LEAN construction methods seek to reduce the waste involved and the time required in all construction projects and borrows heavily from LEAN manufacturing methods. These techniques include a more collaborative process with all participants that results in reduced project costs and a shorter time to completion.

What is Pull Planning?

Pull planning is a lean construction practice in which every key stakeholder on a project collaboratively starts with the end goal and works backwards milestone by milestone toward the start date. Pull planning is different from any other lean construction technique because it not only works backward, but also requires a high degree of collaboration that is unique from any other method. By utilizing all key players in the construction project, everyone’s expertise is meshed together into one cohesive group, working as one to identify potential problems and cut down on unnecessary time spent.

Pull planning is usually visualized using a hand-written timeline and color-coded sticky notes denoting each specific task. These sticky notes then start to fill up the timeline, allowing all stakeholders to visualize the order and dependencies of tasks and identify possible overlap that may cause delays.