the demo video, the pilot for one project and the login. For quantity surveying work in Israel, write to me through the form.
AiN Engine website Contact form* Created with AI for marketing, for illustration only. Not reviewed by Yaakov Avital and not professional advice. Every project must be checked on its own by a professional quantity surveyor and an engineer.