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Here we go! It's a bit earlier in the semester than usual, but today was my turn at being the guest lecturer in Henry Meier's CM 10 class in the Sac State Construction Management program. So many good questions in the chat and I hope to see all the students in a few years in CM 125 - Advanced Estimating or possibly earlier getting swoll in the newly-expanded WELL. Slides from the lecture are below:
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It's the time of year when I get to be a guest lecture in Henry Meier's Sac State CM 10 - Intro to Construction Management class. A lot of lively questions from the newest 33 students in the best CM program in the country. Things have been busy so it has been a while since I cruised around Sacramento to see the status of Sacramento projects using tower cranes. My timing was good as I am know on COVID quarantine... We lost one tower crane (Hyatt Centric Marshall Hotel, 8th and L Street. DavisREED Construction) but gained one mini tower crane at Mansion Inn (see below). Projects are from west to east:  CalSTRS second tower in West Sacramento, DPR Construction.  Sacramento Commons, 5th and O Streets, Deacon Construction.  601 Capitol Mall; the project's new name if The Frederic. Heller Pacific is the owner's rep and JMI is the general contractor (2 tower cranes).  DGS Swing Space, O Street between 10th and 11th Streets. Hensel Phelps Construction (2 tower cranes). This project looks like it's ready to get rid of the tower cranes.  Mansion Inn, H Street between 15th and 16th Streets. DesCor Builders (mini tower crane...does this count as a full tower crane or 1/2?).  Hyatt House, K and 28th Streets in Midtown. Tricorp Construction. This is a cool project. I had to enhance the picture to make the inside of the walls easier to see. It took several months to install the falsework so that the floors and other horizontal members could be removed and the basement excavated. A craft laborer for the excavation subcontractor told me as I took this picture "This is a difficult project. Avoid the construction industry." If he only knew I was a pusher of construction talent.
I always enjoy getting the invitation to guest lecture in CM 10. Thanks for the invitation Henry Meier! CM 10 is a fun class because for many of you it is the first glimpse into a rewarding career. However, since many students are new to construction, a lot of terms used by guest lecturers are unknown to the audience. I will try to catalog those terms here as an easy and ever-growing reference. ORGANIZATIONS Owners: like their name implies, owners "own" the structure that architects design and constructors build. Owners come in so many different varieties that defining them adequately and in detail would require a lot more than a simple blog post. To simplify things, I'll just provide some examples of owners:
PEOPLE AND POSITIONS Since this is a construction management class, I'm going to focus on the people who work on the constructor side of things (that is, we will not discuss the specific people involved in being owners or designers). In most cases, these people/positions exist with general contractors and subcontractors. I will further define these roles by "field" and "office". Field staff tend to spend most, if not all, of their time on the project site. Office staff tend to spend a lot of their time at the company's main or regional offices, although they do spend plenty of time on project sites. While some of these terms contain the term "man or men" in them, many women successfully hold those positions. Field staff:
Office staff:
DELIVERY METHODS While it is early in the term, we've already heard our guest speakers mention design-bid-build and design-build so I will briefly describe them below. In summary, the delivery method defines the relationship between the owner, architect and GC and how they will be organized. If these terms do not make complete sense by the end of CM 10, don't sweat it--they will be discussed in great detail throughout several future CM classes. The descriptions below come from a graduate-level class I teach, so it is a fairly advanced description of the delivery methods presented. Design-bid-build: In D-B-B, the owner has a separate contract with the designer and GC. The designer designs the project in total and then gives the plans to the owner. The owner then provides the plans to GCs who, in turn, create bids for the work that state how much each GC thinks the project will cost and how long the project will take. The owner selects the best bid and awards the project to the selected GC who then builds the project.  Design-bid-build is the most traditional delivery method.
Design-build: In D-B, the owner has a single contract with a design-build team that is usually a joint venture between an architect and GC. The key is that the owner is dealing with a single team responsible for both designing and building the structure.  Design-Build is considered and alternative delivery method.
