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Build plan gantt chart

gotyoke

Well Known Member
Build plan gantt chart...because boredom

Want to know how bored I am waiting for my empennage kit to arrive? I made a gantt chart. A GANTT CHART! See below.

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EDIT: Many commentors have indicated the timeline doesn't account for the numerous delays that I'm sure to encounter along the way, which will extend the timeframes. I appreciate your thoughts on that. The main point wasn't to map out exactly how long it would take, but to map out the order in which things needed to done. The timeframe selected was simply a mechanism to frame the process and to set ambitious goals, which has served me well in other aspects of life. If it takes longer, and surely it will, that is no concern of mine.
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I looked at several RV-14A build logs, and tallied the time it took to complete each kit. I then guessed how long it would take me by averaging them out and adding a 20% buffer. Because I'm building 15 seconds from my doorstep, I work from home, and my daughter is rather low maintenance these days, I figure I can get in 15 solid hours of work (some with my wife's help) per week, minimum. So that is how I figured the length of each blue bar.

The flags at the top represent when I would need to order various things given the current lead times from Vans, Lycoming, and (insert Avionics shop here). Of course, this assumes money isn't a factor, and there sure is a lot of money to spend in 2023.

One thing I would like to know from you, dear reader, is whether I have the order of operations correct, or if I got something totally wrong. This is my first kitplane build, so I'm just going off what I've researched so far.
 

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and my daughter is rather low maintenance these days, I figure I can get in 15 solid hours of work (some with my wife's help) per week, minimum.

How old is your daughter? My son is five, and over the past couple years it has been very difficult to make any progress at all when he's home. I make much more progress when he's at school (I typically have one weekday off), which he's finally doing again.

You may be making some pretty aggressive assumptions about how much work you'll be able to do in a given time frame. Children and spouses want attention, cars and houses need maintenance, you'll run into bouts of motivation trouble, etc. Good on you if you can build that fast but I've found that working and having kids (and dealing with medical issues) can slow you down a lot more than you thought.
 
I would say your "build hours" are reasonable. The one factor that was alluded to was life getting in the way and lull in motivation. Of course everyone is different, but I started out extremely motivated and then had a long up hill battle with motivation with the wing kit. To me, the monotony of the work, coupled with extremely short work sessions (10 - 20 rivets) to accommodate the patience of my better half, led to some low periods which had me questioning the idea of the whole project.

After the wings were complete, the fuselage, finish kit, etc went together really fast and provided tons of motivation (especially when you sit in the fuse and make airplane noises).
 
Good first cut

And then reality hits,…..

- rabbits to chase, and extra work, if you just can’t resist going off plans
- family, work, natural disasters, health …..
- messed a piece up, need to order replacement part,… resequenced work,..etc
- order / decision points need thought and research,…. What is the new avionics box, do I want that or do I need that ( I.e. you want some setbacks, so you can be ready,…and that takes you off working aluminum)
- price changes,…. If they are predictable you may want to change an order point ( used to be early in the year)

So you may want to put some float / management reserve on the chart,… or just call it performance factor. I think some is baked in by the hours you have….

So,… enjoy the build,… don’t sweat the details, but be ready to find the new critical path forward, and work hard on it……

and tell everyone it will be done on Thursday
 
Another data point, and some considerations:

Everybody logs their time differently - some record time with a tool in their hand and others when they walk into and out of the shop door. Using the average of blogs +20% might be the best way, but consider how you plan to log time.

In my case, I’m starting my 2nd RV14 and using my first project’s “real” numbers as a basis. I’m estimating more hours than your numbers for every kit except FWF. I’m also not including any “partner” hours and she invested 25% of the first project total hours. The biggest difference in hours (my projection over yours) is finishing, and I went off plans here with a Sikaflex canopy (great mod, by the way). My avionics is also higher but I did all the wiring myself for a full IFR panel.

Finally, we are retired and I’m only planning 20 hours per week- not much more than you (similar circumstances to my first project). And we did spend lots of “full time” days. I also built into the plan “vacation delays” of about 2 months per kit. I might also think of these as “life getting in the way”.

