Every school has a list of renovations, upgrades and repairs that need attention, but many are too distracting and disruptive to carry out during the school year. Often, the best time to address these nagging construction projects is during the summer when students are on break and the campus is quieter. Although these "summer slammers" often are smaller-scale renovations or additions, they still require extensive planning. In fact, they may require even more pre-planning to ensure that they can be accomplished within the limited time that students are off campus. Setting priorities, determining a budget, finding the funds, assembling a team, defining the scope, analyzing constructability and buying materials take time and should not be crammed into a few short weeks. In order to ensure proper execution, schools should begin the process as early as possible. In this article, the author discusses the advantages of starting early on project planning and presents six essential steps to take that will get a school's 2012 Summer Slammer project off to a good start.