Construction project managers have to wear a lot of hats, and its both similar and vastly different than other kinds of project management. Construction is a fast paced, and usually grey industry that requires nuance and a bit of experience to navigate through. In this video, I go over what construction managers do, and tips on how you can get there.
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0:00 What Do Construction Project Managers Do?
0:31 Manage Cost
This is one of the main functions of a construction project manager. Are you building the job for the budget you are provided? You need to understand how your job is doing financially and also forecasting into the future where you are going to be. This is why it is so important to get experience and build a good foundation for yourself in the industry because you cannot accurately analyze cost, if you don't know how things get built, and especially how to solve problems in an economic way.
2:55 Manage Project Schedule
Depending on your company requirements, you may have different expectations for your involvement in the project schedule. But ultimately you should be able to build and manage simple construction schedules and understand impacts and tracking to it. Again, you cannot build out proper sequences and durations without experience. Or at least its very tough. You will also struggle to figure out how to realistically recover a schedule, if you don't have the experience.
4:34 Client Management
As the project manager for the client, you are essentially the face of the service you are providing to the client as the contractor. Your interaction with the client is the reflection of the company brand.
5:58 Subcontractor Management
This can mean writing subcontracts, buying them out, solving issues, etc. And unfortunately this may mean a lot of tough conversations if subs are not performing.
7:20 Team Management
You can only do so much as an individual, so the more you can get out of the team, the better you are as a project manager. Making the transition from the technical project engineer to a manager of people requires a very different skillset, one that I also am navigating as I go through my career.
9:18 Contract Management
The contract is your rule to the game. You need to make sure you are aware of these rules and know where your risk is at.
10:07 Everything Else
Even though you may be a PM, you need to fill the gaps that exist in your team. This may mean you take a bigger role in submittals, or maybe even schedule, just to do what is best for the project.
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