A schedule that recalculates when the job slips
A schedule stops being useful the moment it becomes a picture of what you hoped would happen. This one is built so that moving one date moves everything downstream: enter a start and a duration in working days, and each task chains from the one before it, skipping weekends. Tasks that should have finished by today are flagged automatically. Three sheets: the schedule, a two-week look-ahead that reads it, and a filled-in example job.
Excel / Google Sheets compatible · no sign-up required
Template and page last reviewed November 3, 2026.
What is in the file
| Task | Start | Finish | Days | Done | Status | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site prep & demolitionOwn crew | Apr 5 | Apr 9 | 5 | 100% | Complete | |
| ExcavationExcavation sub | Apr 12 | Apr 14 | 3 | 100% | Complete | |
| Footings & foundationConcrete sub | Apr 15 | Apr 26 | 8 | 100% | Complete | |
| Backfill & rough gradeExcavation sub | Apr 27 | Apr 28 | 2 | 100% | Complete | |
| FramingOwn crew | Apr 29 | May 14 | 12 | 60% | Late | |
| RoofingRoofing sub | May 17 | May 21 | 5 | 0% | In progress | |
| Windows & exterior doorsOwn crew | May 24 | May 26 | 3 | 0% | Not started | |
| Mechanical rough-inHVAC sub | May 27 | Jun 2 | 5 | 0% | Not started | |
| Plumbing rough-inPlumbing sub | Jun 3 | Jun 9 | 5 | 0% | Not started | |
| Electrical rough-inElectrical sub | Jun 10 | Jun 16 | 5 | 0% | Not started | |
| Insulation & vapour barrierInsulation sub | Jun 17 | Jun 21 | 3 | 0% | Not started | |
| Drywall, tape & sandDrywall sub | Jun 22 | Jul 5 | 10 | 0% | Not started | |
| Interior finishingOwn crew | Jul 6 | Jul 21 | 12 | 0% | Not started | |
| FlooringFlooring sub | Jul 22 | Jul 28 | 5 | 0% | Not started | |
| PaintingPainting sub | Jul 29 | Aug 5 | 6 | 0% | Not started | |
| Final mechanical & electricalSubs | Aug 6 | Aug 11 | 4 | 0% | Not started | |
| Deficiencies & handoverOwn crew | Aug 12 | Aug 18 | 5 | 0% | Not started |
A fictional job, computed with the same WORKDAY rules as the workbook's formulas. The two-week look-ahead sheet for this data date lists Framing, Roofing, Windows & exterior doors, Mechanical rough-in, Plumbing rough-in.
Five steps to a working document
Enter one start date
Only the first task needs one. Every task below it starts the next working day after the previous one finishes, using WORKDAY, so weekends are already excluded.
Set durations in working days
Seventeen typical residential tasks are pre-filled from site prep through handover, with durations you should replace with your own. Delete the trades you do not use and add the ones you do.
Break the chain where trades overlap
Type a date over the formula in any start cell and that task stops following the one above. Real jobs overlap — drywall does not wait for every inch of rough-in — and the sheet is built to let you say so.
Update the percentage complete
The status column reads it against today's date: complete, in progress, not started, or LATE. The count of late tasks sits in the summary, which is the number worth looking at on a Monday.
Run the look-ahead before the site meeting
The second sheet lists every task that is not finished and starts within the next 14 days, late ones included. Filter it to "Yes" and print it: that is the agenda.
This is a working schedule, not a critical path analysis. It chains tasks in sequence and does not calculate float, model parallel paths or handle resource levelling — if your contract requires a CPM schedule, this is not it. Statutory holidays are not excluded either; the sheet explains how to add a holidays range to the WORKDAY formulas if you need them.
When the spreadsheet stops scaling
In BuildersBridge the schedule lives against the job with the crew assigned to each task, so a date that moves reaches the people who need to know rather than sitting in a spreadsheet on one laptop.
See how it works in BuildersBridgeCommon questions
How do I make a construction schedule?
List the tasks in the order the work actually happens, give each one a duration in working days, then chain them so each starts after the one before it finishes. Mark the tasks that can overlap and the ones that genuinely cannot — rough-in before insulation, insulation before drywall — because those are the constraints that decide the finish date.
What is a look-ahead schedule?
A short window pulled out of the full schedule, usually two or three weeks, showing only what is coming up. It is what gets discussed at a site meeting, because a full programme is too long to be useful weekly. This workbook's second sheet builds a two-week one from the schedule automatically, and keeps late tasks on it until they are done.
Does this template exclude weekends?
Yes. Every date calculation uses WORKDAY, which counts working days and skips Saturdays and Sundays. Statutory holidays are not excluded by default; the sheet shows how to add them.
Can I use this as a Gantt chart?
It gives you the dates a Gantt chart is drawn from, but not the bars. In Google Sheets or Excel you can add a stacked bar chart from the start and duration columns if you want the visual. The preview on this page shows what that looks like for the example job.
Do I need an account to download it?
No. The file downloads directly, with no sign-up and no email. It has no macros and no external data connections.