Site Logistics in the Schedule
Last reviewed 9 September 20262,612 words12 min read
Cranes, hoists, laydown, access — the constraints that are never in the BOQ and always on the critical path
🟩 In one line: Every logistics item that limits when or how fast work can happen — crane hook time, hoist capacity, laydown area, access routes, permits, road closures, power and water — is either a shared resource, a Level of Effort activity, a real activity with a duration, or a dated milestone with a document reference; a schedule that shows none of them has assumed unlimited logistics and will lose 10–20% of its structure cycle finding out.
👤 Who this is for: M/S, with J reading for the modelling rules. Prerequisites: p6-activity-types-explained, hard-logic-vs-soft-logic, p6-constraint-types, construction-sequencing-and-method.
First, let's be honest about why this page exists
Logistics is planned on a drawing — the site logistics plan — and almost never in the schedule. The tower crane appears as a 400-day bar with float; the hoist doesn't appear; laydown is assumed infinite; the road closure permit is a line in a risk register. Then the second façade crew can't be fed because the crane is on structure, the finishing materials can't reach Level 14 because the hoist is shared with four trades, and the utility diversion needs a municipality permit with a six-week lead nobody scheduled.
None of this is hard to model. It needs the logistics plan read the same way the method statement is read, and four modelling rules applied consistently.
🟨 The standard — what "good" looks like
| Source | What it asks for (paraphrased) | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 4.13, 4.15 / 2017 equivalents (rights of way, access route) | Contractor responsible for access and rights of way beyond those the Employer provides | Access outside the site boundary is the contractor's activity to schedule |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 2.1 / 2017 Cl 2.1 (right of access to the Site) | Employer gives access by the dates in the Appendix / Contract Data | Access milestones with references; late access = EOT under Cl 8.4 / 8.5 |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 4.10 / 2017 Cl 4.10 (site data) | Contractor deemed to have inspected the site | Logistics assumptions recorded at tender (tender-programme) |
| NEC3/NEC4 Cl 31.2 | Programme shows access dates, order and timing, and the equipment and other resources to be used for each operation | Cranes and hoists are named programme content |
| NEC3/NEC4 Cl 33.1, 60.1(2) | Client provides access by the access date; failure is a compensation event | Access milestones |
| SCL Protocol 2nd ed., Core Principle 1 | Programme reflects the contractor's actual intended means | Logistics constraints in the logic, not in a side document |
| AACE RP 24R-03 | Resource logic identified separately from physical logic | Shared crane / hoist / laydown links tagged SOFT-RES |
| GAO Schedule Assessment Guide, BP 3 | Resources assigned; constraints on availability reflected | Crane and hoist as resources or LOE with capacity checked |
| DCMA 14-Point, Metric 8 | Task activities > 44 days flagged | Crane and hoist as LOE, not Task |
| Convention (p6-constraint-types) | Start On or After only for access and deliveries, with a document reference | Every logistics-driven constraint has a permit, PO or letter behind it |
🟢 Rule: cranes, hoists and site establishment are LOE activities spanning their use; shared lifting and vertical transport capacity is checked as a resource against the activities that need it; laydown, access routes, permits, closures and utility diversions are real activities with durations from the authority's stated periods; and every access or delivery date is a milestone or Start On or After with the letter, permit or delivery note number in the constraint register.
How it actually works
1. Read the logistics plan for eight things
| Item | Model as | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Tower cranes (number, position, dismantle) | LOE per crane spanning first lift to last lift; erect/dismantle as Task activities; crane as a resource on lifting-intensive activities | Logistics plan; crane permit lead time |
| Hoists | LOE per hoist from install (after façade closure at the hoist face is fixed) to removal; hoist as a resource on finishing and MEP material moves | Hoist supplier; façade sequence |
| Mobile cranes / concrete pumps | Resource on the activities that need them; Task for mobilise/demobilise if significant | Plant schedule |
| Laydown and storage areas | Milestones for handover of each area as the works consume it; Start On or After on activities needing an area | Logistics plan phasing |
| Access routes and gates | Milestones for opening/closing; activities for temporary roads; Start On or After with reference for employer-provided access | Contract access dates; traffic plan |
| Permits (crane, road closure, night work, utility, NOCs) | Activities: apply → authority period → receive; on the authority's calendar | Authority's published or stated period; SBM assumption |
| Utility diversions and temporary services | Activities in their own node; often on the critical path in the first six months | Authority; utility company |
| Site establishment and removal | Task activities early; LOE for running the site; Task for demobilisation | Prelims schedule |
2. The tower crane — the commonest error, fixed
| Wrong | Right |
|---|---|
| "Tower crane TC1" as a 380-day Task Dependent activity with float | "TC1 — in operation" as LOE, SS from first structure activity, FF to last heavy lift (façade panels or roof plant) |
| No erect / dismantle | "Erect TC1" 3 days Task after base and permit; "Dismantle TC1" 2 days Task after last lift, before roof finishes |
| Crane capacity ignored | TC1 as a non-labour resource (hours/day = hook hours available, typically 7–8 of a 10-hour shift); assigned to structure, façade and plant-lift activities with hook hours per activity from the logistics plan; Resource Usage Profile checked for overload |
| Crane permit assumed | "Apply crane permit" → "Authority period" (per municipality, 3–6 weeks typical) → "Permit received" milestone; predecessor to Erect |
The crane resource check is the point: a structure cycle that needs 6 hook hours a day and a façade crew that needs 4 cannot share one crane on a 10-hour shift at 8 available hours. The Resource Usage Profile shows it in month one; the site discovers it in month nine.
