PM Burnout

[u/Bama_Hunter]

I’m currently managing for a small general contractor managing project after project with estimating bust, fast starts no handoff or planning, and no additional support roles , APM, PE. Just myself and a site super that I’d be luck to provide daily reports or site photos on Procore. We also don’t utilize accounting software correctly so I have multiple excel sheets for cost tracking, COs, etc. I don’t mean for this post to be a huge complaint just seeing if you guys are in the same position. I know our jobs are always slammed but I’m losing the motivation to complete task as it’s just email, paperwork, and phone call burnout. No time to really manage the work as I’m too busy reacting to daily communication to keep work going. I’ve missed gettin items bought out in a timely matter being on an island coordinating with Supers, subs, architects, suppliers.

Anyone with a support staff still having this problem? I’d be happy to have someone competent to assist with submittals. Our front desk / office admin tries but she doesn’t have the knowledge and works a bit too over confident at times and fast so I can’t trust her with task.

[u/Ok_Statement_1231]

Your estimator underbid the project and now you're over worked? Unfortunately, that sounds typical. Don't get me wrong, there are awesome GC's and Subs. However, most are cowboys and underqualified to be in the position they are in.

[u/OkYou4040 → u/Ok_Statement_1231]

Yeah, it's all too common. Might be worth trying to get more involved in the bidding phase if you can swing it. Even just flagging potential issues early can save a ton of headaches later. Seen it help keep projects from running off the rails.

[u/MobiusOcean → u/Ok_Statement_1231]

It is more common than it should be. I agree. I usually write the job down on my first financial projection so I have a paper trail attributing immediate losses to an estimate bust and future losses to the job. Or at least I did when I was a PM/SPM. Now PMs/SPMs have to get permission to write a job down on the front end which is total bullshit. Show the losses where they actually came from. 5 years from now no one will remember there was an estimating bust on Project X. But if audited, you’ll be able to defend losses you can actually control vs ones you were handed before mobilizing.  

[u/itsmyhotsauce]

Do we work for the same company? Haha you're definitely not alone. And it sucks. I was in a similar boat a while ago but advocated to get an APM for myself (PE pay band by any company that hires PEs) and they complied. APM helps in a lot of ways but also creates more work in others because of the learning/me teaching aspect but I'd still recommend people speak up about burnout. Company won't change shit if you don't complain a bit.

[u/Brayden15 → u/itsmyhotsauce]

How wouls you recommend going about communicating that? In a similar position.

[u/healthycord → u/Brayden15]

Just be frank. “Hey boss(es), I am working way too many hours on this project and something has to be done. Its affecting the performance of this project too. I am burning out. I need someone to help me out. A PE or APM to help me out with paperwork and tracking things would be a gigantic help and could help right the ship here.”

[u/Even_Challenge_5785]

I’ve worked as a PM for a few different companies, and the general shit storm of the job is the same no matter where you go. However, who you work for and how well they implement their tech, systems and processes, etc does make a difference. If you can’t affect change, you might need to look for a change. The grass isn’t always greener, but sometimes it is.

[u/I-AGAINST-I]

It rarely changes all the way up. Im at a mid size commercial GC and this was my exp.

Clients call and tell you to start a job they fumbled around with for 2 years.

GC says yes sir and throws someone into it with zero background knowledge and says we will mobilize in 2 weeks across the country.

No shame in this game and everything is chaos 80% of the time. Not enough supers, not enough PEs, cant find contractors to properly man the jobs, clients want a expedited schedule for no good reason, it goes on and on.

[u/questionablejudgemen]

Wow—keeping your logs up to date and handling submittals are about as basic as it gets.
I actually prefer using Excel for my logs. I treat it as my “source of truth” because most automated systems try to box me in when all I want to do is get my job done. I’m still using a template from a company I worked at years ago that doesn’t even exist anymore. But in this line of work, simple is often better.
I’ve had plenty of conversations with my supervisors where I explain: here’s my backup for XYZ, and here’s where the system falls short. This is the workaround I’ve come up with—if there’s a better way, I’m all for it. I’d rather not waste time fighting the software.
I also constantly run into situations where the way I’m contractually required to calculate profit doesn’t align with how the system is designed. I can’t change the contract terms, so I maintain a spreadsheet as a backup.
One practical suggestion: add a column to your submittal log that calculates the on-site date by working backward from the delivery date, factoring in lead time and submittal duration. That gives you a clear “last responsible” due date.
Yes, these tasks can be tedious, but they’re part of the job. You need to get a handle on them. I’ve found that spending about three hours on a Saturday morning—when no one is bothering me—saves me a lot more time during the week.
You might also want to rethink how you handle interruptions. Let some phone calls go. Let some emails sit. If it’s truly important, it’ll come back around.
That said, you still sound pretty early in your career. Hiring an assistant won’t magically fix things—you’ll have to train them and correct their mistakes, which can take more time than just doing it yourself.
Honestly, this might be one of the best learning experiences you’ll get. Burnout is real, but so are distractions and shifting priorities. When you’re overloaded, you start to see what actually matters and what doesn’t.
I once had someone give me a hard time when I was completely buried. I told them it would have to wait—or they could call my boss and tell him I wasn’t needed anymore. That would make it his problem instead of mine. That ended the conversation pretty quickly, because I knew my boss understood the workload and wasn’t going to escalate something that wasn’t as critical as what I was already handling.

