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T RUMP B UILDING P ROJECTS

cant. If you analyze the loss of income on your investment and the
interest on borrowed funds and taxes and other expenses, which ac-
crue during the period of construction or renovation, you will be
amazed at the per diem loss you suffer. Anything you can do to re-
duce the period of loss is a win.

The Critical Path

One ofthethings that Trump and all GCs and CMs do is to create
what is known as a critical path. Acriticalpathisatimelinethatindi-
cates when various components of the project are going to be started
and completed. The critical path reflects the entire building process,
from thetimeground is broken until the building is completed. It
takes into account all the component parts. For instance, let’s say
you’re constructing a building and you plan to start excavation on
May 1,butyoumayhavetodemolishanexisting structure before you
can excavate. So you would schedule March 1 as the demolition start
date, and you block out two months that you believe will be adequate
to complete the demolition. Next you estimate how long excavation
willtakeand blockthattime out. Then you have to figure out when
you can start pouring the concrete foundations and how long that will
take.Thensetting the steel for the structure can begin. Once the
steel is set, you have to anticipate how many floors can be done while
the steel is going up, until you finally top off the building. Synchro-
nized with topping off the building is the construction of the facade
(curtain wall) on the lower level. Eventually you have to start doing
theinterior installations that involve the heating systems, the venti-
lating systems, and the elevators. The critical path depicts when each
piece is anticipated to start and end. If one element is late, which often
happens, it could affect the whole schedule because some items cannot
be started until others are completed. It is the job of the CM to be at
the construction site every day to monitor progress and to make peri-
odic reports to Trump. Notwithstanding the periodic reports from

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