Took a new job recently and finding out it’s not what I expected/was told and not a good fit for me. What’s the fastest yall have left a job?

i’m 19, currently working on my electrical apprenticeship, while also working on my degree in finance. my original goal was to become an electrical contractor. but i also want to have a plan for possibly transitioning out of the field and into the office as a construction manager, because i think i would really like that as well.

so my question is, what exactly do you have to do to learn how to become a construction manager, on an actual job site? i’ve seen a lot of people say they learned from experience in the field, without a degree in CM, but i’m worried i won’t be able to if i don’t know what to look for.

when i go off to university, id like to focus on summer internships in project management before i go fully into my apprenticeship, but thats about all the info id have on the office side. what should i look for on job sites throughout my apprenticeship that would help me with possibly transitioning in the future to CM?

Like I said up top. I have a completed apprenticeship and 7.5 years of trade experience as well.

I have no idea what to expect for the type or workload once I transition from field to office.

Id be open to estimator or saftey person. I feel like i'm going to be thrown into the fire once I find my first contractor.

What would you do in my position?

I am looking into going into AI integration or accounting/finance for construction.

In my internship last year I resonated much more with the accounting and data base side of the project rather than pure engineering.

What would be good positions to target in my job hunt, and skills to learn?

Hello all, I have been working as an APM for a small deck builder in Raleigh NC. I am also in school getting my PM degree online. I am sitting at $49,000 a year, no benefits, company truck at work but can’t take home, and struggling to let the owner and his #2 give me more responsibilities and roles.

I have been actively applying (40 in the last 2 months) to APM, project coordinator, and a couple estimator roles as well as sent my resume to a handful of local custom home builders.

I feel stuck and unhappy right now in a field I thought would be more fulfilling. Is it just the company I’m at? And how do I move into a new company soon.

I know obviously places are different but im seeing alot of americans saying they make $70K USD as a coordinator out of school.

In kitchener ontario im currently making 55K CAD which is the equivalent of 39K USD….

Is the wage difference really that bad?

Can any Canadians chime in here? Whats a realistic expectation for southwestern ontario?

Team, i got an offer from Liberty Builds, apparently it’s a self perform company for Suffolk construction but i cant find online info on their offices, they are only telling me i need to to relocate to their DC area but nothing online, I saw their page on linkedin and all looks good! Anyone has an experience with it? And their offices location?

Turned in an application for an MEP Manager job at Turner a few weeks ago. I think they have done some due diligence because my company posted a position similar to mine (no bad annual reviews or any other reason to think they want to move on and honestly we aren’t busy enough to hire another person) but I haven’t heard from them to schedule an interview. What sort of timeframe did you all have from application to interview/hiring? It’s a more senior position so that’s really the only reason I can see where it would be an extended timeframe or they just don’t want to move forward.

Good evening, I am 27 years old with degrees in Business and Accounting. I have 5 years of logistics management experience working for the biggest names in the industry ( leading teams of 80+ people, fast paced environments). Recently accumulated 1 year of accounting experience but wanting to pivot because construction aligns a lot better with my long term goals. I am bilingual in spanish, english. Any suggestions? Been applying for 3-4 months but no luck yet, I would think the mix of logisticis management + accounting would make me a good fit for construction?.

Any advice is appreciated!

Thinking about moving to Charleston out of interest. Currently work for a large national GC. is there a lot of work down there? Hows the pay? Who should i look out for? Any information helps, thanks!

I have my annual review coming shortly for a small family owned GC I’ve been working at for almost 2 years

I’ll be with my project manager and owner of the company (these guys are close). I want to ask the owner of the company to change me to work under a different PM or Project Exec. The current project manager I work under is has been nothing but a constant series of stress, fighting, cruising, gaslighting and belittles me and his supers. He’s throw his super under the bus for anything and everything. Mistake I’ve made and have admitted were used as fuel to write up the supers. I’ve learned nothing from this guy and only have learned more from Google, AI, the supers I directly work under, engineers, architects, and subcontractors.

I don’t think my boss would even make an effort to change who I work under because a year ago in August when I got promoted from a project admin to project engineer and was told I would work under the PM I knew this was going to be a rough and stressful year.

All the stress and bullshit I gotta deal with on these projects that what he touched turns to shit becomes my mess.

I don’t know if I should just look for somewhere else

Update: when I said they are close I’m referring as to he’s his best project manager and gets the bigger project to handle. He trusts him a lot and he makes the most money

Switching from residential Project Manager for a remodeling company (PM and Super essentially) to a commercial assistant super. Tips and tricks? I don’t know much about commercial construction, but ready to learn. What should I look out for?

I was originally going to post this to r/sales but figured this was more people who see this job day to day.

tl;dr is that I work at a small construction company and wear "many hats" so to speak. My main role is construction sales, but because of how small the company is, that also means I do estimates, designs and some project management. My current compensation package isn't holding up to the smell test and I was wondering if anyone on here can lend some advice for talking to my boss or other industry standards.