Bottom line is a 3 year project for us.

This is NOT meant to discourage you. This will be FUN. However, as long as you are planning, this is one other person’s perspective.
 
Personally, I found logging my hours or even thinking about it a major downer. Made it feel more like work than a hobby. Did it for about a month and ditched the whole idea, worked on the project every day I had open (always did something, no matter what) and finished in 2 and 1/2 years (including significant supply delays due to having this pandemic thing on and all).

I realize this doesn't answer your question regarding order of events, estimated time required, parts flow, order timing, hours available ... Your plan is fine, now lean in and start building. Dirty hands make progress.

Enjoy the ride!
 
Personally, I found logging my hours or even thinking about it a major downer. Made it feel more like work than a hobby. Did it for about a month and ditched the whole idea...

I did the same thing 25 years ago. I have a neat log with maybe a dozen entries. After that, I have a few dozen photos documenting the RV-6 build.

People who log things, people who actively create and maintain build sites...I commend them. But I just couldn't do it.
 
As soon as I saw that chart it reminded me why I hated management jobs!
Ditch the charts and spend that time building instead.

Right! Looks too much like work. This is supposed to be fun.
(but, you do need to be aware of lead times and plan accordingly.)
 
If I could do it over again I would have ordered all of the kits at once so I wouldn't spend any time waiting on parts to show up, and I could have avoided that whole stock market fiasco. But who knew I was going to be locked inside for a year with nothing to do?

I also wouldn't put hard dates on anything because your chart is assuming that things need to be done serially... and they really don't. You could build all the kits in parallel and the only things that need to be done serially is bolting on the engine and attaching the wings.

As far as logging, you need a solution that is quick and easy or you won't do it. I have a GoPro that I use that is pretty point and shoot to capture build video, and use a free app called webuildplanes.com to make a quick log entry that takes 30 seconds at the end of the build session.

I would say that 15 hours per week is an aggressive goal. I plan for one hour per day. Some days that turns into 4 hours, and some days it is 0 hours. But there's always 1hr of internet or TV that I can cut out and build the plane instead.
 
Project schedules

I purposely didn’t look at your schedule chart. When you are the only one doing all the work it becomes meaningless because everything is on the critical path due to resource limitations - you. You are doing this project because you enjoy working with your hands and mind and like learning new skills. If that statement is not true you should consider buying a certified flying airplane and abandoning the idea of building - you wont enjoy it, will want to just be done with it, take short cuts, get sloppy and do work that needs to be redone and lowers your morale and resolve to be proud of your accomplishments. We have all been there when things don’t go right - you will not be alone in the emotional ups and downs that come as part of the landscape of homebuilding. I have just got to flying after 4 years of building from a kit I bought that was at about quickbuild stage with the work I inherited done to a very high standard. Incedently, the timeframe was about the same timeframe for a number of large commercial transport aircraft design programs I had worked on while gainfully employed. My RV-7 development program was more challenging, demanding and stressful due to being the guy making all the decisions, spending my own money and having to do all the work and knowing that I would be the pilot making first flight. I learned a lot. My best advise is:
1. Have a flexible plan that covers the big picture of getting each piece built, stored, painted, ready for final assembly and transported to the first flight airport.
2. Try and do something every day even if it is just ordering parts or reading up about an area you need to improve your knowledge.
3. Take time to review what you are doing and get others to take a look at your work.
4. Remind yourself that airplane homebuilding is all about the journey and not about the getting done- there will always be things that need working on with a homebuilt airplane.
5. Make good notes of what you have done- if you take a break for a few months to deal with life issues its hard to just pick up where you left off.
6. Be available to those around you in your life - this is just a hobby. Take time to smell the roses.
7. Changing course halfway through this project and selling it is not a sign of failure.

KT
 
I spend as much time researching how to do things as I did doing them. My logging suffered but I did take a boat load of pictures. If you are thinking you can do the logging when you are not building to pass the time, use that time for research.
 
