AMLI Residential Selects Planera to Transform Project Scheduling and Field Collaboration

Planera, the leader in visual CPM-based construction scheduling, today announced that AMLI Residential, a leading multifamily developer, general contractor, and property operator, has selected Planera to streamline scheduling and boost collaboration across its construction projects.

Challenge: Outdated, Siloed Scheduling Tools

Before adopting Planera, AMLI relied primarily on Microsoft Project to manage its scheduling processes. While effective for basic sequencing, the tool created silos, limited collaboration, and required cumbersome manual updates. Field teams often reverted to Excel to generate weekly three-week look-aheads, which meant lost time and duplication of effort.

AMLI needed a modern, cloud-based solution that could unify office and field teams, simplify adoption, and deliver real-time transparency across projects.

Solution: Deploying Planera on the Littleton Project

In early 2025, AMLI launched Planera on its 310-unit Littleton, Colorado development—a wrap-style community built around a precast garage, including podium retail and five stories of wood-framed residential units. The Littleton team, known for its tech-forward approach, embraced Planera as a new solution to project scheduling.

Key benefits quickly emerged:

• Canvas-Style Scheduling – Assistant Project Manager Jake Berg built a 2,000-line master schedule in significantly less time than it would have taken in Microsoft Project.
  
• Automated Look-Aheads – The platform’s three-week look-ahead feature replaced manual Excel updates, streamlining subcontractor meetings and reducing confusion.
  
• Filtering for Field Use – By filtering schedules by trade, activity, or scope, field superintendents could focus only on the data relevant to their teams.
  
• Premium Training – Onboarding support accelerated adoption, smoothing the transition and building confidence among staff.
  

Results: Faster, More Transparent Scheduling

Since adopting Planera, AMLI has seen significant improvements in efficiency and collaboration:

• Time Savings: Schedules were built and maintained more quickly, freeing staff for higher-value tasks.
  
• Transparency: Centralized, cloud-based schedules improved visibility across project teams, from junior staff to senior superintendents.
  
• Field Buy-In: Even initially skeptical superintendents came to trust Planera as a viable replacement for legacy tools.
  
• Standardization: AMLI transitioned away from updating Microsoft Project in parallel, committing to Planera as its primary scheduling platform.

“Planera allowed us to build a detailed master schedule much faster than ever before,” said Jake Berg, Assistant Project Manager at AMLI. “We moved quickly from skepticism to full buy-in—field teams loved the visibility, and our manual Excel processes became a thing of the past. ”

Leadership Perspective

“Construction scheduling has long been seen as a back-office task, siloed away from the people who need it most,” said Nitin Bhandari, CEO of Planera. “By making scheduling visual, collaborative, and cloud-based, Planera empowers both office and field teams to work from a single source of truth. In addition, with more effective scheduling, Planera is helping AMLI to avoid the increased costs and schedule delays that stem from schedule compression. We’re excited to support AMLI in scaling this transformation across their portfolio.”

Looking Ahead

Following the success of the Littleton work, AMLI plans to roll out Planera across additional projects in its regional markets. AMLI aims to establish Planera as a company-wide scheduling standard for both master and field schedules and will transition away from its long-time use of Microsoft Project.

About AMLI Residential

Founded in 1980, AMLI Residential focuses on the development, construction and management of luxury apartment communities. AMLI Residential currently owns and manage over 25,000 apartment homes in eight U.S. markets. Fifty‑one AMLI communities are LEED‑certified, and 50 communities are ENERGY STAR‑certified. For more information, visit www.amli.com.

About Planera

Planera is a leading provider of visual, CPM-based construction scheduling solutions that transform project planning and management. Trusted by industry leaders including Granite, Big-D Construction, Barton Malow, and Blach Construction, Planera empowers teams to build faster, smarter, and with greater clarity. Planera is backed by investors such as Sierra Ventures, Sorenson, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Prudence, and Firebolt. Learn more at www.planera.io.