There are other delivery methods that D-B-B and D-B, but this is a good starter for CM 10 for now. SPECIFIC TAKEAWAYS FROM SPEAKERS Heman Chand:
I'm grateful to be a part of Henry Meier's dream team of guest speakers. Best hour of the semester. Slides can be viewed below:  I hate to be Debbie Downer, but every college student should read this chart and understand what's going on in it. First, yes, the cost of text books is outrageous. That's why I do not make them mandatory (you're welcome). When possible, buy used books, share them or find an outlet (Amazon?) that will allow you to get the best deal.
Secondly, and more importantly, check out the delta between College Tuition and Wages. Tuition is growing much faster than wages, meaning the ability to work your way through college is getting harder and harder every year. While it's great that internships are abundant in Construction Management, your internship should not take precedence over graduating as quickly as you can. Thirdly, I know it's relatively easy to get student loans, but don't stupidly use that debt to buy a car or consumer electronics if you can absolutely help it. You would be using debt, which comes with interest you will have to pay, to purchase something that is getting less expensive over time. Wait to buy it with the wages you get from your high-paying full-time post-graduation Project Engineer salary. (Originally posted 11/28/12)
Lord, and when I get the paper I read it through and through I, my girl never fail to see if there is any work for me I got to go back to the house, hear that woman's mouth Preachin' and a cryin' tell me that I'm lyin' about a job That I never could find Neil Young -- "Get A Job" I frequently get asked by students to read their resumes and provide feedback. I have my own biases as to what a good resume contains (which I will interject below), but I thought this was a topic worthy of getting some professional advice to pass along. Without further ado, here's your all star cast of resume advisors: Joe Bean, Human Resources Manager, Teichert Construction Sue Dyson, Human Resources Manager, Swinerton Incorporated Nicole Sunseri, Human Resources Manager, Rosendin Electric Each of these people have extensive experience hiring CM students for full-time positions and internships, so they know what they're talking about. I called each of them to get their feedback regarding the good, bad, and ugly issues with resumes. Ignore their advice at your own peril. First things first, all of the all stars agreed on this: your resume is a tool to get you an interview, not a job. Don't think your resume alone will get you a job. That won't happen nor is that the point. Use your resume and cover letter to get a job interview. If you're thinking "what's a cover letter?", it's the letter that accompanies your resume. It's a narrative that explains who you are, why you're interested in a career in construction, and why the company you sent your cover letter and resume to should hire you. Both should be brief and to the point. The resume is bullet points that lay out your professional experience while the cover letter is the narrative. The two should complement each other. However, the cover letter plays an additional role: it shows how well you can communicate with the written word. You don't need to be Shakespeare, but your cover letter should demonstrate your written communication skills. For both the resume and cover letter (cover letter on top), typos, grammatical errors, and misspellings are detrimental to your job acquisition effort. Let me repeat that: TYPOS, GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, AND MISSPELLINGS PRETTY MUCH KILL YOUR CHANCES OF GAINING EMPLOYMENT. Have someone proofread your cover letter and resume. I have never turned down this request, assuming you give me enough time and I'm not slammed with other work. Another important point: tailor your cover letter and resume to each company you send it to. You might be thinking "Wow, I have to print out different cover letters and resumes for each company I meet with, which means I will have to research each company and tailor how my experience will benefit them? That sounds like a lot of work." Yes, it is, but that's part of the process. Nothing worth having comes easy, so prepare to put the work into this process. There's one other document you need to consider. If you are fortunate to get an interview, send a note thanking the interviewer for their time. This serves three purposes: 1) it shows you're considerate and that you were raised with good manners; 2) it's a chance to reiterate what your strengths are and how you would be a good hire for the company you interviewed with; and 3) it shows that you want the job. This last point can be amplified. 