The Construction Management Skills List
While it’s understood that any type of construction project is important and requires a good amount of knowledge and skill, when working on big commercial or government projects such as multi-story office buildings or bridges, it comes with a heavy amount of responsibility for everyone involved, but even more so for management.
When you are on the management team or are a construction supervisor it is your job to oversee many areas of the project. If the job is on the smaller side, management may be responsible for all aspects of the job. However, if it is an extremely big job, managers may only manage one or two aspects of the job.
Some of the management skills list that management and a construction supervisor need to have includes the following:
- Ability to read blueprints
A blueprint can often be used in casual conversation to refer to any type of plan. However, in the construction industry it is the technical drawing that is usually created by an architect or structural engineer. To work in a management position in construction, you will need to understand how to read and interpret these plans. The inability to thoroughly understand a blueprint could create errors in the building process that will not only be costly to correct but could also pose safety hazards for the construction crew. - Ensure all the permits needed have been obtained.
Any type of construction project (even something small like the addition of a deck to a residential home), requires a building permit. Large scale jobs often require multiple permits from the city and state, and different areas of the project may require individual permits. The job of acquiring the mandated permits of the job is usually a responsibility of the management team. - Ensure that the crew is following all safety regulations.
This isn’t referring to whether or not the crew is following building codes when working on the project, but rather that the crew members are following all regulated safety procedures that have been set to keep them safe. This can include ensuring that hardhats are worn, safety harnesses are used, ear protection, etc. Management needs to keep up to date with all crew safety regulations and is responsible to make sure that each and every crew member are following them. Otherwise the company can face getting fined, shut down, and if something should happen to the worker on the job, face a possible lawsuit.? - Ensure the project meets not only building codes by state but also the national building code as well.
That’s right, building codes are not “one size fits all” and can vary by state. As a manager it is your job to be thoroughly familiar will all the building codes that are in the state where the company completes it projects. That is an ongoing area that needs to be kept up with, as codes are always changing. - Create proposals for prospective projects
To create a proposal for a large job such as the construction of a bridge is not a simple task. To create an accurate proposal there are numerous factors that management needs to be able to account for. Every piece of material that is used, plus an allowance for extra (to allow for any potential errors) needs to be calculated. The cost to of machinery use, permits, paying construction workers, etc. all needs to be factored into the proposal. It is crucial that this is as close to accurate as possible as often this will be the figure used to bid for a job. If management makes an error an overestimates the cost of a job it may make the company’s bid be to high and the company could lose the job. On the other hand, if management makes an error and underestimates the cost it could cause the company to lose money. - Ensure the contract for the project is being followed
This includes ensuring that the entire project is staying within the budget and timeline specified. This point may not sound that difficult, however remember that many big jobs can run in the tens or millions of dollars and government projects even higher.
Of course this is just a brief list of what you can expect as being a construction supervisor and the actual responsibilities can vary by project.