Comments on: The Best Advice Ever Given by a Superintendent /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent Construction News by º£½Ç´óÉñ Thu, 29 Apr 2021 04:29:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 By: Jerry /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent#comment-15555 Thu, 29 Apr 2021 04:29:05 +0000 /jobsite/?p=4638#comment-15555 In reply to Roger Rambo.

Im 24 and in your position. im literally following your footsteps with a mentor just like May. everything you said hits the nail on the head. If you’re lucky enoguh to have a mentor, no matter how much of a dickhead he is. LISTEN to him, hes done it far longer than you and he went through what you are going through. With that being said, take matters into your own hands! in the end you’re there all day everyday, the PM only knows what you tell him. GO BIG OR GO HOME!

]]> By: Roger Rambo /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent#comment-15088 Wed, 07 Apr 2021 17:03:17 +0000 /jobsite/?p=4638#comment-15088 I have been in the construction industry for 34 years, with the reputation for being the best there is at my area of expertise. I am 3rd generation, and although born into construction “Royalty” in my field, I started as a helper and worked my way up to project Manager and have owned the company. (My fathers company shut down in the early 80’s. I started mine with 300 dollars to my name.)
At 27 i was made superintendent and then general superintendent of a general contractor from Magnolia, Texas. My boss, the project manager, at the time was a brilliant man who became a friend and mentor named Ben May (RIP) Ben had a style all his own. Everyone who ever met Ben was better for it. He told me when I hired on a great piece of advice. I have trained a a few hundred people since then, at least 50 superintendents, and have shared it with them all. He said there are two types of Supers. They type who does not make it- This is the guy who walks around with an attitude calling people down about gloves or tracking individual journeymen show up times instead of designating and trusting good foremen etc, and closing their eyes and ears to subs and saying “do it by the drawings, whatever they show”. These type do not make it. Architects and engineers, I am sorry to say, are not construction experts. Neither are most superintendents. They have their field, or area of expertise, and then they have subs. There is not enough time in a life time to learn what a guy who has done something for 30 years knows in 5 or six different fields!
So the ones who DO make it, are the ones who are friendly, good people persons with a razor sharp judge of character. They identify which people out of which craft really REALLY knows their chit, and that person becomes their go to guy for any questions pertaining to that field. If your mechanical contractor for instance brings you a problem with the drawings or a better solution than the drawings regarding the ductwork, LISTEN to him, consult your go to guy, have the balls to sign off the drawings and do it the experts way. Also, demand to get your go to guy from each field involved in the schedule making. Do not let your PM hand you a schedule, even though he is your boss, and say make this happen. You get one from your team, and go back to him and if the team says it wont happen, tell him “It wont happen, but here is what we can do weather permitting.” Have a good attitude and show major respect for the helper through general foreman.

]]> By: Remigio Amador /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent#comment-14044 Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:43:21 +0000 /jobsite/?p=4638#comment-14044 Great article thank you for this.

]]> By: Charles Robinette Jr. /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent#comment-10594 Fri, 25 Dec 2020 00:48:39 +0000 /jobsite/?p=4638#comment-10594 Thank you!! Many great nuggets in here!!

]]> By: Nick /jobsite/the-best-advice-ever-given-by-a-superintendent#comment-9339 Tue, 24 Nov 2020 16:31:15 +0000 /jobsite/?p=4638#comment-9339 Great article! Thank you!

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