Construction lookahead template: free download and the live alternative
A practical 2-week lookahead guide for site managers — and why the best sites have moved beyond templates.
What is a construction lookahead?
A lookahead schedule — sometimes called a short-interval schedule or 2-week look — is the working document showing exactly what is planned on site over the next 1 to 3 weeks.
Unlike the master programme, which shows the whole project at high level, the lookahead is the document the foreman actually uses. It goes on the site office wall, gets reviewed in the Monday morning meeting, and gets updated when a trade runs late or a delivery shifts.
A good lookahead shows which trades are working on which floors or zones, what plant is allocated and when, deliveries and supplier arrivals, critical dependencies, and open constraints — bookings not yet confirmed.
How to structure a 2-week lookahead
A practical lookahead needs a header row with the week commencing date, site name, and revision number. Resource rows — one per plant item, trade, or delivery slot. Day columns Monday to Friday across two weeks. Status coding: confirmed, planned, unconfirmed, cancelled. A constraint column showing what needs to happen before each item can proceed. And a daily site notes row for weather, observations, and programme flags.
This can be built in Excel or Google Sheets in 20 minutes. The harder part is keeping it current.
Why lookaheads go stale
Updated once, never again. The lookahead is prepared for Monday's meeting and left untouched until the following Monday — by which point three things have changed and nobody knows.
Not shared with subbies. The lookahead lives in the site office. The subbies find out about changes when the foreman calls them.
No confirmation loop. A planned booking is not a confirmed booking. The lookahead shows intent — it doesn't prove the crane operator, the concrete pump, and the placement crew have all agreed to be there.
No clash detection. In a spreadsheet, two people can book the same resource for the same slot. The clash surfaces on the morning.
The difference between static and live
| Static template | Live scheduling board |
|---|---|
| Updated manually | Updates in real time |
| Shared by email or printout | Single view everyone reads the same way |
| No confirmation loop | Subbies confirm directly |
| Clashes found manually | Clashes detected before saving |
| No audit trail | Every change timestamped |
A live lookahead is not a replacement for the template mindset — it is the same discipline, executed faster and with less chasing.
Making the weekly review work
Whether you use a template or a live board, the Monday morning review should answer five questions. What is confirmed for this week versus planned? Where are the clashes that need resolving today? What is coming in week two that needs booking now? Which subbies need chasing? What changed from last week and has it been communicated to everyone it affects?
If you can answer all five in under 15 minutes, your lookahead process is working.
SiteLive is a live lookahead tool for construction sites. Bookings, confirmations, clashes and weather — one board. Subbies confirm from WhatsApp, no app required. 7-day free trial.