FREE Residential Construction Schedule (Gantt Chart)

Why use our Residential Construction Schedule instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Residential Construction Schedule in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

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Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

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Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.

Headache-free collaboration and sharing.

Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s residential construction schedule to build and share your residential construction project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Residential Construction Schedule.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Residential Construction Schedule based on your project description.

Start with template

What is a residential construction schedule template?

A residential construction schedule template is a document that breaks the project down into phases and tasks. It highlights everything necessary to complete the build successfully, all the factors involved, as well as who is responsible for various tasks within the build.

Why a Gantt chart is a must-have

Using a residential construction schedule Gantt chart template instead of struggling with Excel or Google Sheets offers some important benefits. For instance, you’ll have a greater ability to plan each task, create a visual timeline, and skip the hassles and headaches that all too often go hand in hand with using a spreadsheet for this type of task.

Why bother with a formal residential construction schedule template? There are plenty of reasons! First, it allows you to plan with multiple people simultaneously, ensuring that busy general contractors can see timing conflicts before they occur. Second, planning the entire build-out ahead of time allows you to hire exactly the subcontractors you’ll need and arrange for alternates if certain subs won’t be available.

Yet another benefit of using a residential home construction schedule to plan your project is that you can strategize the supplies and materials you’ll need and mark out when and where they’ll be required. You can skip the last-minute rush and worry that your suppliers might not have key materials for the project by ordering ahead of time and locking in prices. It also makes it possible to plan methods and workflows so your team can move forward without any guessing.

Residential construction schedule templates often include fields such as the following to aid in planning and scheduling:

Named tasks and subtasks
Percentage of tasks and subtasks complete
Priority listings for tasks and subtasks
Planned hours
Task duration

Tom’s Planner allows you to add even greater depth to your project planning by customizing many elements, including:

Material inventory and allocation
Key project milestones
Subcontractors assigned to tasks and subtasks, including contact details
Dependencies between tasks
Budget-related information to help you track expenses

As you can see, it’s a wiser idea to use a sample residential construction schedule than Excel or Google Sheets. Using residential construction schedules can deliver vital benefits and capabilities unavailable with spreadsheets. But what should you include in a template?

When to use a residential construction schedule Gantt chart template

You’ll want to create your residential construction schedule template long before the build is slated to start. It’s an essential part of planning for success.

Planning Phase:

A schedule helps ensure that your initial outline is accurate and allows you to create a roadmap to guide the entire project forward. Your schedule will specify tasks, when they occur, and who is responsible for each, as well as any resources required.

Client Communication:

A clear residential construction schedule is a powerful communication tool that ensures you and your client (and other stakeholders) can stay on the same page. Key information is available at a glance, including the project’s status, ensuring that all expectations are met.

During Construction:

Your residential construction schedule is a living document. It will evolve as the project progresses. Using a Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner ensures ease of updating to show the actual progress of your project versus your planned timeline. This allows you to make real-time adjustments and manage issues on the fly.

Your residential construction schedule is the centerpiece of the entire project and will help keep contractors, builders, clients, and other stakeholders informed and on track.

Who should use a residential construction schedule template?

Anyone involved in the construction project can benefit from using a residential construction schedule template. Some of the most common users include the following:

General Contractors:

General contractors will use a schedule like this to coordinate the efforts of multiple subcontractors and teams and ensure that key deadlines are being met. It’s a critical part of maintaining timelines and lines of communication.

Subcontractors:

Subcontractors will use a residential construction schedule to align responsibilities with this project and others, understand their responsibilities, and synchronize with other contractors.

Clients:

Clients also need to stay in the loop regarding the project. They will use a schedule to stay informed about its progress, any cost overruns, changes that need to be made, and financing and occupancy-related decisions.

Want to give your project the best possible chance of success? Plan it out using a residential construction schedule template.

Start with template

The top three pitfalls to avoid when planning a residential construction schedule

While using a residential construction schedule can offer significant benefits, there are a few potential issues that you’ll want to avoid when planning your schedule.