99% of the time, people want an offer after an interview (or series of interviews). That's a given, assuming you like the company. But how you thank someone shows how much you want the job. Anyone can send an e-mail. That's the minimum that's expected. Now, if you send a hand-written letter, that show's you really want the job. It takes effort to write a sincere letter, address it, and put it in the mailbox (compared to writing an e-mail). And that's exactly the point. Writing letters is not a quaint practice from a foregone era, it's a show of respect and desire. Former students of the CM department told me that they have done this, and guess what? They got the dream jobs they wanted. There is one way to screw the thank you note: sending a text. First, texting is social, not professional. Secondly, if you send a text like "Thx for the interview. Ur company seems like a g8 place 2 work" you will never get a job that isn't located in a mall and pays minimum wage. To become a professional, act like a professional. Ok, now for some resume-specific advice: Going in order of how your resume will be read (top to bottom), let's start with your contact info. PUT YOUR CONTACT INFO ON YOUR RESUME! One of the all stars told me it's very common for people to forget this. Don't be the person that doesn't get an interview because it was impossible to get a hold of you! Also, get a normal email address that contains your name. if your email is badassballer209beyoch@hotmail.com, you will look like a tool to HR professionals. It's fine to use an address like that with your homies, but take the 5 minutes to set up an address like justin.m.reginato@gmail.com. Next, have a objective statement, but it should be one sentence and be customized for the company you're going to give your resume to (nothing kills your chances like handing a resume to someone at Turner that says you're trying to get a job at DPR...). This sentence doesn't have to sound like it was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but it does need to express if you're looking for a full-time position or an internship with the specific company you're handing your resume to. If you're looking for a specific non-PE or intern job (e.g. scheduler, BIM engineer, etc.), then you want to make that clear, but be brief. What comes next depends on what your strengths are, but whatever your strengths are, put them near the top of the resume (don't make people hunt for the reasons that set you apart!). When listing your strong suits, use more bullet points and fewer (preferably no) paragraphs. For those of you with construction work experience, start with this and put it in chronological order with the most recent experience first. Make sure you list the dates of your employment (one all star stated that the right side of the resume is best). In terms of describing your experience, one all start said "be accurate, brief, and clear." In other words, describe what you DID, don't describe the project. Clearly describe the actions you took, the impacts of those actions, and the ultimate results. Use numbers to tell the story. Even if all you did as part of an internship was process RFI's, say "I processed 10,000 RFI's in a ten-week period, ensuring that all were received and processed by the appropriate party on time." Showing that you performed specific tasks well, no matter how mundane, is important. (BTW, most HR pros know that some internships can be mundane exercises in pushing paper or other menial tasks. Just show that you did whatever tasks you were given well. There's no need to convince them your job was sexier than it really was.) If you don't have any work experience in the construction industry, then lead with your education. Hopefully, you can draw some attention to academic achievement (Dean's list, scholarships received, etc.). Some of you likely have work experience that's outside of the construction industry and want to highlight that. I hate to rain on your parade, but it was pretty unanimous that such experience matters very little to construction HR managers. It's not that it's bad, it just has very little relevance. A lot of people like to list non-construction experience to show that they worked while carrying a full load of classes at Sac State. Well, that lumps you in with pretty much everyone else on campus, so it's not much of a differentiator. However, in the absence of any construction experience, if you put non-construction experience on your resume, the same rules above apply. Use numbers to show that your actions led to measurable results. If you were in a management position, definitely state that. Use that experience to show you have the skills that can translate to construction. Resist every effort to state that you worked at Jamba Juice for 6 months if you don't have anything really good to say about that experience. Regardless of where you put your education experience (before or after your work experience), include a graduation date or expected graduation date. Next, list your accomplishments and activities. Again, be specific and show actions and results. List only the important accomplishments and activities and the time of your involvement/accomplishment. If you are/were on a Reno team, state what your role was. If you are an officer in a club, describe that role and your accomplishments. Listing that you were a member of CMSA or a Reno team does not help your cause (it probably hurts it--everyone is a member of CMSA and 100 students are a part of Reno teams, so if you list those simply as accomplishments, you look pretty unaccomplished). If you are an alternate on a Reno team, describe the position you were a backup for:
