Where would you find a Project Manager?

[Rick Baggenstoss]

I'm looking for some construction, project management experience, ability to write and maintain a plan, communicate often and electronically.

What kind of experience have you found to be most important?

[Aaron McGinnis]

Originally posted by @Rick Baggenstoss:

@Aaron McGinnis I'm ready for that beer.

Would you hire a woman for the role? Hoping to get you in trouble here. LOL

As always, you have great input. Regardless of age, a PM will need to be able to sort thru and manage a team of scenics, experts, con artists, transients, ... despite a huge gap in experience, age, and/or physical ability.

Then a good list of traits for the PM (which are harder to come by than knowledge) would be:

- Organized - They have to be naturally organized to be efficient and enjoy the role of keeping everyone else organized.

- Analytical Problem-solver -- Must be inclined to figure things out cause growing companies have lots of problems, as do projects.

- Commanding yet collaborative - can command respect from more experienced, more physically able workforce

- Resourceful - Inclination to get things done by tapping into resources (network of experts) vs. trying to address major issues without input

What would add?

By the way, I don't think age or sex are inhibitors to these traits. It's very possible to get these from younger/much older or from women.

@Karen Margrave Just started the process for evaluating Co-Construct, Buildertrend, and UDA Construction. Thanks for the tip.

Our office manager is a woman... she's also an old-school, experienced, and resourceful real estate pro who has worked as an agent, investor, and wholesaler. To say that she can get spicy when you get on her bad side is an understatement... one of the best things about her is her ability to deliver quick rebuttals when the guys get ham-handed.
She deals with vendors, subs, and the project managers on a daily basis. It's far from an easy job... requires a lot of resilience and mental toughness to make it through a normal day.

Reason she isn't a project manager is that she lacks the physical knowledge of construction. Also she has zero desire to engage in field work.

So I suppose the first thing I'd add to the list is simply this - mental toughness and emotional resilience. Bottom line is that construction is a business that will serve up a virtually endless cup of ******** on a daily basis, and someone who isn't capable of getting in touch with their inner Donald Trump isn't going to be effective... they're going to get run over the first time they deal with a vendor or sub who has a never-ending list of excuses as to why something didn't happen.

The second thing I'd add to this is physical toughness and/or physical resilience. I don't mean that this person needs to be able to lift a hundred pounds (Although that helps) or be capable of climbing tall ladders (Although that helps too)... I mean that this person needs to be able to deal with being outside in the rain, snow, heat, humidity, sun... able to cope with early mornings and sometimes late evenings. Able to take care of themselves so that they aren't getting sick, dehydrated, or overly exhausted.
In other words: A PM who can't bear to be outside when it's a hundred degrees in the shade isn't much use when the job requires you to be outside when it's a hundred degrees in the shade.
(This falls under the category of "Not an office job"!)
This is also partly about crew acceptance. A manager absolutely, positively, under no circumstances, can appear to be less able to deal with hot/cold/uncomfortable than the people he's managing. ("He" used generically here)

As a subcategory of 'organized', the person must be able to deal with the organization of time and logistical chains. Materials ordered a week too late can throw an entire project out of order and cost time and money. It seems obvious, but we've dealt with plenty of people who absolutely cannot read a calendar.

This person also needs to be able to read and comprehend technical documents. If using a hash table is confusing and/or scary, the person will be lost the first time they need to read the code book.

Some kind of physical-realm aptitude. This is probably the largest problem with hiring a college graduate who has never nailed anything together in his life. Construction is inherently physical at the level that things get assembled. The PM needs to at least know what the framing should look like, so they can evaluate whether or not it is being done correctly.

I suppose it should go without saying, but the person needs to be mentally plastic enough to learn the order of construction, materials, inspections, and the cornucopia of things that have to happen to get a house renovated or built.
This may be one of the biggest issues. The construction process is extremely mult-ifaceted and has a lot of ticky-tack details that have to be done just right... or face the consequences in cost.
I would think that the first 6 months, at least, you'd have to expect thousands of dollars worth of mistakes and limited value until the person really learned construction.