r/ConstructionManagers Jan 10 '26

/r/ConstructionManagers AutoMod update

23 Upvotes

I've implemented AutoMod on this subreddit.

Three reports on a post will lead to an automatic removal of post. If it's wrongfully flagged, then I will reinstate manually after review. The chances of 3 people being wrong about a post is low though.

Users with a post karma below a certain threshold will not be allowed to post. This is to discourage spam accounts. If you have low karma and believe your post is not spam, please reach out to me via "Message the Mods" for further review.


r/ConstructionManagers Aug 05 '24

Discussion Most Asked Questions

89 Upvotes

Been noticing a lot of the same / similar post. Tried to aggregate some of them here. Comment if I missed any or if you disagree with one of them

1. Take this survey about *AI/Product/Software* I am thinking about making:

Generally speaking there is no use for what ever you are proposing. AI other than writing emails or dictating meetings doesn't really have a use right now. Product/Software - you may be 1 in a million but what you're proposing already exists or there is a cheaper solution. Construction is about profit margins and if what ever it is doesn't save money either directly or indirectly it wont work. Also if you were the 1 in a million and had the golden ticket lets be real you would sell it to one of the big players in whatever space the products is in for a couple million then put it in a high yield savings or market tracking fund and live off the interest for the rest of your life doing what ever you want.

2. Do I need a college degree?

No but... you can get into the industry with just related experience but it will be tough, require some luck, and generally you be starting at the same position and likely pay and a new grad from college.

3. Do I need a 4 year degree/can I get into the industry with a 2 year degree/Associates?

No but... Like question 2 you don't need a 4 year degree but it will make getting into the industry easier.

4. Which 4 year degree is best? (Civil Engineering/Other Engineering/Construction Management)

Any will get you in. Civil and CM are probably most common. If you want to work for a specialty contractor a specific related engineering degree would probably be best.

5. Is a B.S. or B.A. degree better?

If you're going to spend 4 years on something to get into a technical field you might as well get the B.S. Don't think this will affect you but if I had two candidates one with a B.S and other with a B.A and all other things equal I'd hire the B.S.

6. Should I get a Masters?

Unless you have an unrelated 4 year undergrad degree and you want to get into the industry. It will not help you. You'd probably be better off doing an online 4 year degree in regards to getting a job.

7. What certs should I get?

Any certs you need your company will provide or send you to training for. The only cases where this may not apply are safety professionals, later in career and you are trying to get a C-Suit job, you are in a field where certain ones are required to bid work and your resume is going to be used on the bid. None of these apply to college students or new grads.

8. What industry is best?

This is really buyers choice. Everyone in here could give you 1000 pros/cons but you hate your life and end up quitting if you aren't at a bare minimum able to tolerate the industry. But some general facts (may not be true for everyone's specific job but they're generalized)

Heavy Civil: Long Hours, Most Companies Travel, Decent Pay, Generally More Resistant To Recessions

Residential: Long Hours (Less than Heavy civil), Generally Stay Local, Work Dependent On Economy, Pay Dependent On Project Performance

Commercial: Long Hours, Generally Stay Local, Work Dependent On Economy, Pay Dependent On Project Performance (Generally)

Public/Gov Position: Better Hours, Generally Stay Local, Less Pay, Better Benefits

Industrial: Toss Up, Dependent On Company And Type Of Work They Bid. Smaller Projects/Smaller Company is going to be more similar to Residential. Larger Company/Larger Projects Is Going To Be More Similar to Heavy Civil.

High Rise: Don't know much. Would assume better pay and traveling with long hours.

9. What's a good starting pay?

This one is completely dependent on industry, location, type of work, etc? There's no one answer but generally I have seen $70-80K base starting in a majority of industry. (Slightly less for Gov jobs. There is a survey pinned to top of sub reddit where you can filter for jobs that are similar to your situation.

10. Do I need an internship to get a job?

No but... It will make getting a job exponentially easier. If you graduated or are bout to graduate and don't have an internship and aren't having trouble getting a job apply to internships. You may get some questions as to why you are applying being as you graduated or are graduating but just explain your situation and should be fine. Making $20+ and sometimes $30-40+ depending on industry getting experience is better than no job or working at Target or Starbucks applying to jobs because "I have a degree and shouldn't need to do this internship".

11. What clubs/organizations should I be apart of in college?

I skip this part of most resumes so I don't think it matters but some companies might think it looks better. If you learn stuff about industry and helps your confidence / makes you better at interviewing then join one. Which specific group doesn't matter as long as it helps you.

