Career Path For Construction Manager

A Degree Or Short Course

Some individuals will start their path by acquiring a degree that enables them to enter the construction field. Education in civil engineering, construction science, architecture, and property are options for those with the right resources and time. Short courses are another route and offer on-the-job skills, gained in a short amount of time. Construction is a job and industry that places practical capabilities way over tertiary qualification.

The UCT Construction Management online short course will also allow you to upskill while you are employed full-time.

Licenses Certifications And Registrations

Some states require construction managers to be licensed. For more information, contact your state licensing board.

Professional certification, although not required, demonstrates a particular level of knowledge and experience.

The Construction Management Association of America awards the Certified Construction Manager credential to workers who have the required experience and who pass a technical exam. Candidates complete a self-study course that covers topics related to construction managers, including the managers role, legal issues, and risk allocation.

The American Institute of Constructors awards the Associate Constructor and Certified Professional Constructor credential to candidates who meet its requirements, which include passing construction exams.

Work Experience In A Related Occupation For Construction Managers

If the typical education is not obtained, practical construction experience is important for jobseekers, because it reduces the need for initial on-the-job training. Internships, cooperative education programs, and previous work in the construction industry can provide that experience. Some construction managers become qualified solely through extensive construction experience, spending many years in carpentry, masonry, or other construction specialties.

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Construction Manager Career Path

If you study construction management or work as a construction manager, you may have the opportunity to take on other, more specialized roles as your career advances. These include the following:

• A surveyor measures and determines property boundaries. In this position, you could prepare maps for clients, travel to find the precise locations of important landmarks, and verify data accuracy.

• The facilities manager oversees the daily operations of a building and how it is used, including security, communications, maintenance, and utilities.

• The building services engineer ensures that a building functions properly. This means maintaining current building standards and designing and implementing improvements to the building and its utilities and technologies.

• Site engineers are involved with the technical and organizational side of construction projects. This is a more specialized construction management role, focusing on supervising staff, providing technical advice, and time management.

• The sustainability consultant works to make buildings more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

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Occupational Employment And Wage Statistics

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The link below go to OEWS data maps for employment and wages by state and area.

• Construction managers

What Does Construction Management Do

Construction Project Management is the overall planning, coordination, and control of a project from beginning to completion. CPM is directed at meeting a clientâs requirements to produce a functionally and economically viable project.

A construction manager will supervise and manage contractors and laborers at construction sites in construction management.

They are responsible for addressing emergencies, work delays, or other problems affecting the construction project. From time to time, they meet and discuss projects with architects, specialized trade employees, and civil engineers on projects or upcoming builds.

Construction managers are responsible for overseeing construction projects. They make sure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and to the specifications set forth by the client.

Construction managers work with a variety of different tradespeople and contractors to get the job done. They also have to coordinate with other departments, such as engineering and architecture, to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

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What Do Building And Construction Management Graduates Do

Of those in employment in the UK 15 months after graduation, half of building and construction management graduates are working as architects, chartered architectural technologists, planning officers, surveyors and construction professionals. 8% are working as production managers and directors in construction while 6% are engineering professionals.

What Is The Job Outlook Like For Construction Managers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that jobs in the architecture and engineering field were expected to increase by 10 percent through 2020, which is about average compared to other professions. The BLS also reported that job opportunities for supervisors in the construction industry would be limited because most contractors have operating managers and assistant superintendents they prefer to promote from within.

According to Construction Executive, many workers with no prior experience, such as former military personnel and art school graduates, entered the construction field after the housing crisis began in 2007. This surge in new employees allowed contractors to take on more projects but led to an increase in construction managers who were less experienced and had lower salaries. New entrants lack of experience will lead to a decrease in demand for construction managers.

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Four: Vice President Of Operations

The vice president of operations manages project teams across entire divisions of a company, building efficiencies and ensuring everyone hits budget, schedule, and safety targets. A key responsibility of the VP of Operations is effective workforce management, including building high performance project teams and allocating project engineers, managers, and executives to the various projects in the companys pipeline.

The VP of operations will also assess future opportunities, evaluating each as it fits with the companys goals and operational bandwidth.

A vice president of operations often sits just below C-suite executives in the hierarchy of the organization.