Not planning effectively:
Be realistic about timelines and build in time for unexpected occurrences. Everything from severe weather to material shortages can throw a wrench in the works and may mean that your project is delayed.
Solution:
Be flexible and build in redundancies where possible. Use a schedule to visualize timelines, tasks and dependencies, and key milestones.
Failing to understand the project entirely:
It’s easy to assume that one build is much like any other, but individual owner preferences and specifications can create major differences. If you don’t understand the client’s wants and needs entirely, it can cause serious issues down the line, including cost overruns and disappointment for your client.
Solution:
Make sure that everything is spelled out from the beginning. This is critical for your own understanding, as well as for the client’s.
Failure to include a construction scope of work:
Don’t assume that your residential construction schedule is the only document you’ll need for project management. You’ll also want to create a construction scope of work. This is a more detailed version of the scope you write within the schedule and goes into greater depth.
Solution:
Make sure you have a fleshed-out schedule and scope of work prior to the project beginning. Both documents should be used and shared with relevant stakeholders.

What does a residential construction schedule template include?

No two residential construction projects are 100% identical. However, most of them share some basic commonalities. If you regularly build similar homes, using a construction schedule template is an ideal option because you can easily create a master template for each home design and then plug in variations per build, saving you time, money, and sanity.

That said, it’s important to know some of the more common things your residential construction process flow chart should include. Here are some of the most frequently included items:

The foundation:
We’re not talking about the physical foundation of the home, although that’s of crucial importance. No, what we mean here is the project’s foundation. Where is the funding coming from? How much is being paid and when? What about permits? Subcontractor agreements? Contracts? Spell all that out in the pre-construction phase.
Site prep:
This section should discuss everything there is to do with site preparation, from the initial survey results to the need for excavation and leveling. Note that this is also where you’ll put information about the home’s foundation.
Carpentry and finishes:
Once the foundation is poured, it’s time for the home to be framed. Plumbing and electrical will need to be roughed in, too. This is also where you’ll specific things like interior and exterior materials and finishes.
Inspections:
List the key inspections for the property, when they’ll occur, and what tasks depend on those inspections occurring before they can be completed.
Hardware and appliances:
What appliances and hardware will you install and what will be left for the homeowner? Specify trims, hardware, and appliances here to ensure everyone’s on the same page.
Landscaping:
Will you be handling the landscaping? This can add a lot of time and money to the build, depending on whether you’re simply rolling out sod or planting trees and building retaining walls.
Final walkthrough:
Spell out when the final walkthrough should occur (while staying flexible to handle inevitable surprises).

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

Get the important stuff taken care of first

The preconstruction phase should be detailed on your residential construction schedule template. Make sure you have everything complete here before beginning the project. For instance, starting the project before the buyer has locked in financing could be very risky. The same could be said for starting the project without identifying key subcontractors to handle important tasks.

Talk about finishes and materials early

Some of the most common disputes within residential construction projects are over materials and finishes. Make sure to discuss these with the client early on. If possible, show them physical examples so that there is no room for misunderstandings. This applies to just about anything you can imagine, from countertops to paint samples to flooring options.

Check weather history

While the weather can be difficult to predict and is becoming more chaotic every year, you can use historical weather patterns to inform your schedule. This can help you avoid weather-related delays and keep your project on track.

Plan Ahead

A successful project is one that has been planned in detail from the beginning. A Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner allows you to create visual timelines, visualize dependences between tasks, track progress, and much more. It’s a key part of ensuring your project is a success.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

	Excel	Tom's Planner
Cost	License required	Free version available
Learning curve	Hours	Minutes
Create your first Gantt chart	Hours	Minutes
Making an update in your chart	Several minutes	Seconds (drag & drop)
Sharing charts with others	At some point you will save and email a file titled: version_4_def_usethisversion_reallyfinal.xlsx	Online, one source of truth, always up to date, with no confusion
Look & Feel	Messy	Clean, polished and professional
Dependencies
Filtering
Zoom in/out
Automatic Legend
AI-assist		Let our AI assist do the work for you
Export to image or pdf	Requires workarounds to export	One mouse click

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