Putting It All Together

I originally planned to be examining the communication lines within the company. This would mean that I would spend most of my time in the office and on the phone calling various clients, subcontractors, former employees of the company and current employees of the company. But that all changed after one of the project managers, was unable to continue working for the company. This meant that with my little technological knowledge of construction that I would have to take over as a project manager for a remodel. At first I was worried, but it turned it out to be an invaluable experience and one that I will most certainly never forget.

The importance of leadership and fostering effective communication between parties was an essential component of the job. Knowing how to respond to the different dynamics of groups was also critical to completing the job.

I was nervous at the onset of finding out that I would be forced to oversee a remodel due to my lack of knowledge in the field of construction science. I soon realized that being an effective communicator, I could make up for my lack of construction knowledge. I found often times that when people would ask my question they weren’t looking for my input, only my reassurance. I have also developed a vast knowledge of the construction industry both as an industry and as a science.

I had always had an interest in the construction industry, as I have always regarded it as such an incredibly important force to our country and I have always toyed around with the idea of one day being involved in it. Until this past summer I had never known the many parts and pieces in the construction industry and I absolutely know that I do want to be involved in some way or another.

I touched on this in one my earlier journal entries, but I have had the opportunity to come into contact with so many different types of people in the construction industry that it is funny to realize that their are disgruntled ones and happy ones throughout the whole chain. It is critical to be an optimist if you are considering a career in the construction industry as nothing really ever goes according to plan and if your unable to accept that fact, then you will find yourself disgruntled. But if you see the big picture and realize that everything will turn out eventually, you will find yourself much happier.

More than anything you should love the variety of people that you work with.

The company I worked with was fairly loose and was not that concerned with following an heirarchy or following the “corporate” way to do things. I would actually recommend that company tighten up some of the screws, but as my supervisor said, “If it gets done and its somewhat on time, somewhat on budget and the client is happy. Then who cares how you get there.” And I think that is pretty good advice.

I am so happy that I went a different route than many of the other Jepson students and got involved in an often overlooked industry by students at UofR. The importance of Construction is wide and far-reaching and the quality of the people you work with is second to none. I think construction is superior to other industries because you work with people from so many different backgrounds regarding socio-economicc class, race, education, interests, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I would recommend it to other students if they are willing to get their hands dirty and want to visibly see the fruits of their labor. I am thankful for selecting this internship as it allowed me to be a part of such a different world from the UR campus.

Ethics

Over the course of the remodel I was overseeing, various things would get occur to which various parties thought it was better to not tell the client and let them figure it out on their own. When individuals thought like this it was clear that the mistake was theirs and they hoped that the client never realized the mistake.  At one point during the construction process, we were delivered a sink that appeared to have a dent in it. The sink was a custom hand made copper sink constructed from 14 gauge copper (extremely thick and hardy). It would have been very hard to dent the sink in the way it was dented. The critical ethics issue was that to the trained eye the dent in the sink was visible, but to the untrained eye the dent could hardly be seen. I called the manufacturer of the sink and asked if they could repair the sink at their own expense. The declined as the previous project manager of the job (whom I took over for) had already sent the sink back twice before, as a result of little errors that were part of the nostalagia of recieving a custom made sink. I took it to an auto body dent repair shop to see if they could manage to fix the broken sink, they did their best but were unable to fix the dented sink. I took it to a master copper craftsmen and he said that he would be unable to fix the sink, as he was unsure of his ability to take it to pre-dent form and because of the high cost (the sink was purchased at around $5,000) he did not want to take the liability. I went through the pre-installation steps of the sink and even put the sink in its place without glue to see if it would possibly work. And it just did not work. I went back to office and I spoke with my supervisor. He said he would call the sink manufacturer and do the best he would to see if they could fix the sink. He said he could but it would be at our expense, so without hesitation my supervisor said “well lets send it back. Our clients are paying a premium for a high level of service and with that premium, we are also responsible for delivering a high level of service.” It amazed me how without hesitation my supervisor was willing to take a cut in his own pay, to insure that our client would be proud of the service we provided for them.

Leadership in Different Contexts

The construction industry requires a special type of leadership than other industries, as you have to strike a fragile balance between the various groups you are leading. At any given point of the day you could be talking to (and attempting to lead) an individual who barely graduated primary school and at the very next conversation you could be talking to a highly educated engineer. As a result, it is essential that you learn to adapt and to perform the various mannerisms that are associated with each varying level of education, while remembering to stay very professional in both arenas. It also important to differentiate the way you talk to subcontractors and how you talk to the client. When talking to the subcontractor you need to be strike a balance between pushing them to finish the work and pulling them to finish the work. With the client you need to be supportive of their decision while also guiding them through the arduous process. In both leadership contexts you acting as a guide and a guidee while always maintaining the position of project manager.