What Are The Skills Required To Become A Construction Manager

A job in construction management requires a range of skills beyond what you would need for a typical management position. Here are some of the key skills for this profession:

Leadership: Construction managers must be effective leaders. They must be able to delegate responsibilities, motivate workers to succeed, and hold them accountable for results. They should also be knowledgeable of the industry and be able to spot trends. They should lead by example and exercise good judgment, prioritizing worker safety over meeting deadlines.

Risk management: A construction project comes with risks that threaten to throw the project off schedule or blow up the budget. A construction manager should be able to spot risks — such as a possible obstacle to achieving a milestone or an expansion in the scope of work — and make plans to mitigate them.

Communication: Construction managers must communicate roles and responsibilities clearly to the workforce. This skill is helpful in any industry, but it is particularly important in construction because of the high stakes of miscommunication — such as misdelivered materials delaying the project or a safety mishap because a worker was sent to the wrong area.

Experimenting: Construction tech is rapidly advancing, from prefabrication to drones to the latest construction management software, and construction managers who are willing to experiment with new technology will find new ways to increase their company’s bottom line and win more bids.

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Licenses Certifications And Registrations For Construction Managers

Although not required, certification is valuable because it can demonstrate that a person has gained knowledge and experience.

The Construction Management Association of America awards the Certified Construction Manager designation to workers who have the required experience and who pass a technical exam. It is recommended that applicants for this certification complete a self-study course that covers the professional role of a construction manager, legal issues, the allocation of risk, and other topics related to construction management.

The American Institute of Constructors awards the Associate Constructor and Certified Professional Constructor designations to candidates who meet its requirements and pass the appropriate construction exams.

Some states require licensure for construction managers. For more information, contact your state licensing board.

Construction Managers: Salary Career Path Job Outlook Education And More

Education Required

Although there are various ways to enter this occupation, it is becoming increasingly important for construction managers to have a bachelors degree in construction science, construction management, architecture, or engineering. As construction processes become more complex, employers are placing greater importance on specialized education.

Training Required

New construction managers are typically hired as assistants and work under the guidance of an experienced manager. This training period may last several months to several years, depending on the firm.

Job Outlook

The projected percent change in employment from 2016 to 2026: 11%

Licenses/Certifications

Although not required, certification is valuable because it can demonstrate that a person has gained knowledge and experience.

Median pay: How much do Construction Managers make?

$89,300 Annual Salary

Construction managers plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise construction projects from start to finish.

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What Is The Career Path For A Construction Project Manager

With more than 120 expanding cities and a population exceeding 1.3 billion, Africa is a continent that consistently needs more housing and stronger infrastructure.4 For developing economies like this, the construction of roads and the installation of reliable electricity transform citizens lives and their business prospects.5

As a construction manager, your job is not limited to a single location. You possess the types of skills thatll allow you to collaborate with many industries, around the world. Knowledge and experience within this industry will expose you to other careers too, such as an architect, engineering manager, civil engineer, property developer or investor, or a health and safety officer.

What Will Your Construction Career Path Look Like

This is a common path through a construction management career, from project engineer through VP and up to C-suite roles, but not everybodys experience will be the same. Some smaller companies may not have project executives, for example, having senior project managers and general superintendents take over those duties instead. Some project managers enter their roles straight out of a construction management course, never acting as a project engineer. Check out this list of the top certifications for career development.

The common thread for you to remember is that as time goes on, experience will teach a construction manager what to look out for, how to solve common problems, and how to communicate successfully with all members of the team from tradespeople to CEOs. Construction management certifications can be a useful way to improve these skills faster. These skills enable you to craft a successful career in construction and be recognized as a leader in the role you perform at any point in time.

If you are looking for similar advice for another role, read our detailed guide on how to become a construction project executive.

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Types Of A Construction Manager

There are types of alternative careers for construction managers in the industry with varying roles and responsibilities. We have mentioned below several types of job opportunities after construction management courses.

Building Control Surveyor: A construction manager is responsible for ensuring federal and local building regulations are met as per the state laws. The laws and rules are applicable to all types of construction including those which are getting newly renovated, altered or converted.

