CATEGORY | Construction Management

Is Construction Management A Good Career Path?
Career Planning

Is Construction Management A Good Career Path? The Pros & Cons

Every year, college graduates from a variety of fields enter the field of Construction Management. While this includes people who’ve majored in C.M., the influx of new workers also includes engineers, architects, business/management students and more. By choosing the Construction Management career path, many of these students end up drifting slightly from the field they actually studied. Why is that? What made them choose Construction Management over something else? Is Construction Management a good career path? In this article, we’re comparing the pro’s and con’s of working in C.M. Enjoy!

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Does Construction Management Require Math? The 5 Ways You'll Need It
Construction Management

Does Construction Management Require Math? The 5 Ways You’ll Need It

The business of Construction Management consists of professionals from a variety of disciplines. Whether they’re life-long tradesmen, engineers, architects, PMP-certified project managers or business professionals, construction managers are ultimately responsible for the same end result. Because of this, they must have a diverse skillset with a variety of abilities. The prospect of relying on one skill in particular makes a lot of people nervous – math. Does construction management require math? In this article, we’re discussing the five ways that math is needed in C.M.!

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The Difference Between Construction Managers And General Contractors
Construction Management

The Difference Between Construction Managers And General Contractors

The terms Construction Manager and General Contractor are often interchanged in conversation. While both parties are involved in the general management of a construction project, they’re actually very different from one another in regards to responsibilities, liabilities and costs – even the employees’ focuses and priorities will be different. Today, we’ll explore the difference between Construction Managers and General Contractors, along with the reasons that developers choose one over the other.

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Construction Management

Being A Construction Manager: Here’s An Hourly Breakdown Of A Day In The Life

Much of what you find online related to project management is theoretical. Examples feel like they’re straight out of a laboratory, lacking real-world context and reliability. Our website isn’t exempt – many of our articles related to project management and construction management are academic in presentation. While we try to provide as much context and as many examples as we can, we feel the need to create something a bit more relatable for our readers. Construction is a field that everyone can relate to in some way. Perhaps they had a new home built at some point, or were fascinated watching a huge mega-project in full-swing, cranes and all. Those of us pursuing engineering, business or a design field like architecture begin to wonder: What is it like being a construction manager? In this article, we’re focusing on a day in the life of a theoretical project manager in construction.

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Why Are Lessons Learned Important In Project Management?
Construction Process

Why Are Lessons Learned Important In Project Management? Here’s Why

When a project is finally complete, most people want to enjoy the result and then move on, even when the project goes well. Although the idea of new projects becomes alluring at this point, it’s the perfect time to reflect back on the finished project with 20/20 vision. Even on successful projects, there are things that could’ve gone smoother. There are also portions of it that go much better than expected. So why are lessons learned important in project management? Here are a few benefits of this.

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How Do You Organize Project Documentation? A Few Must-Know Methods
Construction Documents & Templates

How Do You Organize Project Documentation? A Few Must-Know Methods

Take a look at every job listing for companies seeking a Project Manager. Two of the requirements that every company wants to see in a candidate are excellent organization skills and attention to details. This is for good reason – successful projects MUST be well-organized. Details get lost, efficiency drops and mistakes are made when project documents aren’t organized. Not to mention that files serve as legal documents that must be retained for some time after the project is done. How do you organize project documentation, then? In this article, we’ll discuss 10 must-know methods for organizing project documents the right way.

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Our Comprehensive List Of 25 Ways Contractors Lose Money
Construction Management

Our Comprehensive List Of 25 Ways Contractors Lose Money

Construction is a high risk, high reward business. While working on a job site is high risk from a safety perspective, the industry as a whole carries a high financial risk for contractors. With this risk comes the chance to make large profits when successfully completing projects, but the chance to lose a tremendous amount of money, too! Many contractors declare bankruptcy each year, while others barely cover their costs with little left to show for it. Other contractors do exceptionally well. So why do some contractors run into financial issues? This article will be solely focused on a comprehensive list of ways contractors lose money!

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Construction Documents & Templates

Change Order Best Practices: What Contractors & Clients Need To Know

Let’s start this off with a picture of two boats: one is a large, expensive boat and the other an inflatable dingy the owner uses to ferry out to the big boat from land. The small dingy is named “original contract” while the large, luxurious boat is named “change order”. I first saw this picture in college and laughed, but didn’t quite understand. After working for many years on a variety of commercial projects, it makes a lot more sense. While this picture is funny but obviously way off scale, the point is clear. Regardless of what the original contract consists of, projects can be made or broken by change orders – that goes for clients AND contractors! In this article, we’ll be discussing a variety of change order best practices that will benefit both owners and contractors alike.

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How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively
Construction Process

How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively? Our Top 10 Techniques

In a perfect world, a Project Manager would be given exactly one project at a time. We could put all of our attention and energy into getting the project completely finished before we even think about the next one. As you and I both already know, though, this world is far from perfect. People leave or get fired. New project opportunities pop up out of nowhere. Projects get delayed well beyond their original timeframe. Companies stretch resources. Busy times call for juggling. Some projects are just too small to require a full-time P.M. If you work in project management long

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Importance Of Negotiation In Project Management
Construction Process

Importance Of Negotiation In Project Management, With Examples

Life is full of negotiations. If we look closely enough, we can find strands of negotiating in nearly every situation we find ourselves in. Whether it be choosing a restaurant, debating opinions with friends or convincing a kid to eat their vegetables, we can find ourselves in a negotiation without even realizing it. In the world of project management, contracts and big-picture discussions come to mind when the word “negotiate” arises. This is not where a project manager’s negotiation skills end, though. I guarantee that every project manager is involved with at least one negotiation per day, even if it isn’t seen as one. So why is it such a necessary skill for PMs? In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of negotiation in project management!

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About This Topic

Browse dozens of articles dedication to popular Construction Project Management topics. The topics we write about include construction management best practices, working as a contractor, how to run a construction project, managing construction documentation, job site safety, construction finances, free construction Excel templates and more. Explore our Construction Management archive for tons of free information!