In the GANTT provided, it’s easy to see how just a bit more detail can go along way in providing exacting and distinct detail of each stage of the process of getting product fabricated, delivered, and installed. The schedule can now be developed with product being further categorized by each respective work-area. These WBS are repetitive in nature, with varying duration.

Final Design

Best practice is to develop final designs before the submittal phase, but this is often the exception – especially under a design-build effort. Therefore, the two are often done in tandem. It should be made clear from the get-go who will provide the final details. This is a notorious grey area. Architects millwork and casework drawings can be schematic, and also omit finite details that can’t be expected to be provided in design and development drawings. This can be a recipe for conflict down the line if not addressed early.

Architectural Millwork and Casework Submittals

Initial submittals will include general information such as suppliers, material, tolerances, product literature, fastening methods, and general specifications from CSI Masterformat Division 06 or 12. These initial submittals may or may not include shop drawings and/or dimensioned drawings. Best practice is to wait for final design and until general submittals are approved before generating shop drawings. It’s not unusual for the millworker to take the lead in design details. You can include a review and approve activity to represent those cycles, as well, however, remember your schedule is not a shop drawing log: you don’t want to clog it with too much detail, especially if it is tracked elsewhere.

Sampling

Sampling is a critical step in final specification and material selection. Once samples are selected and approved the supply houses (plywood and veneer) will be visited. Samples will include: plywood substrates, veneers, hardwoods, door frame and millwork profiles, joinery, hardware, and finishes. Sampling may be done in the design phase before procurement of the fabricator.

Visit to supply house and final material selection  

Plywood and veneer houses have working relationships that maximize workflow and coordination. Plywood or MDF substrates will be selected by the architect according to his specifications. If there are sequenced veneer panels detailed, these can be selected, numbered, and ‘blueprinted,’ using the veneer selected from ‘flitch’ books. These are generally taken from individual and contiguous trees for characteristic consistency.

There are often separate fabricators and production assembly lines for architectural millwork, casework, and a related product – doors (Division 8), as the machinery and equipment are different for each means of production. Each fabricator’s procurement sequence should be represented and tracked in the schedule – not simply lumped together into a catchall schedule, like the first GANTT represented above. Although most fabricators now utilize CNC machinery, much piece-work is still manually fabricated. This distinction does not impact project logic.

During the early fabrication stage, the fabricator will generate mock-ups based on approved samples. These mock-ups are often full scale components of a larger mock-up – a model room, for example. Mock-ups are done early in the production stage so to provide opportunity to make modifications. They are reliant on adjoining program from other trades, and thus can be impacted by third-party delays or open design decisions.

Dimensioning

Not to be confused with shop drawing, dimensions are taken from site layout lines and project benchmarks set by the contractor – not the design drawings. Dimensions are typically loaded into a CADD file to provide cut-lists for CNC production. If the framing is complete before the dimensioning, the likelihood of program conflicts increases – especially where critical seam and fixture alignments are concerned. The exception is standalone components that may be dimensioned with shop drawings. Other work needs to be coordinated with MEP finishes and controls, as well as light-gauge and structural framing members. 

Production

Once dimensions are confirmed, the veneer can now be lain on the plywood or MDF substrates. From the veneer press, the product will ship to the fabricator for sizing and assembly, and subsequently to a finish shop. Finally, it is then shipped to the site. Many fabricators do their own finishing. Millwork includes the process of fabricating running trim through a shaper or router table from solid stock. It is often produced by the casework manufacturer, as it is an integral design and material component of the casework.

Once product is shipped to the site it is either placed in the area of installation or to a staging area before installation team take control of it.

Note that all wet trades shall be complete and climatized with acceptable and stable humidity and temperature controls achieved before the product is shipped to the site as a safeguard against product damage. Wet trades raise humidity levels, and their presence can mar or blemish millwork upon contact or proximity to wet-work. A schedule milestone is provided for completion of wet trades. From this date forward deliveries may be scheduled. Early delivery necessitates staging or warehousing in a climatized location.

It should now be clear how the process of stock millwork and casework processes are quite different from custom and bespoke work that is standard in high end and luxury construction. Including all of the stages from design through production in architectural millwork scheduling generation provides more control and clarity to the overall process to the project team for optimal outcomes. 

An architectural millwork scheduling representation should show at minimum the process I have described, and typically will branch out into designated areas of project. The schedule should be generated in tandem with procurement and other information from repsective suppliers, fabricators, and installers – there is no one-stop shopping. Leaving such details merely to the assumptions of a siloed scheduler will only generate a vacuum of information that invariably proves to be insufficient to purpose.