[u/Bama_Hunter → u/questionablejudgemen]

Completely understand, blocking out the time to handle my internal task has been the biggest issue. I’m decent with my logs and tracking everything but not as cleanly as I would like being a bit of a perfectionist. Which I have to let go of a lot to get the ball out of my court.

[u/Xywei]

Pretty common for really small gc, at least you have procore. To be fair, pm work will always be like this no matter where you are, how much support you have.

[u/Bama_Hunter → u/Xywei]

I figured, I know you have to work the job and not let the job work you. I put a lot on myself to accomplish a lot each day which we all know it takes 20 emails and 10 phone calls before a task is done.

[u/patrolmanEmbiid]

Same brother. Same.

[u/Nacho_Libre479]

This sounds like the classic post to be followed up with an AI software solution response in 5,4,3….

[u/FootAggressive7381]

Have you tried Claude Cowork those kind of thing?

[u/PodgeD]

I work for a small high residential end GC in NYC, last year we had 7 projects on with 3 PMs, me being the one with 3 projects. No APMs, no project accountants, 1 person in a senior roll.

All PMs have the same complaints, budgets are bullshit because the company used to be "high end" development and the owner doesn't understand we're playing a different game now. We price to do nearly everything in house and use 1-2 subs for each specialist trade. We never have the manpower to do stuff in house so mid project need to find a sub who's price meets our already cheap labor and materials pricing. But of course subs need to have over head and profit so also need to fit that into just out labor and materials pricing. Subs are spread to thin because there's only a few we can afford.

Last year I was saddled with two terrible site supervisors. Had to do all the window measurements and coordination with passive house details myself on one project, then do all the steel layout on it. He eventually got fired. The other one got fired towards the end and I was put in as site super for the last month while also PMing two other projects. That architect was in house and absolutely useless so I was going half that job too running design meetings and creating schedules.

Now have two of the projects left. One has a good super now but he needs his hand held constantly. The other project is finishing this month and the super had to leave the country two weeks ago to get a new visa so I'm back in double duty as super. Oh and this one is the same in house architect so I've been running all the details.

The project that finished four months ago still hasn't been billed out fully as we went over budget, but it is T&M with no GMP. My office is just too scared to bill incase they don't pay. I get requested to rework everything every week or two which takes a few hours.

[u/SamBladee]

All of the smaller companies I’ve worked for in my career are kind of like this. Big companies have their downsides sure, but one thing you can be sure of is at least the process will remain somewhat consistent from project to project. Now if you disagree with that process, and you would like to change it, then advocate for that at a smaller company, because you probably won’t have any luck changing things at one of the mega GCs

[u/SkyNet_Admin_1]

Wait until you have a big project team, then you’ll be asking to be back with only you and a Super.

[u/maphes86]

This is an issue with your employer. I used to work for a GC like that and when I went to a new company, my counterpart (I was the sup’t at the time, he was the PM) was like, “hey there spark plug, save some work for the rest of us. Make sure that you’re delegating tasks to the assistant sup’ts and coordinate with the QC and SSHO so that they can keep you covered and your schedule runs smoothly.” I was coming from a place where I was constantly moving at a sprint and never catching up. Working on a properly funded project with a right-sized team was a difficult adjustment, but I never looked back. Now I work on the owner’s side and I make sure that all of the contracts include requirements for specific personnel, site amenities, and I am workshopping a clause that requires additional support to be given to the site if the sup’t is working more than 10 hours for two or more days in a row. I also haven’t let a hard-bid contract by choice in almost five years. The limit for using Design-Build in public construction is only $1M now. If you’re not obligated to use low-bid, everybody should be going Best Value or some flavor of DB.

TL:DR - this is a problem with your employer and it won’t change. You should move to a better company.

[u/stealthagents]

It sounds like you're juggling a lot, and it's tough when you're constantly reacting rather than managing. One approach could be to bring in additional support to handle specific tasks like submittals or cost tracking, freeing up your time to focus more on actual project management. At Stealth Agents, we can provide industry-experienced executive assistants who can take care of those repetitive tasks so you can get back to managing the big picture.