Intel
Field notes from
the institutional bench.
Notes on how US construction firms hire preconstruction, cost and project management people, written for the person carrying the requisition.
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Hiring
How to assess a construction operations and estimating leader
Reference calls confirm what you already believe. Here is what actually separates a strong construction leader from a plausible one.
Market Intelligence
Budgeting for construction leadership turnover cost in preconstruction and project management
Every contractor already pays for leadership turnover. Almost none of them budget for it, which is why it always arrives as a surprise.
Hiring
Building versus buying construction leadership
Promote or hire is not a values question. It is a question about how much time you have and what the seat has to already know.
Market Intelligence
Construction bench depth: succession planning in preconstruction and project management
Bench depth is what a surety, an owner and a lender all check before they commit. Most contractors can only prove it by naming people who never did the job.
Hiring
Writing a Compensation Philosophy for Construction Operations and Estimating
How contractors set a compensation philosophy that survives a counteroffer, a hot market, and the estimator who finds out what the new hire is paid.
Hiring
Construction executive reference checks: verify what the person controlled, not whether they were liked
Every reference call for a construction leader ends the same way. Verifying what the person actually controlled is a different process few firms run.
Hiring
The construction hiring brief: define the estimating and project management role before you search
Most failed construction leadership hires trace back to a brief that was never written. Here is what a real one contains.
Hiring
A construction interview scorecard for preconstruction and project management hires
Most construction interviews test rapport and recall. A scorecard tests whether the candidate has carried the work you are about to hand them.
Hiring
Why Your Construction Job Postings Are Not Producing Candidates
Construction job postings fail for a structural reason, not a copywriting one. The people you want are not reading them, and volume is the wrong fix.
Hiring
Construction leadership flight risk after a failed promotion
The person you did not promote is the person your competitor is calling this week. The window is shorter than you think.
Hiring
Leadership structure for a second construction division
A second division fails on structure long before it fails on backlog. Here is the order the hires have to happen in.
Compensation
Construction phantom stock: paying leaders like owners without giving away the company
Phantom stock lets a contractor pay its leaders like owners without diluting ownership. It also fails in a specific and predictable way.
Hiring
What to Negotiate Into a Construction Recruiting Agreement Before You Sign
The clauses in a construction recruiting agreement that decide what happens when a hire leaves, a candidate applies twice, or the search stalls.
Market Intelligence
Construction stay bonuses and retention agreements: you are buying a date, not loyalty
A stay bonus does not make a project manager stay. It makes them stay until the date on the letter. When it works, and what to do the day after it pays.
Market Intelligence
Subcontractor default risk: the exposure your hiring decisions quietly control
A subcontractor default is usually visible months before it happens. Whether anyone sees it is a staffing question.
Market Intelligence
Construction superintendent compensation: the package is the number, and the offer letter that ignores it loses
Ask a superintendent what they make and the answer is not the payroll figure. The package shapes the schedule more than the base does.
Hiring
What an Unfilled Construction Seat Costs You Every Week It Stays Open
The running cost of an open preconstruction, estimating or project management seat, measured against backlog rather than against the salary you are saving.
Hiring
How to read a construction candidate's backlog claims on a resume
A resume that says $200M of project experience is telling you almost nothing. Here is the question that turns it into information.
Hiring
Hiring a construction bid manager for a hard bid and design-build operation
Bid day fails in the last four hours or it does not fail at all. The manager who owns those hours is rarely the chief estimator.
Hiring
Hiring a construction business development director: the seat that decides what you get to bid
Most contractors hire business development to chase revenue. The seat that works decides which jobs never reach the estimating team.
Hiring
Hiring a construction chief operating officer: the seat that only works if the owner stops deciding
A construction COO fails for a structural reason, not a personal one: the authority the title implies was never actually moved.
Hiring
Hiring a construction commercial manager for a joint venture delivery team
Two firms, one project, one set of books. The commercial manager is the only person who works for the job rather than a partner.
Hiring
Hiring a construction contract administrator: the seat that proves what was agreed
Most change-order losses are not pricing failures. They are proof failures, and the contract administrator is the seat that prevents them.
Hiring
Hiring a construction division president for a new region
You are not hiring an operator. You are hiring a market, and the two look identical on a résumé.