3. Hoists — the vertical transport bottleneck nobody schedules
| Element | Model |
|---|---|
| Hoist install | Task, after structure passes the hoist face level and the base slab is ready; before finishing materials are needed above ~L4 |
| Hoist operation | LOE from install to removal |
| Hoist capacity | Resource: cages × trips per hour × usable hours; assigned to finishing, blockwork and MEP material-move activities per floor |
| Hoist removal | Task; after last finishing delivery above the hoist face; the façade closure at the hoist face and the finishes behind it come after — often the last critical activities on a tower |
The hoist removal → façade infill → finishes chain is on the longest path of most high-rises in the last three months and is missing from most programmes.
4. Laydown and access — dated milestones, not assumptions
Each area the works consume (basement laydown lost when the podium slab pours; the north laydown lost when external works start) is a milestone "Area X lost to works" driving the relocation activity and the delivery activities that depended on it. Employer-provided access is a Start On or After with the contract's access date and the clause reference. Employer late = EOT record; contractor's own logistics late = contractor's problem, but visible either way.
5. Permits and authorities — the calendar and the lead
| Item (typical Gulf) | Lead | Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Tower crane permit | 3–6 weeks | Authority working days |
| Road closure / traffic diversion NOC | 4–8 weeks | Authority |
| Night work permit | 1–2 weeks | Authority |
| Utility connection (power/water) | 8–16 weeks application to energisation | Utility company — own calendar |
| Civil defence inspection | Per stated period, often 2–3 weeks per visit | Authority |
Every one is an activity chain with the authority's period recorded as an assumption in the SBM; every one that fails becomes a notice with the assumption cited. Numbers here are ranges for illustration — the SBM carries the authority's actual stated period for the emirate or city.
6. Summer and night work
External work mid-June to mid-September runs on the 8.5-hour calendar; if the logistics plan moves external work to night shift for summer, that is a separate calendar and a night-work permit activity, not a productivity factor. The crane, in particular, has different available hook hours on a night shift — the resource calendar changes with it.
7. Constraint register — logistics rows
| ID | Type | Date | Reason | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACC-010 | Start On or After | 15 Mar | Employer access to north plot | Appendix to Tender, access date 2 |
| LAY-020 | Start On or After | 1 Jul | Laydown relocated to east compound | Logistics plan Rev 3, drawing LP-03 |
| CRN-030 | (none — activity chain) | — | Permit period | Municipality guideline, SBM assumption A12 |
No reference, no constraint (constraints-and-calendars). Logistics is where unreferenced Start On dates breed.
🟥 Where people go wrong
- Crane as a Task with float. Fails DCMA Metric 8, shows meaningless float, can't be statused. LOE spanning use; erect and dismantle as Tasks; capacity as a resource.
- No hoist at all. Finishing materials for 20 floors move by a hoist that doesn't exist in the programme; the hoist-removal chain that ends most towers is missing. Install, LOE, capacity, removal.
- Hook time unchecked. Structure and façade both assume the crane; the profile would show 12 hours demanded of 8 available. Resource-load the crane and read the profile at baseline.
- Permits assumed granted. Crane erect in week 3, permit lead 5 weeks. Chain of apply → period → receive, on the authority's calendar, with the lead as a numbered assumption.
- Laydown infinite. The basement stores rebar until the raft pours; then the rebar for the podium arrives with nowhere to go. Area-loss milestones and relocation activities.
- Access dates without references. A Start On or After on the north block "because the client said so" — no letter, no clause. Register row with the document, or no constraint.
