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.
Market Intelligence
Why a high-volume recruiting desk cannot fill a construction leadership seat
The recruiter who called you is measured on activity, not on fit. That single fact explains most of what happens next.
Market Intelligence
What your WIP schedule says about whether you have a hiring problem
Fade, underbilling and stalled cost-to-complete revisions are read as accounting problems. Often they are the first written record of a leadership gap.
Hiring
Hiring a commercial construction estimator: what an estimator recruiter screens for
A shrinking occupation that is the second hardest to fill. Here is why, and what it means for how you screen a commercial estimator.
Market Intelligence
Hiring a construction project manager in Texas: what a project manager recruiter sees
Texas contractors keep hearing about a talent shortage. The federal data says something else, and it changes how you run the search.
Market Intelligence
Preconstruction and cost control: what a cost control recruiter sees at the handover
The money does not leak in preconstruction or in cost control. It leaks in the handover between them, and no job title owns it.
Hiring
How to hire a construction manager for a GMP project
Under a GMP, the construction manager inherits a number set before they arrived. Here is what to screen for, and who this hire is not for.
Hiring
Hiring a senior superintendent: what the standard screen misses
Superintendents are the hardest salaried role in US construction to fill, and most briefs screen for the wrong thing. Here is what actually predicts the seat.
Hiring
The construction counteroffer trap: why your best candidate accepted and then stayed put
A verbal acceptance is not a hire. Here is why counteroffers work so well in construction, and the five process steps that neutralize them before offer stage.
Hiring
The true cost of a failed construction project manager hire on a $40M job
The recruiting fee is the smallest number on the page. Here is the arithmetic on what a mis-hired project manager actually costs a general contractor.
Hiring
The replacement guarantee is marketing: what to ask a construction recruiter before you sign
A replacement guarantee is only as good as the conditions attached to it. The questions that separate a search partner from a sales floor, with our answers.
Hiring
Your chief estimator retires in 18 months. The bid history goes with them
The hardest part of replacing a retiring chief estimator is not finding one. It is that you cannot advertise the role while they are still sitting in it.
Hiring
Your job posting is why good construction candidates are not applying
The posting is doing exactly what it was built to do. It is filtering for available candidates, and the ones you want are not available.
Hiring
Quantity Surveyor Recruitment for US Contractors: Hiring the Cost Control Lead
US results for quantity surveyor recruitment are all job boards. How a US contractor actually hires cost control and commercial management leadership.
Hiring
Confidential construction executive search: replacing a leader who is still in the seat
Some construction roles cannot be advertised because the person in the seat has not been told. Here is how that search actually runs.
Hiring
Construction headhunters, recruiters and search firms: what the difference means for your hire
Three words used interchangeably describe three different contracts. The distinction decides who you actually reach.
Hiring
What construction management recruiters should ask before a preconstruction search
Most preconstruction searches stall on the brief, not the market. Here is what a brief has to specify before sourcing starts.
Hiring
How to choose between construction search firms: the questions that separate them
Every construction search firm says the same things. Six questions expose which ones can actually do the work.
Hiring
What a construction executive search firm actually does, and when you need one
Executive search is a process, not a resume service. Here is what the process involves and when it is worth buying.
Hiring
What a construction search actually costs, and what you are paying for
Construction recruiters charge around 20% to 25% of salary. The number matters less than what it is attached to, and almost nobody explains the difference.