Building Services Engineer: A building services engineer utilises his or her analytical skills to keep a building up and running. He or she ensures the maintenance of various different services. It includes maintaining acoustics, escalators, power, safety, security, heating, health and safety and other services.

Quantity Surveyor: A quantity surveyor is a professional responsible for calculating costs involved in building and civil engineering projects. He or she oversees the expenditure involved from beginning to end of the project and calculates the final figures. A building project requires to be specific to easily predict the budget accurately.

What Is Construction Project Management And Is It Right For You

In the most basic terms, the role of a project manager is to lead teams and keep projects on budget and time. According to Study.com the job description includes, Construction project managers control the time, cost and quality of construction projects, from residential, commercial and industrial buildings to roads, bridges and schools. They plan and coordinate all aspects of the construction process, including hiring contractors and working with engineers, architects and vendors. A single manager might oversee an entire construction project, or multiple managers might oversee specific aspects of a larger project.

Project managers also assess the site to ensure it meets health and safety requirements, interface with the customer and report on progress and serve as a resource for workers they manage.

In short, its a massive amount of responsibility and pressure. While a project manager role sounds great on paper to many offering good money and significant career development not everyone is meant to be a PM. It requires essential skills in leadership, communication, time management, coordination, problem-solving, accountability, and planning.

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Top 3 Construction Manager Jobs

• Construction Manager – NextGen Global Resources – Bothell, WA

  The Construction Manager will be located in the market and responsible for coordination with subcontractors for the buildout of that market area. The Construction Manager will work with the radio …

• Program/Project Manager A successful Construction Management firm located in the Fremont area has an immediate opening for a Construction Manager and is seeking a proven Program Manager with Public …

• Project/Construction Manager – Tidal Network – Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska –

  Salary: 39.80 to 56.53 DOE POSITION DESCRIPTION Project/ Construction Manager INFORMATION Job Class: Manager Department: Tidal Network Location of Work: Southeast Alaska Salary Grade: 12-14 Hours …

What Are Construction Management Degrees

Construction Management degrees can be found at the associate, bachelor, and graduate levels. In high school, students should focus on math, science, and business courses to prepare for a career as a construction manager. Most colleges also require some form of general education distribution as part of their degree requirements.

Associate degrees in construction management provide a basic level of education and are best suited for students who want to gain entry-level construction management positions. Associate degrees usually take two years to complete and cover fundamental topics such as law, business ethics, and mathematics, much like the first two years of a bachelors degree in construction management.

Bachelors degrees in construction management provide more comprehensive education, allowing students to learn about the legal issues that construction managers face and take part in hands-on learning activities such as building scale models. Construction management bachelors degrees usually take four years to complete.

Construction managers typically do the following:

Construction managers oversee specialized contractors and other personnel. They schedule and coordinate all construction processes so that projects meet design specifications. They ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget. Some construction managers may be responsible for several projects at oncefor example, the construction of multiple apartment buildings.

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What Do Construction Project Management Do

The project managers job is to make sure that everything goes according to plan throughout the building phase. Theyre in charge of keeping the project on track, remaining within budget, allocating resources, avoiding scope creep, and assuring quality. They identify threats in real time and communicate with stakeholders.

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Quick Facts For Construction Manager

• Suitable for

  Male, Female

  A career as construction manager is suitable for everyone regardless of gender identity whether a person is male, female or belongs to any other gender can opt for construction manager career. The construction management industry is more dominated by male and female candidates are underrepresented in senior management.

• Any special needs

  A career as construction manager is not suitable for candidates with special needs. A construction manager career involves working in the field and oversee construction activities, assigned tasks to workers. Candidates with special needs can-not perform in the construction management industry.

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Develop Good Relationships With Your Team

Keeping your team safe and happy is essential to your success in construction project management. Grow relationships with your team over time and listen to them when they have issues or need help. Its critical you stay dependable because this is one of the easiest ways to reduce turnover and keep your team around for the long haul.

Henry Escobar, Project Manager at Tellepsen Builders recently reflected on how he has prioritized his team throughout his career.

People are ultimately more important than the tasks I have to do, even though I have to do them. But theres always time to listen to whatever they may be going through, he comments.

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