It is also important to remember to see the big picture and to seek a higher degree of work at all times. While at the site I noticed that their were varying degrees of attention to detail between the other project managers in the company, some would spend an exacting amount of time to insure that the highest level of detail was paid to all  aspects of the project. Though this may seem ideal it often lead to frustration between the project manager and the subcontractor as construction is an imperfect world and those who cannot accept the inherent imperfection of construction are often driven to annoyance, constantly. The other school of thought is to pay attention to the big picture and forget about the small stuff. This would often lead to a rough relationship between the client and the project manager, as the client is paying for a premium product and often feel they have been spited, as they are not receiving a premium product. I found that is important to strike a balance between the detail and the big picture, while always aspiring for both.

Gender and Diversity

Gender does not play a huge role in the construction industry, as it is one of the most male dominated industries in the United States. The company I am working for does employee one female, as an office manager who handles many of the accounting and payment invoices for the company. When asking the female office manager to examine the large gender gap in the construction industry, she exclaimed, “As odd as it may seem it is actually nice to work in an office without women. As women can often get catty and very petty regarding everything from other men to what shoes you are wearing.” On the reverse working in a predominatly male industry means that their is less pressure to monitor what you say as closely.

I can honestly say that I work in one of the most diverse industries in the United States regarding various races working along side each other. I can also honestly say that I work in one of the most self-segregated industries in the country. Traditionally a white male is usually in charge of the job site, he is in charge of supervising various groups of subcontractors, who usually headed by a white male, a Mexican (fluent-in-english), or a member of another race. Below them are the various skilled positions who actually carry out most of the work. The lowest labor positions are usually filled by a Hispanic who speaks no english and recieived limited education. This racial dichotomy is pretty cosistent (at least in the Colorado), but I have been told that more and more hispancis are starting their own companies and take more of a manangerial role than they did 10 years ago.

Norms and Teamwork

It is imporant that you confrom to which ever audience you are working with. If you are working with excavators you might find yourself sub-conciously using a little foul language and being a little more coarse, then if you were working with a client in which you would react to their mannerisms while always maintaining a high degree of professionalism. Within the certain sub-contracting groups each maintains a certain degree of conformity: e.g. the trim carpenters are all surfer mountain biking dudes. The group functioning at the site hinges upon the ability of the project manager to facilitate materials and the men, as while as mediate between the various groups (e.g. clients, sub-contractors, the General Contractor Company). The groups ability to function also depends on the environmental factors as well, whether or not the materials arrive on time free of defects, or other factors such as the weather (e.g. snow when the concrete company is scheduled to pour for the driveway). I would say the groups ability to function at the job site is superb. I would say that the project manager could be more organized at the very beginning in order to ensure a smooth project, a detailed schedule would also motivate the sub-contractors to adhere to schedule to make sure they are doing their job, without hindering anyone elses progress.

First Impressions and Organizational Culture: How do you fit in?

The construction industry is an interesting industry because there is such a dichotomy of people, regarding race, socioeconomic class, intelligence, skills, interests and personalities. The differences between the individuals is what makes it such an intriguing industry. In one afternoon you can have a conference call with a devloper who recieved their MBA from Harvard and twenty minutes later you could be talking to a stone mason who didn’t graduate from fourth grade while living in Mexico. For this reason, it is important to be able to wear many different hats when confronted with different situations regarding different individuals. Within my company I fit in fairly well. My company is composed of the two co-presidents who are partners (one of whom is swedish), the company has three full time project managers and they have taken a unique approach as they have employed four other project managers as independent contractors. The company takes this approach to cut overhead and to avoid various taxes and insurances, while also allowing for the contractors to have a high degree of freedom. Within the office there is a high degree of professionalism, on the site it is quite different as it is a completed gendered-bias and racially segregated as there are no women on the site and the ladder of managment is largely white males at the top with less-educated hispanics at the bottom. It is interesting to see the difference in personalities between the various sub-contractors, the oriented detailed trim carpenters are wild crew of california born surfers who are madly obsessed with biking, the excavators are probably the roughest group as the cuss widly and use various forms of tobacco, the stone masons are a group of brothers and cousins form Tobasco Mexico who are hard working and very strong as they carry stone all day, the electricians are very nice guys who may have been shocked all couple too many times. The different sub-conctractors interact with eachother constantly usually jokingly, unless one is in the way of another, which evokes a shouting match. The do’s and don’ts are pretty flexible: be professional in front of the client at all times and they are paying the bills so they demand the upmost respect. Prod the sub-contractors, but prod them gently they are doing the work, if the quit the job cannot continue keep them happy, guide them gently but keep them going. When working with sub-contractors, you have to remember the qoute, “Tread lightly and carry a big stick.” When meeting with a client you need to dress, what I call “colorado casual”: look professional, but maintain that aire of the colorado mountain man, a look that the client (usually a second home homeowner) covets and respects. When on the job it is essential for the project manager to dress in a way that demands respect but also is functional, as you could be knee high in a septic tank one day or covered in saw dust the next.

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