Don't list hobbies. This was considered normal when I was a student, but the all stars said this is no longer very relevant (one emphatically said to not include them!). Unless your hobbies include pouring concrete or digging holes with backhoes. But if that's the case, you really need psychiatric help. One thing I asked each of the HR all stars about was including a picture (head shot) on your resume. I thought this was a good idea, as your resume will likely end up in a pile with hundreds others and the picture will remind interviewers as to who you are. Well, it turns out it's a bad idea. The HR all stars like it in concept, but unfortunately, pictures can trigger biases and prejudices, so they ask that students not include pictures of themselves on resumes. It's a legal issue, so don't put a potential employer in a bad position. One last issue that needs to be discussed in depth: the proper length of a resume. Two of the all stars were pretty firm on the one-page limit (and I wholeheartedly agree with them). The three of us separately came to the conclusion that if a PX can summarize his/her experience on one page for a project proposal, so can you. The other all star said two pages is ok, but only if your experience is worthy of two pages. Content is key. If the second page is random job experience or accomplishments that have no bearing on your ability to work in construction management, it's hurting your cause as opposed to helping it. So let's summarize the basic resume tips:
Bonus techniques: So how do you really make your resume stand out? Here are some hints:
(Originally posted 12/7/2012)
Today is Pearl Harbor Day. I always remember this day because it's the day after my grandfather's birthday. He would have been 89 this year. I spent every summer of my childhood working on his ranch and learned some valuable lessons that I try to carry forward. There was one lesson in particular that I will share with you, but first some background. My grandfather was a cattle rancher from Klamath Falls, OR. It was originally a dairy ranch, but over time, the amount of cows decreased and were replaced with steers. However, he always had at least two cows around to provide milk for calves. This means very little to urban folk, but what having cows means is that every day of your life is a 12-hour work day. Cows need to be milked on a regular schedule in order to remain productive. And you cannot just decide not to milk them for one cycle, as that creates all sorts of problems that I don't need to get into. But seriously, every day of his life was at least a 12-hour day. Up at 4:00 am, working by 4:30. Re-milking at 4:30 pm, and by the time all the cattle had been fed, it was close to 6:00 pm, which really means he worked 13.5 hours per day, with time off for lunch and to read the paper at 3:00. The summers were longer. After feeding the cattle, we went back into the fields to change the irrigations lines. That was another hour or more. In between the milking and the feeding were long days of cutting, baling, and stack bales of hay. For hours, my grandfather would throw 90 pound bales of hay around, stacking them as high as three stories. He did this well into his 60's. He finally retired after his hip started failing, which was primarily caused by sleeping on the same crappy mattress for 30 years. He seemed superhuman to me. Spending time with him was like working with John Henry, a man with an incredible work ethic. That's what I knew about him. As I got older, I found out other things about him. My great aunt would tell me about how he fought in World War II. I'm a history buff, so I would ask him questions. He would just deflect the questions and describe his time in the Army as his European vacation because he never wanted anyone to get the impression that he felt put out by his duty to his country. I also learned even later that my dad had a brother that had died when he was very young. The loss of a son deeply affected my grandfather. So why am I writing about all of this and how is it related to anything? Through everything my grandfather experienced, he never complained. Not once. Never about the hard work he was required to put in EVERY day, not about the weather, taxes, the price of oil, immigration, not about dying, or any other trivial or non-trivial matter. He taught me a lot about the value of a hard day's work, but he also taught me, through his actions, that there's no value in being a complainer and that no matter how bad you have it, there's someone somewhere that has it worse off that you do. I would like to think that I follow his actions, but I know I don't. I have my own regular complaints. But when I really start feeling sorry for myself, I think about my grandfather, and how he worked hard his whole life in quiet dignity and went about his business knowing that each day is what you make of it. We have the choice to be happy or to be miserable. Complaining about your work or your life is making the conscious decision to be miserable. Right now, many of you are preparing for final exams while also balancing a multitude of other commitments. Your life probably feels stressful and difficult to manage. I feel for you, as I'm in the same boat. But let's count our blessings and agree not to complain about it. Given everything we will go through in our lives, this will be easy and we'll come out fine in the end. Let's agree that these are good times and act accordingly. Happy holidays. (Originally posted 10/4/2013)
