Homebuilder Leverages MS Project to Drive Master Construction Schedule
Project Assistants’ Case Studies
Situation Situation
The Dewey Homes’ team is made up of people who share John and Ken Dewey’s commitment to integrity and reliability. From site selection to settlement, every effort is directed toward one goal – creating a lasting relationship based on trust and performance. To accomplish that goal, the Dewey Homes’ team strives to deliver the best value in new home construction in the marketplace. Many of the standard features found in Dewey Homes are upgrades in other communities. Combined with reasonable base prices, those features create a greater potential for appreciation, which benefits homeowners.

Another Dewey Homes difference is attention to quality. The Company has established relationships with the area’s most skilled sub-contractors, people who share John and Ken’s dedication to fine craftsmanship and reliability. These relationships ensure you will get a well-built home and the Dewey Homes Inspection Process insures a number of thorough reviews of the construction progress in every home. To the Dewey Team, doing things differently means doing things better. For you, that means getting more home for your money and a lasting investment.

The Residential Construction Industry Challenge

To deliver the highest quality and timely home construction to its clients by:

  • Hiring the most qualified sub-contractors (trades) to assist with the completion of construction projects
  • Providing the most accurate schedule information to the those trades so that they are working at the most efficient pace
  • Collecting accurate progress information to ensure schedule compliance and timely payment of trades


The Dewey Homes Challenge

As a rapidly growing residential builder in the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley market, Dewey Homes is faced with the challenge of providing accurate and timely schedule information from the central office to the field superintendents who are managing and guiding the construction process as well as the trades that need to know which properties require their attention on any given day over the typical two week planning horizon.
Solution Solution
Project Assistants has configured and deployed Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Central to Dewey’s exact specifications requirements. This Project Management solution requires:

  • Hosted environment (ASP) for Microsoft Project Central for superintendents and external trades.
  • The development and deployment of project plan templates for each of the major blueprints for the various types of homes that Dewey builds.
  • Conversion of floor plan templates into real project schedule each time a client commits to a contract for construction.
  • Development of a real schedule that can be used to make reliable contractual commitments to the client for settlement and delivery of the new home.
  • Assignment of the actual trades that will perform the work to ensure efficient assignment of labor and to avoid potential conflicts when more than one trade is assigned to work on the same lot on the same day.
  • Publication of all project plans to Microsoft Project Central so that the field superintendents and trades have real time, web-based access to the most current changes to the schedules.
Benefits Benefits
  • Loyalty from trades due to accuracy of schedule and timelines of payment due to accurate status information.
  • Satisfied customers that are able to move into new homes on time with minimal post settlement re-work.
  • Efficient assignment of superintendents and management of trades.
  • Higher quality construction through the deployment of Microsoft Project as a check list that ensures trades are not paid until all required work is completed within specification and schedule constraints.
  • Early warning and proactive avoidance of serious schedule slippage.
  • Lower total cost of ownership by outsourcing Microsoft Project Central to a hosted (ASP) environment.