Let's hope so, because it's a great way to spend your working life! Er, er, er… well, it is if you like that sort of thing!
Some of us always seem to have suffered seasonal disadvantages. Stuck outdoors, in the wind, rain and mud during the winter. Stuck inside during sunny summer days when it would be great to be outside! Could you handle it? Okay, just kidding.
Public perception of construction professionals varies greatly from country to country. Depending on where you live and work, you may be looked down upon or considered wonderful.
Crazy but true! Could you handle everything you experienced?
Then there are actually the characteristics of commercial construction to look out for and consider.
Because there is always a lot of money involved, everything has to happen NOW. Decisions cannot be postponed. If any discussion or research is needed, rather than just deciding instantly, it has to happen quickly!
Do you think you have the ability to make instant decisions? It seems like a lot of people don't!
So what happens when we arrive at a construction site? No two projects are the same. Each of them is very complex, and to make matters worse, different material technologies are used, it seems, in each of them!
So we have no idea what will happen with things like the weather or if customers change their minds. This means a few things for anyone thinking about getting into commercial construction.
- You have to be infinitely flexible and adaptable, dealing with every change that is presented to you!
- You have to accept that you are not, cannot and will never be an omniscient expert! You have to quickly figure out who the right person is to ask!
Do you have that “suck it and see, then make it up as you go” ability that construction requires?
Now let's take a look at the website we are on. Nice big one with 1,000 men working there . All the rough and tough brigades with dirty nails regarding which (precisely regarding the administration) public perception varies from country to country. I myself respect them for the skilled traders they are.
However, whether you are on that site as a site engineer with just a few of these guys below you, or as a project manager who everyone reports to;
something is expected of you!
This is not something any of us can claim for ourselves; It has to be recognized by those below us.
Do you think you could develop leadership qualities that everyone would admire?
Assuming the answer to all of the above questions is “Yes”, we will move on. You take on senior management roles in commercial construction and the project team we need to think about gets bigger and more complicated!
It includes the Client, its Consultants, those responsible in the Public Sector, as well as local staff. Being able to get these young men and women to recognize you as Project Team Leader is another step forward, but a very long step! Ready to consider taking that step?
But don't get carried away by any of that! The great satisfaction you get from commercial construction is finishing a project but being able to go back, look and say;
“I built this!”
We all just start at the beginning and progress upwards, in slow steps, as our experience progresses, and only as far as it suits us personally! Going into commercial construction puts us in a small minority of very special people!
We are the ones who build the world for everyone to live in!