I should be busy grading right now, but this was too good not to write right now. I just finished a conversation with a student who plans on "leveling" the job offers received over the next few months. I think this is brilliant! Much like leveling subcontractor bids on bid day, you should be trying to figure out who is offering you the best "bid" in terms of value and scope coverage. I was recently a part of a committee that selected a general contractor for a local project. All of the GCs proposing on the project were of the highest quality and all were capable of performing the work. We needed to "level" their proposals to determine who was the absolute best. We looked at several factors, including base bid, fee, schedule, etc. to see who could perform the work the best in terms of the owner's goals. You can use similar tactics to determine which job offer (full time or internship) is the best for you. You are the owner of you career, so evaluate contractors like you're an owner. Base Bid: When looking at contractors, of course one of the first things owners are going to look at is how much the contractors think the cost of work is going to be. When contemplating a job offer, you should as well. The base bid a company offers you is your base salary. This is important, but it's not the only factor you should look at. Also, add any medical insurance offerings to the base bid. Most companies provide health insurance, so I would consider that part of the base bid. Fee: As owners, we we're particularly interested in how much each GC was charging to perform the project. This would be the money they hoped to take home when the project was complete, after all the costs were paid. In the job search, I would equate fee to any sort of bonus system a potential employer offers, whether it's the opportunity for cash bonuses or stock grants (many contractors are employee-owned businesses that issue stock to employees). This is the gravy on top of the base salary. General Conditions: This is the cost to perform the work. Owners like to see general conditions broken out in a bid to see if a contractor is larding up their bid with unnecessary overhead but also to see if there is adequate resources to manage the project. For you in your job search, what is a company offering you to ensure you can adequately perform your job? Common items include company vehicles (for full-time offers), gas allowances, cell phones, laptops, relocation expenses, housing stipends (if you are being asked to move temporarily to an out-of-town location), support for training and continuing education, etc. Each of these are common items that many contractors offer and they're all likely negotiable. Schedule: Obviously, as owners we want to know how long a contractor plans to take to build a structure. Similarly, you need to know how long it will take to build your career with each contractor that gives you a job offer. I think schedule needs to be assessed from two angles: Short duration: How long does my employer expect me to work per day? Is normal 8 hour days typical or is overtime expected (or mandatory! Remember, once you're a salaried employee, laws regarding overtime go out the door.). Do I get weekends off or is it expected that I'll be on call? You need to ask each potential employer these questions. A well known and successful general contractor told me in an info session that they expect PEs to be on call 24/7 and to expect to work 60 hours/week minimum. Other contractors are much more relaxed. You want to know these things before accepting a position. Long duration: How long will it take for you to grow into your next position, which should be a promotion? Some contractors have formal requirements for promotion ("you must be a project engineer for six years before moving to Assistant PM/super") while others let you progress at your own pace ("you become a PM when you prove you're ready"). If you have had a few years of internship experience and think you're hot stuff, you may have your own timeline as to when you want to get promoted. And there is a time/cost tradeoff. The faster you can make it to PM, the more money you can potentially make. The X Factor: This goes by many different names. On the committee I just sat on, we called it the "Charlie Factor" for reasons I don't know. But at the heart of it, it covers the intangibles and the qualitative stuff a company brings. For owners, we assess the team primarily (do we want to work with these guys?) You should do the same thing. What sense do you have that the people you will be working with are fun and have your best interests in mind? Remember, you will probably spend a lot of the interview process with HR people, but you won't be working with them. Ask to meet the project team you will work with. Ask to meet with you supervisor and your supervisor's supervisor. I can assure you, all the money in the world is not worth it if your boss is a jerk. On the flip side, less money may be worth it if your boss has your back. Construction is project-based. You want to make sure you are constantly a part of a project team or else you put yourself at risk for being laid off. There you have it: base bid, fee, general conditions, schedule, X factor. These are the basic metrics owners use to value a bid from a contractor and you should use them evaluate a job offer. Some owners put different weights on each of these metrics (e.g. base bid is 50%, fee 10%, GCs 5%, schedule 20%, X factor 15%). You can do this as well. Just as I say in class, cost always matters, so I suspect many of you will put most (all?) weight on the base job offer. It's natural to do so, but just like an owner or general contractor making a selection based solely on price, it's ripe with problems. Last thing: this advice applies AFTER you have received offers. You cannot compare and contrast offers until you actually have them. Don't start negotiating salary, company vehicles, etc. until after you have received an offer. Spoiler alert: if you get an offer, they like you. Probably a lot. That's the time to negotiate. |
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