Saving and Viewing a Baseline

A baseline is a snapshot of your construction schedule taken at a specific point in time — usually right before work begins. It captures every task’s start date, end date, and duration so you can compare your original plan against actual progress as the project unfolds.

Why Baselines Matter

Construction schedules shift constantly. Weather delays, material lead times, change orders, and subcontractor availability all push dates around. Without a baseline, you lose track of how much the schedule has drifted from the original plan. A baseline gives you that reference point so you can measure slippage, identify problem areas, and communicate schedule changes to stakeholders with hard data.

How to Save a Baseline

1. Open your project and navigate to the Gantt chart view.
2. Click "Save Baseline" in the project header toolbar.
3. BuildChart records every task’s current start date, end date, and duration as the baseline values.
4. A confirmation appears and the baseline is now stored for the project.

What You See on the Gantt

Once a baseline is saved, thin gray bars appear behind each task’s current Gantt bar. These gray bars represent the original planned dates. You can toggle them on and off using the "Show Baseline"toggle in the project header.

If a task’s current end date is later than its baseline end date, a red tint highlights the slippage — making it immediately obvious which tasks have fallen behind. If a task is ahead of its baseline, a green checkmark appears to indicate progress is better than planned.

Baseline Comparison Report

For a detailed breakdown, click "Baseline Report" to open the comparison panel. This report shows a table with every task listed alongside its original baseline dates and current dates. For each task you can see:

• Original start and end dates (from the baseline)
• Current start and end dates
• Variance in days (positive means behind schedule, negative means ahead)
• Status label — On Time, Ahead, or Behind

You can export the baseline report as a CSV file for sharing with clients, lenders, or your own records.

Clearing a Baseline

If you need to remove the baseline, click "Clear Baseline"in the project header. This permanently deletes the stored snapshot. There is no undo for this action — once cleared, the baseline data is gone.

When to Save

The best time to save a baseline is the day before construction starts. At that point your schedule reflects the agreed-upon plan and any pre-construction adjustments have been made. You can save a new baseline at any time during the project, but be aware that it replaces the previous one — only one baseline is stored per project.