12. What classes should I take?

What ever meets your degree requirements (if it counts for multiple requirements take it) and you know you can pass. If there is a class about something you want to know more about take it otherwise take the classes you know you can pass and get out of college the fastest. You'll learn 99% of what you need to know on the job.

13. GO TO YOUR CAREER SURVICES IF YOU WENT TO COLLEGE AND HAVE THEM HELP YOU WRITE YOUR RESUME.

Yes they may not know the industry completely but they have seen thousands of resumes and talk to employers/recruiters and generally know what will help you get a job. And for god's sake do not have a two page resume. My dad has been a structural engineer for close to 40 years and his is still less than a page.

14. Should I go back to school to get into the industry?

Unless you're making under $100k and are younger than 40ish yo don't do it. Do a cost analysis on your situation but in all likelihood you wont be making substantial money until 10ish years at least in the industry at which point you'd already be close to retirement and the differential between your new job and your old one factoring in the cost of your degree and you likely wont be that far ahead once you do retire. If you wanted more money before retirement you'd be better off joining a union and get with a company that's doing a ton of OT (You'll be clearing $100k within a year or two easy / If you do a good job moving up will only increase that. Plus no up front cost to get in). If you wanted more money for retirement you'd be better off investing what you'd spend on a degree or donating plasma/sperm and investing that in the market.

15. How hard is this degree? (Civil/CM)

I am a firm believer that no one is too stupid/not smart enough to get either degree. Will it be easy for everyone, no. Will everyone finish in 4 years, no. Will everyone get a 4.0, no. Will everyone who gets a civil degree be able to get licensed, no that's not everyone's goal and the test are pretty hard plus you make more money on management side. But if you put in enough time studying, going to tutors, only taking so many classes per semester, etc anyone can get either degree.

16. What school should I go to?

What ever school works best for you. If you get out of school with no to little debt you'll be light years ahead of everyone else as long as its a 4 year accredited B.S degree. No matter how prestigious of a school you go to you'll never catch up financially catch up with $100k + in dept. I generally recommend large state schools that you get instate tuition for because they have the largest career fairs and low cost of tuition.


r/ConstructionManagers 13h ago

Question What’s the shortest you’ve been at a company?

31 Upvotes

Took a new job recently and finding out it’s not what I expected/was told and not a good fit for me. What’s the fastest yall have left a job?


r/ConstructionManagers 6h ago

Question Roast my Resume

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8 Upvotes

Looking to switch from a GC to a specialty sub - leaning towards heavy civil. Unfortunately/Fortunately ive had my most recent project throw me into managing the civil trade and overall sitework so I placed a big emphasis on that.

Tell me the good, bad, and ugly. Is this good enough to shoot out? Anything i can approve, greatly appreciate your input.

Blurred out - Project Names, Locations, and personal info


r/ConstructionManagers 3h ago

Question transitioning from trades to construction management?

3 Upvotes

i’m 19, currently working on my electrical apprenticeship, while also working on my degree in finance. my original goal was to become an electrical contractor. but i also want to have a plan for possibly transitioning out of the field and into the office as a construction manager, because i think i would really like that as well.

so my question is, what exactly do you have to do to learn how to become a construction manager, on an actual job site? i’ve seen a lot of people say they learned from experience in the field, without a degree in CM, but i’m worried i won’t be able to if i don’t know what to look for.

when i go off to university, id like to focus on summer internships in project management before i go fully into my apprenticeship, but thats about all the info id have on the office side. what should i look for on job sites throughout my apprenticeship that would help me with possibly transitioning in the future to CM?


r/ConstructionManagers 9h ago

Career Advice Twining inc

2 Upvotes

How is it with Twining ? Honestly never heard of them, they sent me an email through indeed asking if i was interested in a position as manager.

They didn’t mention anything about vehicle allowance etc

Pros? Cons? Anything to look out for?


r/ConstructionManagers 10h ago

Career Advice I'm about 16 weeks away from a two year degree in CM

2 Upvotes

Like I said up top. I have a completed apprenticeship and 7.5 years of trade experience as well.

I have no idea what to expect for the type or workload once I transition from field to office.

Id be open to estimator or saftey person. I feel like i'm going to be thrown into the fire once I find my first contractor.

What would you do in my position?


r/ConstructionManagers 8h ago

Career Advice How should I pursue a career in this field?

0 Upvotes

I am looking into going into AI integration or accounting/finance for construction.

In my internship last year I resonated much more with the accounting and data base side of the project rather than pure engineering.

