Long-lead items: finding them early and tracking them weekly
Four weeks after award, the electrical subcontractor's submittal list arrives with the main switchboard near the bottom and no date beside it. The coordinator calls the supplier: fabrication starts only once the shop drawings are approved, and nobody has started the drawings. Power-up is planned for month seven, and on the supplier's timeline the switchboard arrives in month nine.
A long-lead item is equipment or material that has to be bought well before it is needed because it takes a long time to deliver, as the US Department of Energy's project glossary puts it. The same glossary notes that a critical item need not be expensive: a low-cost, sole-source part that nobody tracks can hold up the critical path too. Items slip when only the delivery date is watched. The US Federal Highway Administration's guidance on setting contract time lists shop-drawing review, fabrication and long-lead materials as separate factors, and your tracking should too.
- List the candidates in the first two weeks: engineered, custom, imported or sole-source items from the specifications and drawings, plus whatever each trade calls long-lead.
- Get a written, dated lead time for each, split into drawing preparation, review, fabrication after approval and shipping.
- Take the need date from the current schedule: the day installation starts, less a buffer you can explain.
- Work back through shipping, fabrication, one review, one resubmittal and preparation to the latest date the submittal must go in.
- Give every item one line in a log: need date, submittal due, submitted, approved, released, ship date, on site, and who chases it.
- Update the log weekly with dates the supplier has confirmed in writing, and raise any item whose buffer is shrinking.
- Act early on items at risk: expedite the review, split the shipment, pay for faster freight, resequence or rent temporary equipment, and tell the owner if their selection is holding an order.
Common mistakes
- Using a lead time from the last job instead of a dated quote.
- Counting from the purchase order when the supplier counts from approved drawings.
- Tracking only large equipment and missing special-order hardware or a custom colour.
- Updating the log monthly, so a lost fabrication slot shows up only when the truck does not.
Checklist
The weekly long-lead check
- Every candidate listed, with who chases it
- A written, dated lead time for each
- Need dates taken from the current schedule
- Latest submittal date worked back, and flagged if past
- Ship dates confirmed this week
- At-risk items raised with a decision and a date
Check your understanding
A supplier quotes 14 weeks for rooftop units. Why is that not enough to set the date you must act?
