Construction Managers

Managing Construction

anything specific your "friend" wants to know? Residential, commercial, or industrial?

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How would you describe a normal day in your profession? Asking for a friend.

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I'll add to that. What's your time in the field vs in the office? I'm interested in finishing my degree, and have found civil engineering online to pretty rare. And with 16 years experience, and the money I'm making, the thought of switching industries seems tough to think about.

But I'd like more consistency and job security within a city. I'm probably on what will be my last traveling project. frick living a miserable life like a Kiewit employee, regardless of pay.

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How would you describe a normal day in your profession?

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Dealing with b$tching welders, foreign engineers, business executives who don't know their arse from a skyhook, and the assorted dregs of society for 11 hours a day while you try to actually do the real work they supposedly pay you to do: dick around on excel and write RFI's.

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I originally wanted to go Petroleum Engineering

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Market is already saturated and oil isn't going to be $100/barrel again anytime soon. Stay away, far away.

As for Construction Management, I'm sure others can tell you more, but I have more than a fee friends that have the degree. They work in all different fields jobs, and all seem to like it fine and have pretty good gigs.

Yea, I work in the oilfield currently and with new laws being passed in other countries requiring all electric vehicles as soon as 2025, I don’t see a long term career staying in the field. Hell, Obama had something similar in place that Trump 86’d, and Trump won’t be around to do anything when the next president goes back to a similar policy.

I’ll make a post tomorrow and ask the day crew their opinions. I appreciate yours as well btw.

On site for 6:15 am, walk the site for a couple hours, positioning subs where manpower needs to be concentrated, and handing out approved changes/RFI's to whoever needs them, back in the trailer for ~11 am. Write whatever RFI's needed for the problems discovered on my "morning walk" (if there were any). Usually have some bs meeting with an underperforming sub or a vendor before lunch.

After lunch, walk the site for a couple hours again, noticing what has been/hasn't been done compared to what I asked for that particular day. Most subs go home by 3pm, so that's when I usually go back to the trailer.

Spend 3pm-5/6pm studying the schedule and production tracking to figure out what/who needs to be pushed that week. Also use this time to update daily reports and project schedules.


As a superintendent I'm an adult babysitter, fact checker and problem solver.

Never go to our actual home office if I can help it.

Eta: I'm in commercial, with a GC fwiw. Building a middle school right now.

There's some more involved bullshite that goes on with complicated change orders, owners meetings, sit downs with subs, my project staff, etc. That's boring shite though.

Meetings, babysitting subcontractors, mediating disputes that really shouldn't occur, playing in golf tournaments.

I can tell you that 99% of people won't hire in to a contract company and walk in the door as a Construction Manager unless they have 20+ years of experience in that specific trade and the project experience to prove it. If you've just graduated in CM as far as Industrial goes and hire in as a contractor, they will likely make you work in the field on your tools for a period of time to learn what goes on in the field. Anyone can punch keys on a keyboard, but actually knowing the ins and outs of the business and applying/managing it is completely different. You have to know it from top to bottom from contracts, estimating/take-offs, materials, putting together budgets, breaking out estimates into schedule activities, schedule building, resource loading, logic/coding/sequencing, change orders, RFI's, productivity, cost engineering, forecasting, etc. As a CM you will have individuals under you doing most of the mentioned above and if you have a solid team under you it will manage itself for the most part, but when the shite hits the fan (always does) you have to know how to fix it and deal with the client.. Aside from the above, meetings.. meetings.. and more meetings. Even meetings about the meetings.

Are you wanting to be in the field as a superintendent or more office like a project manager? I've done both.

Superintendent- long hours basically babysitting adults and making sure they are doing what they contractually agreed to.

Project Manager- lots of talking on the phone asking adults why they didn't do what they contractually agreed to. Plus lots of report writing and budgeting both teams and money for the project.

Currently I'm a deep foundations inspector. Besides the hours this project I am on right now, I love it.