- Logistics plan revised, schedule not. Rev 3 moved the crane; the schedule still lifts from the old position with the old reach. Logistics plan revision → Reflection → logic and resource change → comparison → change table.
⚖️ When you're challenged
"Why is there a tower crane activity with no float and no duration of its own?" It's a Level of Effort — it runs from the first structure lift to the last plant lift, so its span is whatever the work needs. Its capacity is checked separately: it's a resource on the lifting activities and the usage profile shows we're at 7.5 of 8 hook hours a day through the structure. That's the number that matters, not a float on a crane.
"The hoist comes out at month 16 in your programme. Finishes run to month 18. How do the materials get up?" They don't — that's the point of the chain. Hoist removal at 16 needs all bulk finishing materials above Level 4 delivered by then; after that it's the lifts, which need to be commissioned first. The programme shows lift commissioning before hoist removal; if the lift dates slip, the hoist stays and the façade infill behind it moves — that chain is Float Path 2 this month.
"You've put six weeks for a crane permit. The last job got it in two." The last job was a different municipality. Six weeks is the assumption recorded as A12 from this authority's stated period; if it comes in two we gain four weeks on the raft, and the programme will show it at the next update. If I show two and it takes six, the structure start moves and we've no record of why.
📄 Related pages
- P6 Activity Types Explained — LOE for cranes and hoists
- Construction Sequencing and Method — the method the logistics serves
- Hard Logic vs Soft Logic — SOFT-RES links for shared plant
- P6 Constraint Types — Start On or After with a reference
- Resource Loading and Histograms — crane and hoist as resources
- Resource Loading and Histograms — reading the usage profile
- Procurement and Long-Lead Items — permits alongside deliveries
- High rise and buildings — the hoist-removal chain in the sector playbook
✏️ Worked example
Twin-tower residential scheme in Doha, 2 × 24 storeys on a shared podium, logistics plan LP-02: two tower cranes (one per tower), one shared podium mobile crane, two hoists per tower after façade closure at L8, single site entrance from the south road until the north road NOC is granted.
| Logistics item | Modelled | Effect found at baseline |
|---|---|---|
| TC1, TC2 | LOE each; erect after permit chain (A12, 5 weeks); dismantle before roof finishes; resource 8 hook-h/day | Tower B structure cycle assumed 5 hook-h/day for structure and 4 for façade from L8 → profile 9 vs 8; façade panel lifting moved to a second shift for 6 weeks (night permit chain added) |
| Hoists H1–H4 | Install after façade closure L8 (Tower A month 9, Tower B month 10); LOE; resource 2 cages × 6 trips/h × 8 h; removal after lift commissioning | Removal → façade infill → finishes L8–L10 identified as the last critical chain; lifts commissioning moved 3 weeks earlier by starting shaft handover per tower |
| Podium mobile crane | Resource on podium structure and MEP plant setting | No conflict |
| North road NOC | Apply → 6 weeks (A14) → receive → open north gate | Second entrance needed for Tower B façade deliveries from month 10; NOC application scheduled month 6; without it, façade deliveries queue behind concrete at the south gate — SOFT-RES link added and labelled |
| Laydown | South laydown lost at podium slab pour (month 7) → relocate to north plot after north access (Employer access date 2, Appendix) | Start On or After ACC-010 with reference; if late, EOT record |
| Utility energisation | Application month 3; 14 weeks (A05) | On the T&C critical path; qualified at tender |
Constraint register gained 4 referenced rows; 2 LOE per tower plus 4 hoist LOE; crane and hoist resource profiles pasted in SBM section 7; 3 permit chains added. Net effect on baseline completion versus the logistics-free tender programme: +23 working days, found in week 3 of the baseline build rather than in month 10.
📖 References
- FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction, 1999, Cl 2.1, 4.10, 4.13, 4.15, 8.4; 2017, Cl 2.1, 4.10, 4.13, 4.15, 8.5 (check the edition in your contract)
- NEC3 / NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract, Cl 31.2, 33.1, 60.1(2) (check the edition in your contract)
- SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol, 2nd ed. (2017), Core Principle 1
- AACE International RP 24R-03, Developing Activity Logic
- GAO Schedule Assessment Guide (GAO-16-89G), Best Practice 3
- DCMA 14-Point Schedule Assessment, Metric 8
- Oracle Primavera P6 Professional User Guide — Level of Effort activities; Resource Usage Profile; Constraints
From the field
Experience from working planners. Unreviewed — read it as experience, not guidance.
Add what you know about site logistics in the schedule. What worked, what the consultant pushed back on, what you would do differently next time. A paragraph is plenty.
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