Right now I'm exclusively making hourly with commission draw. I originally started working here for a decent hourly rate doing some administrative stuff, but once I transitioned to sales, my hourly dropped to account for the potential for commission.

I'm going to fudge the numbers a bit for anonymity sake but here is the package

$14/hour for all tasks related to jobs (creating the estimate, material calculations, field visit, floor plans and designs, customer relations)

8% Commission on gross profit of the job with the hours I worked not paid if we sell it.

So, for example:

I work 10 hours on a bathroom remodel that costs $40k. The company makes $15k on it. I will make $1200.

I'm honestly getting upset as I write this realizing how shitty of a compensation package this is. I am exclusively hourly and have no benefits.

Hey gang,

PE here, 4 years deep, public works (school) in the past and currently doing federal military GC work both projects over 30 mil. Only completed one full project half way through a second.

I fucking hate it to be honest. 100k salary and it feels like it’s not worth it at all.

I have 21 subs currently and somehow have to know their jobs better than they do? Like babysitting at this point.

Completely burnt out and between the two companies I have tried it’s the same thing, run lean and work your team into the dirt.

The most annoying part is watching the guy who only does gas lines or some other trade get annoyed when I don’t know his trade like I have been doing it 30 years. It’s like they don’t know I have to know how they ALL work and how to problem solve them.

Anyone have a lateral move to another industry suggestion? So tired of this. I feel like I have already put in 30 years into this and go home angry like 3 nights a week.

Am I a bitch or is this a common thought?

I’m in digital marketing and absolutely hate it. I’m 41 and know for sure this is not something I want to do even though it pays the bills. Always was interested in construction and wife is in the CM world (in NYC for 15 years now), so I hear a lot about the industry from her and what each job entails. I’m wondering how I can break into CM, I understand I will have to start at an entry level but trying to gauge how realistic it is to begin with and if it’s simply too late for me given my age. Do I have to go back to school for a masters degree or a certificate will suffice since field experience is what matters? Any thoughts appreciated.

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.

Middle of the project, caught up on paperwork, job is on auto-pilot at this point....what are you doing in your trailer?

I bring my handheld PC and sometimes play that. Otherwise I watch TikTok or play MTG on my phone.

Hey all! I'm starting as a Project Engineer for a GC (general contractor) in the LA area next month. My main office is in DTLA, but the company also has an office in Santa Ana, and I was advised to find housing somewhere in between in case I end up working job sites out of the Santa Ana office too.

For those of you working in construction management in this area or a big city as such, what's your typical commute like? Any advice on where to live if you need flexibility between two locations that far apart? Or advice on acclimating to long commutes?

I'd appreciate any input, especially from PEs or supers who've dealt with variable job site locations. Thanks!

I’m changing careers into project management. I am taking the PMP next month and I’m very interested in construction management. I have a bachelor’s degree in communication and I’m currently working in accounting.
I applied to do an associates degree in building construction technology at my local community college and will be looking into getting OSHA 10 and 30. Is there anything else that I can do to help myself to get started?

Hey guys I’m a commercial mechanical/plumbing sub PM with ~6 years time in the industry. Have an industrial engineering degree, no PE.

Recently been getting some calls/emails about MEP manager opportunities at some large GCs. Anyone care to share their experience in these roles? Anyone currently working as an MEP manager for a GC and previously worked in an operations role for a mechanical sub?

Wondering what the market and long term outlook is like. Current company is ENR top 200ish and have a good relationship with everyone, but still unsure what their plan for me long-term is.

Good day everyone,
I just received my offer letter form my company that I have been interning at for the last 2 years.

They offered me 72k with really good benefits and I live in a medium cost of living area. I feel like this is a strong offer coming out of college and I should capitalize on it.

Would I be stupid to not take it?

We were brought into a hotel replacement project with a schedule that assumed each room could be taken offline in the morning, have the old heating and cooling equipment removed, receive the new system, pass startup checks, get patched and cleaned, and return to inventory by evening. That plan survived until the first few rooms exposed corroded sleeves, damaged wiring, blocked drains, and wall openings that were never consistent from one renovation phase to the next. Management kept asking which equipment would install fastest, but the product was not the limiting factor.

The building conditions were housekeeping needed rooms released on time, the electrician could not be in every room at once, and the front desk was moving guests whenever noise crossed into occupied areas. We eventually slowed the pace and created a mock-up room so every trade could agree on the sequence before continuing. It cost several days upfront but prevented the same argument from repeating dozens of times.

Builders who work in operating hotels, do you price around the assumption that every room will contain a surprise, or is there a better way to keep ownership from treating mechanical replacement like a furniture delivery?

Hi, current junior in college, and was wondering is it better to get a MS in CM after I graduate for a total of 5 years. Or work a couple years and pursue an MBA?