As a construction manager, you’ll play a pivotal role in residential or commercial construction projects, guiding them from inception to completion. Here’s what your role will entail:
- Estimating Costs and Planning: You’ll craft comprehensive cost estimates, budgets, and timelines to ensure smooth project execution.
- Contract Oversight: Scrutinizing contracts from third-party contractors to guarantee adherence to project specifications.
- Client Communication: Keeping clients informed at every stage, from project timelines to financial updates, ensuring transparency and satisfaction.
- Subcontractor Selection: Selecting subcontractors meticulously to align with project requirements and quality standards.
- Collaboration: Working closely with various professionals to foster seamless coordination and achieve project objectives.
- Quality Assurance and Safety: Maintaining strict oversight on quality, cost control, and safety measures throughout the project lifecycle.
- Contract Compliance: Ensuring thorough fulfillment of all contractual obligations while prioritizing client satisfaction and feedback.
By mastering these responsibilities, you’ll not only ensure project success but also foster enduring client relationships built on trust and excellence.
How to Become a Construction Manager
While it is possible to work your way up to a construction manager career, the more typical and marketable path is to go to college and take construction management. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Get your high school diploma or GED.
- While in high school, consider working in construction to see if it’s even something you’d want to do.
- Go to one of the many colleges offering a bachelor’s degree in construction management, construction science, building science, or construction engineering.
- If you only want to work on smaller projects, you may only need an associate’s degree combined with work experience.
- Get hired as an assistant, where you’ll work for a couple months to a few years being trained. But you’ll earn a paycheck, as well.
Certifications for Construction Managers
For construction managers, certifications are completely voluntary. But if you really want to make an impression on hiring managers, the more, the merrier. Certifications translate to proficiency and competency, two things that are highly sought after in the field. Two associations offering certifications to construction managers are:
- Construction Management Association of America: To be eligible for this certification, you must have four years of construction management experience, along with either a bachelor’s degree in a qualifying field, or an associate’s degree plus four years experience, or no degree but eight years in general design or construction.
- American Institute of Constructors: Two levels of certification are available.
- Associate Constructor (AC) Level 1: If you have recently graduated from a four-year construction management program, this level is for you.
- Certified Professional Constructor (CPC) Level 2: If you have a few years of project oversight, and you are established in your field, then this is the certification exam you would take.
How Much Money Do Construction Managers Make?
A construction manager salary will depend on where they work and how much experience they have under their belt. According to the 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national mean for construction managers was $116,960. Entry-level salary is closer to $64,480, but construction managers who have been working for close to ten years are earning approximately $172,040 or more. Heavy and civil engineering construction jobs pay the highest salary.
Many construction managers earn bonuses on top of their salaries, but bonuses depend on how much business they bring in.
Construction Management Job Forecast
The population is growing, and with it comes the need for new buildings and homes. Which, in turn, creates more jobs in the construction industry, including construction managers. Employment is expected to grow 5 percent through 2032, which is slightly faster than the national average growth for all occupations. If you have the proper degree and experience, along with those certifications, then you should be highly employable.
Construction efforts are growing, new structures are being built, and old ones are being rebuilt. Because the building business is doing well, companies are looking for construction managers to head up the vast amount of projects being taken on.
Are you a construction manager who would like to add insight to this discussion? Use the comment area. You may leave a link to your business as a reference to your work.
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