All great answers, thank you! You have all convinced me my timeline is aggressive, but I'm okay with that. It'll just stretch horizontally. It IS about the journey for me.

What I have also learned from the replies is that my ordering is generally correct, which was my biggest question. When most of you built your planes, your shipping lead times weren't nearly as drastic as mine are now. So I have to be thinking out several months in advance to keep the ball rolling, and being optimistic with my progress, even if it doesn't work out that way. It would be much more demoralizing if I did everything I could with one kit, then wait 6+ months for the next one, than it would be to get the next kit 6 months before I'm ready.
 
Stick to your plan . . .

All great answers, thank you! You have all convinced me my timeline is aggressive, but I'm okay with that. It'll just stretch horizontally. It IS about the journey for me.

What I have also learned from the replies is that my ordering is generally correct, which was my biggest question. When most of you built your planes, your shipping lead times weren't nearly as drastic as mine are now. So I have to be thinking out several months in advance to keep the ball rolling, and being optimistic with my progress, even if it doesn't work out that way. It would be much more demoralizing if I did everything I could with one kit, then wait 6+ months for the next one, than it would be to get the next kit 6 months before I'm ready.

One day at an airport meet-greet I met a guy who said "I'm building an RV10, slow build and will be done in 3 years." I encouraged him and my wife and I had a good laugh. But he is now my best friend and got the job done in 3.5 yrs. He stayed on plan, made timely decisions, did a good job of selecting vendors and holding them to delivery, and stuck to his work discipline. His wife loves flying to see the grandkids now.

Just because everyone did not do this, don't be dissuaded from your goal.
 
Order Early!

I couldn't agree with you more that it's better to have the kits delivered and waiting on you than vice-versa. I finished my Empennage kit in about 6 weeks and am still in the middle of the 6 month lead time for the Wings kit. While waiting for the Wings, I went ahead and ordered the Fuselage and Finishing kits to avoid repeating this scenario. I expect I'll get the Finishing kit before I even complete the Wings, but I'd much rather find the storage space than wait.
 
Never ask a builder when they are going to be ready to fly

I have a buddy that is building a 10. We were both in project management, and he came to my office with a detailed project schedule showing start to finish in 5 years. I laughed at him. :p He was just starting a family and I told him he didn’t figure in the life factor. That was 10 years ago:eek: and guess who was right. :D
 
Gantt

I'm a retired PM and it never occurred to me to use a Gantt as a builder log. Pretty good idea actually.
 
The lead times are too short too. The lead times quoted on vans site is to go to crating. Then you have another 6-8 weeks wait in crating and then another week for shipping. (Although I suspect things will get better with the process changes and vans reduced lead times a bit recently). But that 9 month lead time is closer to a year.

Small decisions have a big factor in build times too. The further you go from stock and the more things you add or redo the longer it’ll take. Even little things like waiting on epoxy to cure can add weeks to the build.
 
Just me

The lead times are too short too. The lead times quoted on vans site is to go to crating. Then you have another 6-8 weeks wait in crating and then another week for shipping. (Although I suspect things will get better with the process changes and vans reduced lead times a bit recently). But that 9 month lead time is closer to a year.

Small decisions have a big factor in build times too. The further you go from stock and the more things you add or redo the longer it’ll take. Even little things like waiting on epoxy to cure can add weeks to the build.

I ordered my engine expecting a 9 month lead time. Showed up in 3 months.This was typical pre-covid. and gas was so cheap...How cheap was it... it was so cheap I could afford to fly and drive to vans .
 
I ordered my engine expecting a 9 month lead time. Showed up in 3 months.This was typical pre-covid. and gas was so cheap...How cheap was it... it was so cheap I could afford to fly and drive to vans .

Lucky! I ordered my 10 fuse in January. I watched as lead time went up and up. I’m expecting it to arrive in October. It actually went to crating a few weeks later than it should have but that was because I asked some questions plus osh.

