Abstract: Combing the construction mechanics and the control of the initial length of cables, this paper proposed a calculation method for the accumulative sliding construction of pretensioned reticulated structures. In the method, the sequence of construction stages (in time) was taken as a variable, and the influence of subsequent construction to the prior structure was taken into account, thus, the time-dependent property of construction was considered. The cable force was calculated by controlling the initial length of cable of accumulative sliding construction according to the unique relationship between initial length and cable tension. Finally, the construction process of a prestressed reticulated shell was simulated using the multistage accumulative sliding method and the variation of cable tension during construction was investigated. It was found that all cable forces could reach the design values after construction if all cables were tensioned according to the values calculated by the proposed method in this paper.