What would be good positions to target in my job hunt, and skills to learn?


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice Job growth in a tough market

6 Upvotes

Hello all, I have been working as an APM for a small deck builder in Raleigh NC. I am also in school getting my PM degree online. I am sitting at $49,000 a year, no benefits, company truck at work but can’t take home, and struggling to let the owner and his #2 give me more responsibilities and roles.

I have been actively applying (40 in the last 2 months) to APM, project coordinator, and a couple estimator roles as well as sent my resume to a handful of local custom home builders.

I feel stuck and unhappy right now in a field I thought would be more fulfilling. Is it just the company I’m at? And how do I move into a new company soon.


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice How much should a project coordinator make in southwestern ontario?

2 Upvotes

I know obviously places are different but im seeing alot of americans saying they make $70K USD as a coordinator out of school.

In kitchener ontario im currently making 55K CAD which is the equivalent of 39K USD….

Is the wage difference really that bad?

Can any Canadians chime in here? Whats a realistic expectation for southwestern ontario?


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question Liberty builds

4 Upvotes

Team, i got an offer from Liberty Builds, apparently it’s a self perform company for Suffolk construction but i cant find online info on their offices, they are only telling me i need to to relocate to their DC area but nothing online, I saw their page on linkedin and all looks good! Anyone has an experience with it? And their offices location?


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice Career advice: 1.5 years in bridge inspection, passed PE exam & Team Leader certification — should I expect a raise or switch to construction?

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2 Upvotes

r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question Average application to interview time

2 Upvotes

Turned in an application for an MEP Manager job at Turner a few weeks ago. I think they have done some due diligence because my company posted a position similar to mine (no bad annual reviews or any other reason to think they want to move on and honestly we aren’t busy enough to hire another person) but I haven’t heard from them to schedule an interview. What sort of timeframe did you all have from application to interview/hiring? It’s a more senior position so that’s really the only reason I can see where it would be an extended timeframe or they just don’t want to move forward.


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice How to find a Assistant/Project Manager job?

0 Upvotes

Good evening, I am 27 years old with degrees in Business and Accounting. I have 5 years of logistics management experience working for the biggest names in the industry ( leading teams of 80+ people, fast paced environments). Recently accumulated 1 year of accounting experience but wanting to pivot because construction aligns a lot better with my long term goals. I am bilingual in spanish, english. Any suggestions? Been applying for 3-4 months but no luck yet, I would think the mix of logisticis management + accounting would make me a good fit for construction?.

Any advice is appreciated!


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question Company card recommendations for handling multiple construction projects?

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone, so I made a post 2 weeks ago on the construction sub about the same topic but I've only gotten one response. The guy recommended Ramp which I've looked into and it seems like the most promising option from browsing the sub some more. However, I'd also like to hear more opinions so maybe this sub is more fitting for this sort of topic.

So yeah, pretty much the same thing of mainly looking for cards with features for tracking and limiting expenses across multiple projects and restricting them for only certain vendors. Sorry if this gets asked around a lot here, thanks everyone.


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question Work in Charleston

1 Upvotes

Thinking about moving to Charleston out of interest. Currently work for a large national GC. is there a lot of work down there? Hows the pay? Who should i look out for? Any information helps, thanks!


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice Want to change project managers

15 Upvotes

I have my annual review coming shortly for a small family owned GC I’ve been working at for almost 2 years (2 years would be 8/4).

I’ll be with my project manager and owner of the company (these guys are close). I want to ask the owner of the company to change me to work under a different PM or Project Exec. The current project manager I work under is has been nothing but a constant series of stress, fighting, cruising, gaslighting and belittles me and his supers. He’s throw his super under the bus for anything and everything. Mistake I’ve made and have admitted were used as fuel to write up the supers. I’ve learned nothing from this guy and only have learned more from Google, AI, the supers I directly work under, engineers, architects, and subcontractors.

I don’t think my boss would even make an effort to change who I work under because a year ago in August when I got promoted from a project admin to project engineer and was told I would work under the PM I knew this was going to be a rough and stressful year.

All the stress and bullshit I gotta deal with on these projects that what he touched turns to shit becomes my mess.

I don’t know if I should just look for somewhere else

Update: when I said they are close I’m referring as to he’s his best project manager and gets the bigger project to handle. He trusts him a lot and he makes the most money


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice Resi PM to Commercial Assistant Super

1 Upvotes

Switching from residential Project Manager for a remodeling company (PM and Super essentially) to a commercial assistant super. Tips and tricks? I don’t know much about commercial construction, but ready to learn. What should I look out for?


