Any construction project managers in the house?

Industry/sector matters!

- There is good money to be made in the Energy Sector.
- Client or Contractor side.
- Permanent vs contract
- Corporate or field-base
- 40 vs 60-hr weekly package
- per diem vs taxable per diem vs no per diem



I have been wanting to return to SoFL (home) but the pay (and stress associated with big city traffic and chaos) keeps me rolling the dice on contract work where ever that work is.
I am currently North of Pitt.

But, if you don't mind being away or taking a risk with a short duration assignment, I say jump into the sector while you can.
Now, there I would could add additional commentary (but I can't find the Dungeon).

 

Arizona scale is about what pay is in Louisville for commercial/industrial PM's.

Bonus is what you need to be talking to them about. I had years in the 90's when my bonus was six figures.

 

Damn... I thought those guys made bank.

I don't know what the cost of living is in that area, but I wouldn't say that DFW is expensive. and a dog shit scooper can make 50+k and a company truck

One girl used to work here made 60 one year,but that was 6 days a week.

 

When I retired from my job and went back as a contractor PM, I figured my old salary plus for vacation, sick leave, insurance, bonus and then added 25% on top. The real key was I added straight time pay for overtime (ie no premium). As an employee I routinely worked 50 to 80 hours a week for no compensation. As a contractor I worked fewer hours and made MUCH more dinero. Of course no vaca pay or other stuff. My contract called for 3 days a week (Tues thru Thurs) during non-outage periods....every weekend was a 4 day weekend! I ended up managing 8 projects simultaneously on 24 hours a week. No BS meetings, no employee rally sh*t, just show up and work and go home. BEST JOB I EVER HAD.

 

I know a young woman who works as a construction project manager for KPMG. There's good money on that side.

 

I can make you a hellava deal on 6 ft commercial.

I'll have about 4000 ft coming down from a project that is ending

 

I have run my own crews for 25 years.
So yeah, changed a few diapers

 

Don’t ask us. If you are a great PM you are worth every dime. You will make them money and be an asset. 100k-125k easy. They can always back you down or tell you what they can afford.

But what is really in the comp package for you. Truck,401k,bennies,vacation,sick time, are you traveling? Or they gonna have you working 60 hours a week for 75k a year??

They have a number and you have a number... it has to be a win win negotiation!

 

So you know where I'm coming from... I'm one of the few main people responsible for a Capital program north of $2 billion a year at my company from a strategic planning and budget/forecasting, prioritizing, review of scopes/cost estimates, management, etc... point of view. I spend a lot of my day telling construction/project PMs what to do because a lot of them are grown children waiting to be told what to do and just go mindlessly execute, and picking holes in their plans/schedules/forecasts to manage cash flow and reality of message for the firm. We have 200+ on-going projects. Some are $400k, some are $400m. Some are as simple as... "we need to replace 100 of these items every year as they reach their useful life in a cycle", so manage the procurements, track the manufacturing and delivery, make sure they're on time and work right. Others are massive construction projects where you're organizing designs with engineers, compiling the procurement package specs to be bid on, reviewing bids and questions from numerous firms for procurements on complex major systems, wrangling permits with a dozen agencies, wrangling coordination with 6 other groups that need to be involved, managing the materials, the construction, the schedules, the forecast, everything... and there might be 300 people working on that project at any given time once its in full swing, inspectors, change orders, etc etc... It spreads the whole range.

To mimic some of the other replies... where are you? what industry? what kind of project? what's the scale of the project?

At our firm we have internal labor that are PMs, they'll run a project or multiple smaller projects and often have a team with 1 or more APMs, schedulers, coordinators to do a lot of the system/admin stuff, etc... and then Sr. Program Managers above them who manage multiple PMs/projects or an entire program, and directors above them. We also do a LOT of 3rd Party PM support for the bigger projects, where we still have an internal PM team, and then they get to hire an additional team from a consulting firm comprising of 4-12 people in some fashion.

The internal PMs are mostly in the range of about $110k-150k. 3rd Party similar, with some more senior hires getting near the $180-200k mark on their raw rates, but see a lot of $75-80/hr. on those. The add-ons we pay to these firms are insane though. Let's say you're paying $100/hr. for somebody as their base rate. We'll often see 160% overhead being charged as the norm these days, then 8% profit, then 8% "home office management"... so that dude that brings home like $200k for himself, we might pay like $500k or more to get him here for a year. MOST of our IT department is contracted labor. The ONE thing that they're super guarded about, that I probably could find out more if I really cared, is if you're a sub to a prime on one of these contracts, how much are they actually paying the sub and how much are they keeping. That $100/hr. person could be a sub or DBE, and so maybe they actually offer the guy $80/hr. and still charge us the $100/hr. Hard to say. But yea... keep in mind this is DC, so there's a cost of living factor there for sure, but hopefully that helps a little.

 

Miss Idahoe

 

I just got out of a Global radiation safety meeting and am thinking how awesome it would be to be in an exit interview and telling my manager that I am quitting to go be a poop scooper as there is less shit to deal with...

 

OK beeb, I have three superintendent offers I have to choose from. I was a self employed GC and framing contractor for 25 years before coming to central Texas earlier this year, so working for someone will be a change. (good and bad I suppose)
Offers
1. Large corporation (top 10 national builder)- tract home construction-best base pay and best benefits- Have to drive past Austin to current development.
2. Texas based family owned builder around for 90 years- build in rural areas- set work area that keeps me away from Austin completely- have to line up my own subs-least base pay but good bonus program-company truck and gas card-ok benefits- potentially highest pay if bonuses made
3. Truly custom builder- Supervise new ground up and high end remodels-most similar to my past work- base pay in between other two but probably least bonus potential- no benefits- remodels in & around Austin

The benefits and working for such a large builder is attractive to me for number 1, but I'm not sure I'm a corp man. Texas company seems great, but I'm trying to eliminate some stress and chasing down my own subs might be tough these days. That's part of why I'm not starting my own business here. Third builder is so close to what I was before moving, I'm just concerned about no benefits and long term outlook.

What says the beeb?

 

In my order:
#2. Family based company.
#3. What you did before... comfort area.
#1. Corporate = you are just a # in the big business Model???

 

tract builder could be profitable BUT whats the material situation like? Around here... the tract sups also have to handle the buyers as well as the subs. Then there is the confusion of what subs do what. Roofers dont nail decking or install underlayment... framers do. Who handles finishes? Can be a real cluster. Also Ive noticed buyers having a closing date set but the house isnt finished. Ive had sups begging for a CO... with no sinks, toilets, or HVAC finished.

 

All good points. Everyone i interviewed with described supply problems and labor issues. Sounds like framers are like unicorns here.

 

Which one drives you the furthest out of your comfort zone from a professional standpoint?

That’s the one I would choose as it will teach you the most and make you more valuable yet again.