“Draw Schedules”, “Draw Curves”, “Completion Curves”, etc. typically all refer to the same thing. These curves are just a graphical representation of the percent we bill or work we put in place on a project per month through the course of construction.

“Draw” is used here because we are “drawing down” the construction loan. Our clients may ask for this forecast during preconstruction for multiple reasons. Sometimes they (or their consultants, financiers, etc.) need them to estimate and plan for construction loan interest reserves, a capitalized line item in the development budget). Or someone might want the curves to use as a project control document—by which they can monitor our progress once construction actually starts.

To simplify things, when we are making these forecasts most typically use a simple “S” curve (or “sigmoid”) to represent the cumulative progress—which is the same thing as a “bell” curve for monthly progress. The S curve shows that projects are slow at the start, fast in the middle, and slow at the end.