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 industrial warehouse construction project manager: when a simple box stops being simple
Tilt-up warehouses look simple and cold storage looks similar. What separates the project managers who can build each, and how to tell at interview.
Hiring
Hiring an MEP estimator at a general contractor: who checks the biggest number in the bid
On technical buildings the mechanical and electrical scope is the largest number in the estimate. Why a general contractor needs its own MEP estimator.
Hiring
Hiring a bilingual superintendent for Spanish-speaking self-perform crews in Texas and the Southeast
A bilingual superintendent is a safety and production hire before a language hire. How to test Spanish at the level a jobsite needs.
Hiring
The construction slowdown bench: who to keep and who to hire when backlog thins
When backlog thins, the cut that saves the most this quarter is often the seat that wins the next one. A sequence for the bench.
Hiring
Hiring leaders for integrated project delivery: the contract shares the risk, the people decide whether it holds
An integrated project delivery agreement puts every party's fee in one pool and removes the change order as a profit lever. Who should lead the job.
Hiring
Hiring veterans into construction project management and field leadership: what transfers and what does not
Military leaders bring planning, safety and span of control to a jobsite. They do not bring buyout or change-order experience. How to score the difference.
Risk
The key personnel clause: what happens when your named project manager leaves
A key personnel clause turns one resignation into a contract event. How the clause works, who should own it, and what to have ready first.
Hiring
Rehiring a construction leader who left: when a boomerang project manager or chief estimator works
A returning project manager or chief estimator is the fastest fill you have. Whether it holds depends on why they left, not on how well you know them.
Hiring
Relocating a construction leader: the offer is accepted in your office and declined at a kitchen table
Relocation offers fail on tax, timing and the household, seldom on salary. What a package for a construction leader has to cover, and what it costs.
Hiring
Schedule recovery leadership: who to hire when a construction project falls behind
A project that is behind needs a decision about who leads it before it needs more hours. A decision tree for the recovery seat.
Workforce Planning
Staffing a construction project 300 miles from the office: traveling teams, local hires and relocation
A job far from the home office can be staffed three ways. What each costs, where the one-year tax rule bites, and how job length decides it.
Hiring
Union and open shop: hiring construction leaders across the labor line
A superintendent or operations head moving between union and open shop work changes more than employers. What transfers, what does not, and how to check.
Risk
When the contractor license qualifier leaves: the resignation that can stop the work
In many states a contractor's license rests on one named person. What happens when that person resigns, and how to keep it from stopping the work.
Hiring
Construction executive offer negotiation: closing a project executive without a counteroffer
How to close a construction estimating or operations leader on the first written offer, without triggering a counteroffer.
Hiring
Hiring a job order contracting program manager
Why a strong hard-bid estimator usually fails at job order contracting, and what a JOC program manager search actually screens for.
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.