With all that you have on your plate each and every day, it's easy to forget to place orders and schedule inspections. Then the fire drills start.
Nobody likes fire drills.
So, here are some tips for creating reminders in CoConstruct:
Do it proactively using the Schedule
Don't limit the schedule to items for your subs. Use it for items that you have to do, whether in the office or in the field. Of course, with schedule items, the dates will update automatically if they are impacted by any changes you make to the schedule. There are two main options to work these tasks into your schedule:
- Place the tasks in chronological order
For instance, if you had a task to order the lumber package, you might add it to your foundation phase, so that you have enough lead time before framing starts. - Give yourself some lead time for the "order" task
If you needed a 2 business week lead time to order your roofing material, and roofing was task #64, simply add in your "Order roofing material" task with a predecessor of "64SS-10."
The "SS" will tell the system that the ordering task's start date should be based on the start date for roofing, and the lead time of 10 work days will make sure that the ordering task will pop up 2 weeks before the roofing work is scheduled.
Use To-dos
If surprise items pop up, assign yourself to-dos. The system will remind you about them so they don't slip through the cracks.
If you need to add multiple to-dos, simply paste in a list of items to quickly load them into CoConstruct.
For items that always happen in predictable spots on a project, like placing orders and site inspections, consider adding them to your schedule templates. For the unexpected things that pop up, go to the To-dos page.