I can hear the craftsmen grumbling again today

From the prefab housing units on the construction site, I can hear the workers grumbling again today.

"Being a site supervisor is pretty easy, isn't it?"

"My planning is so bad that I can't get any work done."

The complaints about the site supervisor just keep coming and coming...

It’s true that sometimes our planning is poor, and we site supervisors have to apologize. However, I also want to point out that there are contractors who are so quick to blame others that it’s exasperating.

You should be able to read the blueprints on your own, at least a little bit.

I truly hope that, as contractors, you will read the blueprints carefully.

Site supervisors aren’t idle. While managing the site, they’re simultaneously resolving various issues. In other words, they want to delegate tasks whenever possible.

While it’s part of our job to check points and elevations on-site, we’d honestly appreciate it if you could refrain from asking questions about dimensions that are clearly shown on the drawings. To put it bluntly, in this day and age, there’s no demand for contractors who can’t carry out construction work without being told exactly what to do.

Aren’t there just too many contractors who take it for granted that we site supervisors will be on-site around the clock, explaining every single detail? I even find myself thinking, “Please don’t shift the blame onto the site supervisor just because you can’t read blueprints.”

Is that really the site supervisor's fault?

There are some contractors who, whenever they open their mouths, say things like, “It’s because the site supervisor’s planning is poor,” and refuse to do their work. Their excuses are absolutely terrible.

Of course, it is our responsibility as site supervisors if a mistake on our part causes delays in material delivery or brings construction to a halt. However, there are also unavoidable situations—such as when certain steps are absolutely necessary for the construction process—that require us to ask the crew to wait a little while.

For example, in civil engineering projects, dump trucks are inspected before loading to verify that they are not overloaded. This is a necessary and important step in carrying out the work. However, when this is done, some people react negatively without thinking, complaining that “the work isn’t moving forward” or that “the planning is poor.”

The same goes for on-site inspections to verify progress. As construction proceeds, there are stages that simply cannot move forward without the client being present. Despite this, there are people who say, “The work has come to a standstill because the site supervisor’s planning is poor.”

Article on the God of ConstructionIt’s not exactly that, but I feel like saying, “Why don’t you try managing it yourself?” If I actually said that, though, it would just turn into a pointless argument where they’d say, “Why don’t you try doing the construction yourself?” so I’d rather not say it...

It’s not anyone’s fault, but there are definitely times when construction has to be halted for unavoidable reasons to ensure the work is carried out safely and securely. Is it really fair to blame all of that on the site supervisor?

It won't work unless both sides are willing to compromise.

I’m not trying to make excuses, but it’s no exaggeration to say that we site supervisors are most concerned about the direct labor costs that affect our craftsmen. After all, they’re doing such demanding work, so we want to set aside as much of the budget as possible for them.

However, depending on the nature of the construction work or the city hall’s cost estimate, there are times when you simply can’t pay the amount you had in mind. In situations like that, haven’t you ever encountered a company president who, as if turning on a dime, says, “That foreman is no good”? It really makes you feel sad.

It is an undeniable fact that when you can’t pay the amount you had hoped for on a construction project, you think to yourself, “Next time, I’ll make sure to assign a project with better terms.” However, the other party has no way of knowing this, and when you can’t pay the amount you had hoped for, you’re often judged as an “ineffective site supervisor”—regardless of how well you actually did your job.

On construction sites, there are still plenty of people clinging to outdated ideas, ridiculous “sports club”-style mindsets, and low levels of literacy. It might be easy to blame everything on the site supervisor’s planning, but is that really acceptable?

I hope more people will develop a mindset that’s a little more willing to compromise.