When you need a Primavera P6 planner on a main contractor's programme but cannot justify a permanent hire, an interim planner fills the gap. Planned puts an experienced, independent planner on your programme, embedded for a project or retained for a few days a month, to build it, keep it updated, and keep it defensible.
This is the planning function as a service: no recruitment, no day-rate agency mark-up, no lone freelancer who disappears mid-project, and no need for your own P6 licence.
What an interim P6 planner does on your programme
- Baseline build to NEC clause 31: a robust work breakdown, fully logic-linked activities, calendars and constraints, resource and cost loading where needed, built to the client's P6 specification and taken through to acceptance.
- Monthly and weekly updates (clause 32): progress drops, critical-path and near-critical analysis, variance against the accepted baseline, and early-warning indicators before they become disputes.
- Delay impact and recovery: time impact analysis for compensation events, what-if recovery scenarios, and re-sequencing to protect the completion date.
- Subcontractor validation: auditing and challenging subcontractor programmes before they are merged into the master P6 file.
- Reporting: S-curves, histograms, narratives and the reporting the client's specification requires, ready for the project manager.
Interim, or retained
Interim is a planner embedded for the length of a project, or to cover a gap, building and running the programme as part of your team.
Retained is ongoing support of a few days a month, for a smaller contractor that does not need a full-time planner but still has to submit an accepted programme and keep it updated. You get a named planner who knows your project, on call for the progress drops, updates and reporting.
Both are scoped and priced in writing before we start, so you know exactly what you are getting and what it costs.
Why Planned, not a job board or a lone contractor
Searching for a freelance planner returns job boards, recruitment agencies and individual contractors. What you get from Planned is different in four ways that matter on a live programme:
- A firm behind the planner: continuity if someone is away, a second pair of eyes on the logic, and accountability a solo freelancer cannot offer.
- Independent by design: we plan, we do not sell you software or place bodies, so our only concern is whether the programme is true and whether it will be accepted.
- No licence needed: we host your programme in our own licensed Primavera P6, so you get the outputs without buying software.
- NEC-fluent, and planners who also defend programmes in disputes: the programme we build is the programme that protects you later.
Common Questions
Can I hire an interim P6 planner for a single project?
Yes. We embed an experienced planner on your programme for the length of a project or to cover a gap, building it to the client's specification and running the updates as part of your team.
What is the difference between an interim planner and a retained planning service?
An interim planner works on your programme for a defined period, often close to full time. A retained service is ongoing support of a few days a month, for a contractor that does not need a full-time planner but must keep the programme updated and defensible.
Do I need my own Primavera P6 licence?
No. We can host your programme in our own licensed Primavera P6, so you get the .xer, reports and narratives without buying software.
Can you update our programme every month under NEC clause 32?
Yes. Monthly and weekly progress updates to the client's specification, with critical-path analysis and variance against the accepted baseline, are the core of the retained service.
Is this a freelancer or a firm?
A firm. You get an experienced planner with the continuity, review and accountability of a consultancy behind them, not a lone contractor who may disappear mid-project.