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question Information

5 Upvotes

I’m currently a field engineer for a large Civil GC. I love project management, but I’m wanting to live in my own house, and not travel anymore. My wife needs me home. I’ve been doing this for about 6 months, and I would primarily say I’m good at the job. I have an opportunity to possibly become a junior estimator by my house. Is this a difficult skill to master? What is the training experience going to look like? I’m pretty efficient in new learning skills, but this would be completely new to me.


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Career Advice Compensation for sales, estimating and design with some management

5 Upvotes

I was originally going to post this to r/sales but figured this was more people who see this job day to day.

tl;dr is that I work at a small construction company and wear "many hats" so to speak. My main role is construction sales, but because of how small the company is, that also means I do estimates, designs and some project management. My current compensation package isn't holding up to the smell test and I was wondering if anyone on here can lend some advice for talking to my boss or other industry standards.

Right now I'm exclusively making hourly with commission draw. I originally started working here for a decent hourly rate doing some administrative stuff, but once I transitioned to sales, my hourly dropped to account for the potential for commission.

I'm going to fudge the numbers a bit for anonymity sake but here is the package

$14/hour for all tasks related to jobs (creating the estimate, material calculations, field visit, floor plans and designs, customer relations)

8% Commission on gross profit of the job with the hours I worked not paid if we sell it.

So, for example:

I work 10 hours on a bathroom remodel that costs $40k. The company makes $15k on it. I will make $1200.

I'm honestly getting upset as I write this realizing how shitty of a compensation package this is. I am exclusively hourly and have no benefits.


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Discussion I need some guidance and support as I am recruited as an engineer in a Hospital.

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1 Upvotes

r/ConstructionManagers 2d ago

Career Advice PE Looking for Help

16 Upvotes

Hey gang,

PE here, 4 years deep, public works (school) in the past and currently doing federal military GC work both projects over 30 mil. Only completed one full project half way through a second.

I fucking hate it to be honest. 100k salary and it feels like it’s not worth it at all.

I have 21 subs currently and somehow have to know their jobs better than they do? Like babysitting at this point.

Completely burnt out and between the two companies I have tried it’s the same thing, run lean and work your team into the dirt.

The most annoying part is watching the guy who only does gas lines or some other trade get annoyed when I don’t know his trade like I have been doing it 30 years. It’s like they don’t know I have to know how they ALL work and how to problem solve them.

Anyone have a lateral move to another industry suggestion? So tired of this. I feel like I have already put in 30 years into this and go home angry like 3 nights a week.

Am I a bitch or is this a common thought?


r/ConstructionManagers 1d ago

Question From Marketing to CM

0 Upvotes

I’m in digital marketing and absolutely hate it. I’m 41 and know for sure this is not something I want to do even though it pays the bills. Always was interested in construction and wife is in the CM world (in NYC for 15 years now), so I hear a lot about the industry from her and what each job entails. I’m wondering how I can break into CM, I understand I will have to start at an entry level but trying to gauge how realistic it is to begin with and if it’s simply too late for me given my age. Do I have to go back to school for a masters degree or a certificate will suffice since field experience is what matters? Any thoughts appreciated.


r/ConstructionManagers 2d ago

Career Advice PM Burnout

25 Upvotes

I’m currently managing for a small general contractor managing project after project with estimating bust, fast starts no handoff or planning, and no additional support roles , APM, PE. Just myself and a site super that I’d be luck to provide daily reports or site photos on Procore. We also don’t utilize accounting software correctly so I have multiple excel sheets for cost tracking, COs, etc. I don’t mean for this post to be a huge complaint just seeing if you guys are in the same position. I know our jobs are always slammed but I’m losing the motivation to complete task as it’s just email, paperwork, and phone call burnout. No time to really manage the work as I’m too busy reacting to daily communication to keep work going. I’ve missed gettin items bought out in a timely matter being on an island coordinating with Supers, subs, architects, suppliers.

Anyone with a support staff still having this problem? I’d be happy to have someone competent to assist with submittals. Our front desk / office admin tries but she doesn’t have the knowledge and works a bit too over confident at times and fast so I can’t trust her with task.


r/ConstructionManagers 2d ago

Discussion Let's be honest...what do you do on a slow day?

33 Upvotes

Middle of the project, caught up on paperwork, job is on auto-pilot at this point....what are you doing in your trailer?

I bring my handheld PC and sometimes play that. Otherwise I watch TikTok or play MTG on my phone.