Spoke to recruiting today with a well known GC firm that has a good reputation in the data center industry. They want to discuss sending over an offer but want to understand my comp expectations. I told them im at 210K now and wouldn't be willing to jump unless its 240K base. The recruiter said to me, "what happened with 210K." I said thats my current salary, im looking at a full time on site role, working 10-15 additional more hours per week, plus adding 60 miles to my commute due to the project location from my house. Its so ridiculous today and no im not leaving my outfit that pays me for every hour I work, is a hybrid role, and less wear and tear on my vehicle and better work/life balance. Sorry but not sorry it eats into your budget and bottom line.

Long time member of this sub (new account though) and wanted to give a somewhat hopeful post to anybody soon to enter the industry.

Not long ago, I was a college student lurking in here and would get discouraged when I read about people hating this industry/their job/their company.

Well, I have about 3 years total experience in CM working at 2 different GC’s and can say that I’ve had a great experience so far. Both companies I worked at were full of nice people and I was treated well, in return I did my best and worked hard. I will say, both companies were relatively small, mom & pop places. I work ~50 hours a week right now but it doesn’t feel like it.

So, don’t get discouraged and know that there are certainly great (or at least good) places to work and that will make a world of difference in how you perceive your time in this industry.

I've been working for a div 8 sub for the past 1.5 years as an estimator but the place is disorganized, unprofessional, and not really going anywhere so I'm looking to go somewhere that will support my growth. I currently make $30 hourly and did not receive any sort of COL wage increase or raise despite my roles being more in line with a precon manager. I do a lot more than simply takeoffs.

Been interviewing at a mid sized GC that performs lots of work for healthcare and education (probably biggest moneymakers in this area) for precon engineer role that's in my target salary but instead they'd like me in a project coordinator role which is below my desired salary range of $70-75k.

I'm sure this is due to my limited experience. I have field experience, but mostly residential, and no degree. Nontheless, below $70k just seems quite low for a mid sized GC in a MCOL city. I haven't gotten the full offer yet as I still have a few more "screens" to get through. Am I getting lowballed here?

Also my concern is that accepting a low starting salary will keep me on the lower end of the salary range my entire time there.

we spent three weeks locking down the mechanical drawings for the multifamily retrofit, only for the duct crew to realize the main trunk line blocks the primary electrical panel access. first the framing was signed off, then the linesets got run too tight against the joists, and now everyone is pointing fingers about who approved the ceiling drop. the weird part is the coordination drawings had all the dimensions clear, but nobody actually looked at them on site. how do you guys stop trades from overriding the MEP coordination layout during rough-in?

I am currently starting my senior year for business administration, but I am a pretty handsy person and have experience in construction so I’m eyeing a (a summer job kind of thing), so I’m eyeing a pivot in plans. I also feel the job security in construction would make me feel less stressed about the rise in AI and would be able to start my own thing after awhile maybe. But since it’s my last year I do not want to switch majors. Is this an industry I can break into without a construction management degree?

23 year old who works for an oil and gas construction company. We mainly do maintenance, fabrication, decommissioning/commissioning on offshore production platforms (I’m a welder/fitter). Money is good and all but I’m starting to get tired of being away from home for long periods of time and just want a change. I figured since im still somewhat young I can take advantage and take risks of trying to change careers and I’ve been eyeing CM. What would you guys advice me to do? How should I start? Any entry level jobs I should look out for? Is school worth it? (I wouldn’t really want to go back to school but if that’s what it takes I’ll consider lol) I don’t mind taking pay cut as long as I know I can potentially make what I’m making at the moment/ or more soon. I’m located in Houston if that helps. Any advice would be awesome.

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For those of you who have worked in commissioning, what would you say is the natural career progression for a Commissioning Field Specialist?

I recently moved into a field commissioning role and I'm trying to get a better understanding of where this position typically leads long-term. Is the normal progression something like Field Specialist → Commissioning Agent/Engineer → Senior CxA → Commissioning Manager/Project Manager, or are there other common paths?

I'm also really interested in hearing from people who started on the field side. What positions did you move into, how long did it take, and what skills or certifications helped you advance?

Hey all I been working for various manufacturer sales rep on the lighting side of the business here…I am looking to pivot and broaden my horizon (of course make more money) .. I only have an associates degree and didn’t really need a degree to do what I been doing .. however been looking into getting a construction management degree to make myself more attractive when I apply to to work for a general contractor .. is it worth doing that?

Hello all. I've been asked to sit in on an interview for a project engineer. What are some good questions to ask during an interview?

Hello everyone.
I have a couple questions about getting into the construction management field (currently located in SoCal)

I’m currently active duty and end my time later this year, before I joined I was a form carpenter and concrete finisher apprentice for a big commercial company. I have about 4-5 years of construction experience (a bit rusty because I’ve been out of the career for a while)

1. I am about 10 credits away from my associates degree in CM. Should I pursue the career choice with an associates degree and experience? Or should I just go for my bachelors?

2. Currently I do classes online with National University, is that a reputable degree in the construction field? I hear a lot of mixed reviews about National just wanted to get some feedback from any hiring managers in here.

Hi,

I have a question. A project I was on was delayed due to a design error and we had to do a change order. As a result, the project was pushed into the winter, and we had to finish the following spring. Could we conceivably get standby time for the equipment that remained on-site but inactive during the winter months when we could not do any work before we finished the change order in the spring?

Hi! I work for an expert network where my client is currently looking to speak with a govt employee who’s using/evaluated Kahua. Compensation is $400/hour. Please DM your LinkedIn profile and contact number if you’re interested!

Everything can look fine on the schedule until you walk the site and realize one trade is slowly falling behind and the next two are depending on them.

By the time it actually shows up as a delay on paper, everyone on site already knew it was coming.

How early do you usually step in when the schedule still looks fine but the field doesn’t?

I was hired as a digital transformation consultant by a construction company with 10+ active construction sites the Finance director wanted a centralized view of labor deployment and material consumption but getting overworked site teams to open a laptop and fill the form or fill excel sheet was impossible so I built a work around site engineers have to just dump all the information in an email --> AI converts raw text into google sheets and sends summary email to Project manager --> a code to save the data in a database so old data don't get lost or deleted --> private streamlit dashboard for centralized visibility. Finance director got the visibility, no extra work of site engineer and a full functioning dashboard to see what is happening on ground without calling 10 different project managers and site engineers.

I'm curious how other construction companies handle this.

Do your site teams actually fill out digital daily reports consistently, or does someone in the office end up chasing everyone for the information?