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.
Browse by discipline
Careers
The 90-day plan in a construction executive interview: what the panel is testing
A 90-day plan in a final construction interview tests judgment on thin information: what you ask for, what you decide, and what you leave alone.
Careers
The construction executive resume: a page of decisions, not a list of projects
At director and VP level a project list stops being evidence. What an executive resume must prove, and how to state figures you cannot publish.
Careers
Construction project manager burnout: what to change before you change employers
Most project manager burnout is a workload design fault. What to ask your boss for first, and how to tell when leaving is the fix.
Careers
Going independent as a construction estimator: what a one-person practice runs on
Going independent as a construction estimator trades a salary for a sales pipeline. The hours, tax, covenants and clients decide whether it works.
Hiring
Hiring a CMGC preconstruction manager: the price is negotiated against the owner's estimate
Under CMGC the contractor prices in open-book rounds against a blind agency estimate. The seat needs a negotiator, not a hard-bid closer.
Hiring
Hiring a construction commercial director: one owner for cost, change and the final account
Estimating, operations and accounting each track cost on a building job. A construction commercial director owns it, through to the final account.
Hiring
Hiring a construction warranty manager: the cost that arrives after closing
Warranty cost lands after the margin is booked. The seat that turns callbacks into data for purchasing and the trades is a manager, not a desk.
Hiring
Hiring a homebuilder land development manager: the lot pipeline is the inventory
Finished lots, not framing crews, cap a homebuilder's starts. What a land development manager owns, how the seat differs, and how to hire for it.
Hiring
Hiring a mass timber preconstruction manager: buying a structure few estimators have priced
Mass timber can be faster and lower-carbon at no premium, if someone who has bought it makes the fabricator, code and MEP calls early.
Hiring
Hiring a student housing project manager: the August move-in date never moves
Student housing is leased by the bed against one fixed lease start. Hire a project manager who runs the turnover, not just the building.
Hiring
Hiring a tunnel project manager: the ground decides the schedule
On a tunnel the ground sets the schedule and the baseline report sets who pays. What a tunnel project manager must read, defend and document.
Hiring
Hiring an industrial construction estimator: pricing in craft hours, not square feet
An industrial estimate is a labor model. What the estimator builds, from unit man-hours to productivity factors, and how to test the build-up.
Careers
The personality assessment in a construction leadership interview: what it can and cannot decide
A personality assessment in a construction leadership final round has no pass mark. What each test measures, what federal law allows, what to ask.
Careers
Project executive to vice president: the job becomes deciding between projects
A project executive argues for their own jobs. A vice president of operations decides between them: people, bids, backlog and the P&L.
Risk
When the project manager leaves during a construction claim
When the project manager resigns mid-claim, the paperwork stays and the witness goes. The departure steps that keep the claim provable, in order.
Careers
From project manager to construction claims consultant: the move to the other side of the dispute
What a project manager needs to become a construction claims consultant: the record, the written report, billable hours and the road back.
Careers
Leaving a public agency for a heavy civil contractor: what an owner-side engineer brings
What an agency engineer brings to a heavy civil contractor, what is new, what the pension trade costs and which ethics rules decide your first jobs.
Careers
Stepping back from construction leadership to run projects again
Some vice presidents want their projects back. How to explain the move in one sentence, price the project seat and check its overtime status.
Compensation
Taking a pay cut for a construction job: when a lower base is the better offer
A lower base can be the better construction offer when it buys backlog, a paying bonus or a bigger seat. How to price the cut and where to walk away.
Market Intelligence
What an architect sees in a contractor preconstruction team during design development
Allowance counts, reconciliation and who attends: what a CM-at-risk preconstruction team shows the architect at design development.
Hiring
Executive search fees in construction: what the percentage leaves out
Every search firm quotes its percentage. The payment trigger, the pay it applies to and the guarantee conditions decide what a search costs.
Hiring
How much do construction headhunters charge, and who actually pays?
The employer pays a construction headhunter and the candidate never does. Who pays also tells you who the headhunter is working for.
Careers
After a construction company sale: what a project leader should read before deciding to stay
What changes for a project leader after a construction company sale, the signals in the first ninety days, and the documents to read before signing.
Risk
CM-at-risk proposal staffing: naming a project manager you have not hired
A CM-at-risk committee scores the named team. What owner's reps check, how to stage a hire behind a pursuit, and what a quiet swap costs.