Reschedule a Buildertrend schedule item and notify the sub

1. Select the job, open the Project Management dropdown and choose Schedule, then find the item in the Calendar, List or Gantt view.
2. Open the schedule item, change Start/End Dates or Work Days, and click Save.
3. On an Online schedule, Buildertrend prompts you to notify the assigned users and to log a Shift Reason and Shift Notes; the move then shows on the item's Shifts tab.
4. Check the Gantt view for successors that moved with it, and send a one-time notification or a confirmation request to the next trades if they need a heads-up.
5. The office does this from a phone call or a text from the field, often for several jobs on the same morning, and a crew not told about the change shows up to a site that is not ready.

Drywall slipped two days on the Hargrove remodel. Push it to Wednesday, tell me what moves after it, and notify Lone Star Drywall.

1. 01

   Find the exact item

   The agent reads the job's schedule with get_schedule around the date you mention and matches "drywall" to one item. If two items match (hang and finish, for example), it asks which one slipped instead of moving both.

2. 02

   Work out the new dates

   A slip "by two days" is counted in working days for that job, so a Friday item pushed two days lands on Tuesday when weekends are off. The agent says the new start and end before it changes anything.

3. 03

   Show the knock-on effect first

   From the predecessor links it lists every later item tied to the one that slipped, with their current dates and assignees, so you see that paint and trim carpentry will follow. Items with no link stay put, and the agent names any that now look tight.

4. 04

   Move it, then notify

   After your OK, update_schedule_item moves the item with notify_assignees on. If the job schedule is Offline, Buildertrend sends nothing, and the agent tells you the sub still needs a call.

5. 05

   Stop on anything odd

   An item already marked complete, a date in the past or a move that lands on a non-workday makes the agent stop and ask rather than guess.

Hargrove Kitchen Remodel: "Drywall hang" moved from Mon 12 Oct to Wed 14 Oct, ends Fri 16 Oct.
Linked items that followed: "Drywall finish" (now 19 to 21 Oct), "Prime and paint" (now 22 to 26 Oct).
Notified: Lone Star Drywall. Schedule is Online.
Not linked, unchanged: "Cabinet delivery" 20 Oct. It now lands before drywall finish ends. Worth a look.

• Buildertrend sends schedule notifications only when the job schedule is set to Online; an Offline schedule mutes notifications and hides the schedule from clients and trades.
• Buildertrend moves successor items automatically when a predecessor moves, for both Finish-To-Start and Start-To-Start links, including any lag or lead days set on the link.
• Buildertrend counts schedule durations in the Work Days set under Job Info, and Workday Exceptions add holidays or extra Saturdays to that calendar.
• Buildertrend keeps a Schedule Item History with who changed the item, when, and how the change affected related items.
• Buildertrend warns about Schedule Conflicts when an internal user or sub/vendor is booked on more overlapping items than their contact card allows; past items never trigger the warning.

update_schedule_item asks for your OK by default. To run it on a schedule without you, switch confirmation off for that tool in your dashboard.

Sources: Schedule Overview (Buildertrend help) · Advanced Schedule Overview (Buildertrend help)

curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/buildertrend/update_schedule_item \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"schedule_item_id":"90211734","start_date":"2026-10-14","notify_assignees":true}'

{
  "schedule_item_id": "90211734",
  "start_date": "2026-10-14",
  "end_date": "2026-10-16",
  "notified": [
    "Lone Star Drywall"
  ]
}

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is buildertrend_update_schedule_item. Example data.

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