The house takes weeks to build and the site often takes longer to be ready. Running them in the wrong order is the most common cause of a house waiting on a lorry.
Start the utilities first, always
Connection lead times run from weeks to a year depending on region and utility. It is the longest single item in the programme and the one most often started last, after the house is ordered.
Apply as soon as the plot is secured, before the model is chosen. Everything else can be compressed; this cannot.
Ground investigation before groundwork
A probe costs little and decides the foundation type, which decides the groundwork cost and duration. Skipping it means finding out during excavation, when the machine is already on site and charging by the day.
On sloping or made ground, get an engineer's opinion at the same time. Two site visits at the start prevent a redesign in the middle.
Access before anything is delivered
The route from the public road to the final position has to take a lorry and a crane. Widening a gate, trimming a branch, laying a temporary track or arranging a road closure are all lead-time items measured in weeks.
Do the walk with a tape and a camera. Photograph the entrance, the narrowest point, the last turn and the standing position for the crane, and send them with dimensions.
Sequence the groundwork so it cures
Concrete needs time. A strip foundation poured the week before delivery is a foundation being loaded before it has reached strength. Build the wait into the programme rather than discovering it.
Screw piles avoid this entirely, which is part of why they suit a compressed schedule even where a strip would otherwise be preferable.
The week before delivery
Confirm the crane, confirm the levels with an instrument, clear the standing area, arrange the mats if the ground is soft, and make sure someone with authority is on site on the day. A delivery with nobody empowered to make a decision is a delivery that stops.
Have the utilities terminated where the house will meet them, capped and marked. Connecting on the day is a morning; digging on the day is a week.