Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) is a construction planning approach that improves schedule reliability, cost efficiency, and productivity by organizing work into sequenced installation work packages. By emphasizing early collaboration, constraint removal, and performance tracking, AWP helps capital construction teams deliver more predictable project outcomes.
Construction Performance Challenges Demand a New Planning Approach
Change doesn’t come easily to any industry so heavily invested in “the way things have always been done. ”One area where this can manifest in the construction industry is in project completion rates.
Historically, projects delivered on-time and on-budget have been the exception rather than the rule. And that seems to be holding true. According to this year’s InEight construction industry survey, contractors reported that 65% of their projects were completed behind schedule and 62% went over budget.
There is clearly room for improvement. But for those numbers to improve, the way work is done has to improve first. This is where we come back to the concept of change. In this instance, it’s a change in how projects are planned and executed. This is what advanced work packaging (AWP) is uniquely suited to address.
AWP introduces the logic of strong pre-planning into capital projects, notorious for their overlapping timelines, long project duration and highly detailed deliverables. What sets it apart, however, is its construction-driven approach to project planning; that is, what it really takes to create a structure. Work becomes more focused and therefore more productive. And this is where its impact on construction performance stands out.
AWP Improves Schedule Performance
Think of AWP as a process that organizes hundreds or thousands of mini projects, known as installation work packages (IWP), sequentially along a project life cycle. Each has its own strategy for construction and a corresponding set of resource deliverables, streamlining workflow and making the construction process more predictable.
Each IWP is organized and scheduled so that all required resources are present in the designated work area when the task is scheduled to begin. Tools, equipment, and materials are ordered, delivered, and ready before site crews start work—eliminating delays caused by missing inputs.
The Path of Construction (PoC) and Constraint Management
These details are captured in the project’s Path of Construction (PoC), a deliverable jointly developed by engineering, construction, and procurement teams. From a timing perspective, the PoC provides greater control over constraints, which may include:
- Design-related constraints
- Economic constraints
- Technical constraints
- Legal or contractual constraints
All of these should be identified before the project breaks ground. The hyper-focused nature of AWP planning significantly reduces both the frequency and severity of constraints that commonly derail project progress. Timing is critical—the PoC must be established early for AWP to function effectively as a best practice.
AWP Enhances Cost Efficiency
What do procurement, IWP timelines and quality have in common? They’re some of the areas where AWP can regulate and rein in costs.
With materials clearly assigned to individual IWPs, much of the guesswork is removed from procurement. AWP addresses procurement-related constraints from two critical angles:
- Limits overspending on excess inventory caused by overestimated material quantities
- Reduces last-minute premium costs associated with shortages, rush orders, and price escalation
Because the right materials are procured at the right time, crews are not left waiting for delayed deliveries—and unnecessary inventory carrying costs are avoided.
The defined start and stop times for site crews within each IWP provide additional cost benefits:
- Reduces rushing and rework, lowering the risk of defects and safety incidents
- Minimizes idle time and overtime, helping control labor costs
Tighter control over scheduling and spending dovetails into more control over the quality of the work product. The impact on cost savings comes from the resulting reduction in the extent and number of potential change orders that can chip away at the budget.
AWP Helps Mitigate Project-Impacting Modifications
The best way to reduce the impact of change orders is to keep them from happening in the first place. So many costs on a construction project are driven by scope changes during the course of the job.
The key to eliminating these changes? Create a clear understanding among all parties involved in the construction process of what needs to be done and how it should be done — before any work begins. That’s precisely what AWP does.
This is where having engineering, construction and procurement teams at the design table makes such a difference because it encourages collaborative discussion and evaluation of design alternatives and material options to consider. The goal? To collectively land on the best agreed-upon choices for the project that meets the owner’s requirements.
That means fewer unnecessary change orders and corresponding cost- and time-consuming rework. This last point has further implications to consider; reducing the potential for rework can improve your odds of not being on the receiving end of a liquidated damages claim or a withholding of contract retainage.
Rely on SPI and CPI Metrics to Monitor AWP’s Impact
How do you know your AWP method is working? Track your earned value management (EVM) metrics, specifically schedule performance index (SPI) and cost performance index (CPI), to monitor and validate ongoing performance.
Take a look at your historical data from past projects. It should give clues as to what delay-causing constraints and risk factors to take into account as you’re assembling the IWPs. In what ways did those factors affect your metrics? What was the real impact on the schedule and on costs?
Did the metrics deviate far outside their operating range? If so, what steps can you take to remove the appropriate factors, so they’re not included in future IWPs? Even with natural fluctuation, SPI and CPI should remain relatively stable.
Of course, metrics collected from current projects can then be used to inform how IWPs are created for subsequent builds.
AWP as an Effective Approach to Improving Construction Performance
Advanced work packaging is a practical and effective approach to reducing time and cost constraints, as well as improving productivity. As the construction industry works to respond more creatively and practically to the demands of accelerating project delivery, AWP is on track to become more commonplace.
InEight delivers construction software designed to support advanced work packaging and performance-driven planning across complex capital construction projects. By connecting schedule, cost, and construction data in a single environment, InEight helps teams improve predictability, reduce risk, and make more informed decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
Updated On: December 13, 2025
