Recently my company held what we call our margin verification review meetings to look at some of the most pressing issues at projects at our core offices. A common theme we found was that general contractors are not managing projects nearly as well as they could. A problem is that these GCs are hiring younger managers who don’t have the experience to take charge of these projects. As a result, specialty trade subs like us in the wall and ceiling sector and other trade partners are now taking on more responsibility—and ultimately the risk to drive these projects forward.
To help solve the problem, we are putting more emphasis on partnering with other trades on jobs where the GCs aren’t bringing everyone together as a team. We also want to develop partnerships with general contractors to help them solve this issue together, so we can all be successful as a team.
This problem stems from the fact that there simply aren’t a lot of experienced managers in the market. Many who do have the necessary experience are now further in their careers, and their replacements are often recent graduates from management programs; they might have the technical know-how, but they lack the experience to successfully manage large, complex projects.
I appreciate that AWCI’s incoming president, Johnny Barnes, took the initiative to invite 12 construction management students from the University of Florida to attend our recent annual convention in Florida. The students learned a lot, not only about the career opportunities but how our industry works from union, non-union and manufacturers’ and suppliers’ standpoints. I believe this type of initiative creates opportunities for the next generation coming up, and I am pleased that we are putting it on the agenda for future AWCI meetings. Hopefully we will get some of these young people to eventually enter our Emerging Leaders Program.
Attendance at Build24: AWCI’s Convention + Expo was higher than it has been for many years, and for good reasons: There was a wealth of educational sessions, show floor exhibitors and opportunities to network.
Until next time, I hope everyone stays busy and stays safe.
