Construction Management Is a Job People Dislike
"Construction management is a job that nobody likes." A senior colleague once told me that. As a new hire at the time, I found it shocking, and I still remember how stunned I was.
As time has passed, now that I’m in charge of my own construction site, I think I’ve come to understand what the job of construction management is all about. I can certainly see why some people might find it an unpopular job.
Sometimes, we have to make unreasonable demands on subcontractors for the sake of the company’s profits. Sometimes, we have to handle complaints from local residents ourselves to maintain our construction evaluation scores. In those situations, the construction management team is the first to become the target of their complaints and grievances.
However, it’s also true that there are construction managers who, when a problem arises, will say, “I’ll let you off the hook this time because it’s you.” Such construction managers are well aware of the behaviors that draw criticism and take care to avoid them.
In this article, I’ll explain the key points that make a construction manager unpopular.
Verification takes too long, resulting in rework
I’ve had an experience where, even though changes to the structure occurred on-site, the notification came too late, and the workers ended up starting construction based on the original design.
To be precise, it was a mistake made by my senior construction manager, but naturally, the workers who had already assembled half of the formwork were quite angry. In the end, they even went so far as to say, “We’ll never work with that supervisor again!”
People who fail to ensure that changes and important tasks are properly discussed—resulting in work having to be redone or, in the worst case, bringing operations to a halt—should be watched closely.
He stays cooped up in the site office and never comes out to the job site
This happens more frequently as a company grows larger. Because the administrative work at the site can’t keep up, they end up staying cooped up in the site office all day long, working. The only times you see the construction manager are at the morning meeting, the lunchtime meeting, and when the client visits the site.
I believe it’s best to be out on the job site as much as possible. You need to see for yourself what the situation is like there, and issues that junior construction managers can’t handle almost inevitably come up every day on site. Junior managers may even find that when they ask the on-site workers for help, they’re brushed off.
At times like these, there are situations where you must take responsibility and convey information directly from the site manager or a senior construction supervisor. If you fail to do this, the gap between you and the craftsmen will only widen, and your relationship with them will likely deteriorate.
I caused trouble, but I can't bring myself to apologize
There’s no end to the list of things that make people dislike you, but what really matters is how you act after you’ve made a mistake. There are construction managers who can’t bring themselves to apologize even when they’ve caused trouble through their own fault. It’s only natural that people would dislike them.
Whether someone makes a mistake but doesn’t run away and says, “I’m sorry, I’ll be more careful next time,” or doesn’t—the way the craftsmen respond afterward changes depending on that. It’s precisely when a mistake has been made and the atmosphere is awkward that I make a point of going out to the worksite to communicate with them.
When I was younger, I was yelled at many times because of my poor planning. To be honest, there were times when I wanted to run away, but I didn’t. Whenever I made a mistake, I apologized sincerely, stayed on the job site, and kept communicating with the craftsmen at all times.
As a result, when the construction was finally finished and they told me, “We went through a lot, but I’m glad it was you who did the work!” I felt happy, as if my hard work had been recognized.
...Construction management is a job that people tend to dislike—and that may well be true. However, in a work environment where people dislike you so much that they won’t even speak to you, it goes without saying that you can’t get any work done.
It’s best to avoid doing things that might make people dislike you, but if you do end up being rude to someone, be careful about how you handle the situation afterward.
