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 a construction project accountant: the seat that finds the loss before the WIP does
A project accountant is the earliest place a bad job is visible. Most contractors staff the seat as data entry and then wonder why nobody saw it.
Hiring
Hiring a construction purchasing manager: the seat that turns an estimate into commitments
Buyout is where the estimate becomes real money. Most firms treat it as paperwork and lose the margin they bid.
Hiring
Hiring a construction quality control manager: the contract deliverable most contractors staff as a clipboard
On federal, DOT and healthcare work the QC manager is a named contract deliverable with stop-work authority. Most contractors hire the seat as a clipboard.
Hiring
Hiring a construction regional vice president over estimating and operations
The seat exists because estimating and operations stopped talking. Most firms hire it a year after they needed it.
Hiring
Hiring a construction number two
Most number-two hires fail because the founder never actually gave the job away. Here is how to tell before you hire.
Hiring
Hiring a construction vice president of operations: the first seat the owner has to actually give up
The first vice president of operations a contractor hires usually reports to someone who still does the job. That is why the seat turns over.
Hiring
Hiring a heavy civil construction CFO: the seat your surety reads before you do
A contractor CFO is not a corporate CFO with a hard hat. The WIP schedule is a forecast, and someone has to own it.
Hiring
Hiring a heavy civil cost engineer: the seat that knows the unit-price job is losing before the quantities are agreed
On unit-price heavy civil work the estimate stops being true at the first overrun. The cost engineer says by how much, and most firms leave the seat empty.
Hiring
Hiring a mechanical contractor project manager: the seat that buys the job out every week
A mechanical contractor project manager manages labor hours, not subcontracts. The general contractor profile most briefs describe transfers badly.
Hiring
Hiring a P3 construction project director: the seat that answers to the lender, not the owner
On a public-private partnership the schedule is a financial instrument and the lender's engineer reads the report first. A P3 director is a different hire.
Hiring
Hiring an owner's representative program manager: the seat that runs the owner's decisions, not the contractor's work
An owner's rep program manager gets the owner to decide on time across a capital program. The best contractor project manager fails there for one reason.
Hiring
Interview Speed: Why Your Construction Search Is Slower Than the Market
Construction interview speed decides who you hire more often than the shortlist does. The delay is almost always internal, and it is measurable.
Hiring
In-House Recruiting Function or Search Firm: The Construction Leadership Math
The real cost of an in-house construction recruiting function, measured against what a search firm charges for preconstruction and project management hires.
Hiring
Leadership Development or External Hire: The Construction Succession Choice
When a leadership development budget beats an external construction hire, when it does not, and why most contractors choose wrong at the wrong moment.
Hiring
Three Construction Recruiters on One Search: What It Actually Costs You
Giving one search to three construction recruiters feels like competition. It produces speed at the expense of the thing you were hiring for.
Hiring
Onboarding a construction leader: the employer's first 100 days
The search ends at the offer. The hire succeeds or fails in the hundred days after it, and most of that is the employer's work, not the new leader's.
Hiring
Pay Transparency and Construction Salary Bands: What Contractors Post Now
Pay transparency laws force construction salary bands into public view. What a contractor should fix before the range goes into the posting.
Hiring
Hiring leadership for a private equity backed contractor
The sponsor wants reporting discipline. The field wants to build. The hire has to survive both, and most briefs only describe one.
Market Intelligence
Leadership Diligence: What a Private Equity Buyer Reads in Your Org Chart
How a private equity buyer runs leadership diligence on a contractor, and what the operations and preconstruction org chart tells them before you do.
Hiring
Replace or coach: deciding on a construction leader who is struggling
The decision to replace a struggling estimating or operations leader is usually made too late, for reasons that have nothing to do with the person.
Hiring
Retaining construction leaders after an acquisition
The retention agreement holds people for the term and tells you nothing about what happens the day after it ends.
Hiring
Span of control for a construction operations leader
The number of projects one operations leader can carry is not a headcount question. It is a decision about what you want them to actually do.
Market Intelligence
What a surety bonding agent looks for in construction leadership
Your underwriter has an opinion about your org chart. Most contractors never ask what it is until capacity tightens.
Hiring
What to expect from a construction search firm before the first interview
The weeks between signing with a search firm and meeting the first candidate are where a search is won or lost. Here is what should be happening.