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.
Hiring
Hiring an aviation construction project executive: the seat that never gets to stop the airport
An aviation project executive builds inside an operation that cannot pause. That single constraint disqualifies most excellent commercial candidates.
Hiring
Hiring an education construction project executive: the calendar is the client
On school and campus work the academic calendar is an immovable contract term. Most briefs treat it as a scheduling preference.
Hiring
Hiring an MEP coordination manager: the seat that prices your design-build risk
An MEP coordination manager decides whether your trade conflicts get resolved in the model or in the field. The cost difference is not close.
Market Intelligence
How many projects should a construction project manager run? Span of control, backlog and the fade nobody reports
A project manager's span of control is set by the backlog, not the org chart. Where the number breaks, and what a surety sees when it does.
Market Intelligence
Interim construction leadership: when a placeholder beats a permanent hire
Interim leadership solves one problem: a seat that must be covered before the firm knows what it is hiring for. It is not a cheaper permanent hire.
Market Intelligence
Joint venture construction leadership: the JV agreement names the sponsor, not the person running the job
A construction JV allocates risk, capital and control in detail. It rarely specifies who fills the seats, which is where the partnership actually fails.
Market Intelligence
Leadership continuity after a contractor acquisition: keeping the project management bench
Most contractor acquisitions are priced on backlog and lose the people who deliver it. Leadership continuity is the integration risk nobody underwrites.
Market Intelligence
Bonding capacity and bench depth: what your surety sees when a project executive leaves
A resignation letter is a personnel event to the contractor and an underwriting input to the surety. The two do not always reach the same conclusion.
Market Intelligence
Construction executive search in Texas and the Southeast: what the market actually looks like
Texas and the Southeast are not one hiring market. Treating them as a region is the mistake that makes a search take twice as long.
Hiring
Is a construction recruiting fee based on base salary or total compensation?
Same percentage, same hire, thousands of dollars apart. The fee base is the clause nobody negotiates and everybody disputes.
Hiring
Contingency or retained construction recruiting: which one actually fits a general contractor?
The contingency versus retained argument is usually about fees. It should be about who is working on your role at 4pm on a Thursday.
Market Intelligence
Hiring a construction safety director before your surety asks about it
Your EMR is a hiring record. Sureties and brokers read the safety seat as an underwriting input long before it shows up as a claim.
Hiring
Hiring a hard bid chief estimator, and why negotiated experience does not transfer
A negotiated-work estimator can lose you hard bid jobs by winning them. The two disciplines optimize for opposite outcomes.
Market Intelligence
Hiring a heavy civil project manager when the bench does not exist
Underground utility and site work PMs are scarce because the training route was never built. Here is how to run the search anyway.
Hiring
Hiring a utility superintendent, and why promoting your best foreman often fails
The best foreman is rarely the right superintendent. The two jobs reward opposite instincts, and the promotion costs you both seats.
Hiring
You just won the work: hiring when construction backlog doubles
A backlog that doubles is a hiring problem with a deadline. The order you hire in decides whether the margin survives the growth.
Market Intelligence
How a confidential construction search actually runs, week by week
Everyone agrees some searches cannot be posted. Far fewer can describe what replaces the posting, week by week.
Hiring
How long a construction executive search takes, week by week
A confidential construction executive search runs 9 to 14 weeks from kickoff to accepted offer. Here is where the weeks actually go.
Market Intelligence
When an owner's rep sees the delivery team failing before the owner does
You can usually name the person who is the problem two months before anyone asks you. Saying so is the part nobody has a process for.
Hiring
Project manager turnover is killing your project margin: hiring problem or retention problem?
Three project managers on one job in two years is rarely a retention failure. It is usually a seat nobody ever defined.
Hiring
Promoting from within: why the construction internal promotion fails
Promoting your best superintendent or estimator into a leadership seat fails for a predictable reason. It is rarely the person.
Market Intelligence
Your client needs a VP of preconstruction: what to check before referring a construction recruiter
A referral puts your judgment on the line, not the recruiter's. Four checks that hold up when the search goes badly.
Market Intelligence
Replacing a construction operations leader who is still in the seat
The ops leader holds the informal system that makes the schedule work. Replacing one without disclosure is a specific kind of search.
Hiring
Replacing a chief estimator who is still in the seat and not leaving voluntarily
The retirement playbook assumes a cooperative handover. When the incumbent is not leaving by choice, every step of it works against you.