I don’t even know what’s going on with Lycoming. I’m a bit scared to see where things will be in a couple years when I need an engine.
 
On my RV-3B, I ordered the empennage, fuselage and wing kits together. That was a good solid decision. And years before I needed it, I ordered the finish kit, and you know, it's been darn handy to have those parts on hand. Santa brought me an engine years before I needed it but now that I'm getting close to putting it on, I'm glad that I got all the FWF parts I could - especially the baffles and FAB. That stuff is on hand and I won't need to wait on parts.

Dave
 
Other than as a way to try to plan long-lead item purchases (which doesn't really require a full-up MS Project schedule, truly), why would you care? It's going to take whatever it takes, and if a task takes longer than you planned, so what? As someone said, there's only one resource here, you, so that makes everything you touch on the CP.

Spend your creative energy reading the manual/plans and other documents, researching, learning, and building. Who cares how long it takes, really?
 
The build is too complex a project to predict. There are all sorts of things that could cause unexpected extra time. You're in NorCal, so every major piece you screw up that requires re-ordering a part will take ~2weeks to get delivered, and there are plenty of points in the build where you simply cannot go on to the next step without completing the previous one. You don't know how many screw-ups you'll have so there's no way to plan for that. If you're priming your parts, you'll need to wait an unknown number of hours while primer drys. If you're not a fiberglass expert, you'll have countless "wait 12-24 hours for it to cure and try again" delays.

Also, once you get it into the hangar, work pace will slow down immensely. I finally moved into the hangar this summer thinking "Wow, I'm almost done. Will probably be flying by the end of the year!" Veteran builders are busting out laughing at that one.

I'm a project manager at work. I'd be OK approving a GANTT chart for the empennage and maybe the wings--the simple stuff--but that's it. I don't think the rest of the build can be predicted accurately unless this is your fifth build or something and you know exactly what you're doing.
 
On my RV-3B, I ordered the empennage, fuselage and wing kits together. That was a good solid decision. And years before I needed it, I ordered the finish kit, and you know, it's been darn handy to have those parts on hand. Santa brought me an engine years before I needed it but now that I'm getting close to putting it on, I'm glad that I got all the FWF parts I could - especially the baffles and FAB. That stuff is on hand and I won't need to wait on parts.

Dave

Dave, you will be happy to know your engines twin brother ran like a top and after 55 hours, not a drop of oil inside the cowl. After taking out the speeds under 100 knots we averaged 141 knots ground speed from Idaho to Michigan. Top speed was 182 knots ground speed. We were aided by some wind! Ha!
 
Proper planning

Time, Cost and Quality

Time planning:
I would use fully blown MSFT Project with resourcing names and time allocation. If you see conflicts somewhere how you are going to mitigate those in short and long term.

Cost planning:
SAP Hana is good tool with different modules and everything in cloud. It's mission critical to have good long term revenue forecast. Plan and follow with normal +/-5% rule. Monthly reviews and Quarterly financial public reporting. Then we will se that is the project in budget. If larger than +/-5% deviation from the plan how does it impact to household stock price?

Quality planning:
Six Sigma with standard deviation. DEMAIC & SWOT for analysis and then deep briefings top of that.

Like Nike advertise - "Just do it"!
 
Time, Cost and Quality

Time planning:
I would use fully blown MSFT Project with resourcing names and time allocation. If you see conflicts somewhere how you are going to mitigate those in short and long term.

Cost planning:
SAP Hana is good tool with different modules and everything in cloud. It's mission critical to have good long term revenue forecast. Plan and follow with normal +/-5% rule. Monthly reviews and Quarterly financial public reporting. Then we will se that is the project in budget. If larger than +/-5% deviation from the plan how does it impact to household stock price?

Quality planning:
Six Sigma with standard deviation. DEMAIC & SWOT for analysis and then deep briefings top of that.

Like Nike advertise - "Just do it"!

What, no EVM? :) And do you include schedule and cost margins? Not to mention Risk Management, with monetized risks, threats and liens... LOL!
 
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