Is Construction Management a Good Career Path?

Is Construction Management a good career path? There’s no easy answer to that question. It depends on your skills, interests, and goals. But if you’re considering a career in construction management, here are some things to think about.

Construction management is a challenging and rewarding field. It demands creativity, teamwork, and attention to detail. If you’re interested in working with your hands and enjoying a varied work schedule, construction management might be a good fit for you.

On the other hand, construction management can be stressful and demanding. The work is often deadline-driven, which can lead to long hours and pressure to meet deadlines. If you’re not prepared to handle stress or change, this might not be the right career choice for you.

In this guide, we will take you through some of the crucial factors to help you decide if construction management is a worthy career for you. So let’s not waste more time, and begin our discussion right away.

What Does a Construction Manager Do?

Construction managers are tasked with some of the most crucial responsibilities to get construction projects accomplished. Some of the duties that a construction manager performs are:

• Preparing cost estimations and devising an overall budget for construction projects
• Coordinating with other technical experts and professionals for scaling projects to the heights of success
• Works in partnership with engineers and architects
• Effectively negotiates construction contracts
• Ensures safety of construction workers
• A construction manager selects and coordinates the most appropriate subcontractors
• Take care of uncertain emergencies and stabilize the project’s performance under stressful circumstances
• Conveys technical information to the professionals for a smooth transition of work phases
• Construction managers align project work according to laws and regulations

Top Reasons to Start a Career in Construction Management

Have you ever considered a career in construction management? If not, you may be missing out on some great opportunities. Here are the top reasons to start a career in construction management today:

1. Numerous job opportunities
2. Earn a good pay
3. Job security
4. Work that excites you
5. Work that is rewarding
6. Rapid progression in your career
7. Enhance your leadership skills

1. Numerous Job Opportunities

Choosing a career path is just one thing while finding a job is another. There are many popular professions, but they lack vast job opportunities. That can include factors like high competition or less infrastructure to support a particular profession.

Thankfully, construction management is one of the thriving professions in the workspace. According to many job surveys, there are more construction management job opportunities than in recent years. Building new infrastructure is a constant process and this is something that contributes to this factor.

2. Earn a Good Pay

If you want your extra efforts to be acknowledged at work, construction management is a bright option. A construction manager’s tough efforts are consolidated by a handsome construction management salary. This is one of the reasons to consider construction management as your next career path.

Besides, salary percentages can vary depending upon your geographical situation. But construction managers do get work appreciation and good pay almost everywhere around the world.

3. Job Security

Job security is one of the dominating factors to choose construction management as your next bright career path. Many career professions don’t guarantee job security which keeps employees in a stressful state of mind. But construction managers have this liberty.

Constructing new structures is like a continuous process. Therefore, every construction requires professional supervision that construction managers can provide. So there is a constant demand for construction managers everywhere in the world. That ensures complete job security at the end of the day.

4. Work that Excites You

If you crave excitement and challenges at the workplace then construction management can be an amazing career path for you. It is all about managing work affairs that take place in  outdoor environments. People who take over such job titles are considered to be more active and healthy than people working in contained environments. So, such benefits count when it comes to both construction management jobs.

5. Work that is Rewarding

Construction managers are responsible for the coordination and supervision of construction projects. They work with architects, engineers, and other professionals to ensure that projects are completed on time, within budget, and according to specifications.

Construction management is a rewarding career for those who are interested in overseeing the construction of buildings and other structures. Those who enter this field can expect to find career growth opportunities and job security. In addition, construction managers often enjoy a high level of satisfaction from seeing their projects come to life.

6. Rapid Progression in Your Career

Construction management is a career that offers many opportunities for rapid progression. With the right skills and experience, you can move up quickly through the ranks. It is certain that you will achieve a lot of opportunities when it comes to the construction management job profession. You will not be stuck to a single project. You’ll get to deal with different challenging projects all the time.

7. Enhance Your Leadership Skills

Managing a construction project is one of the ways to improve your leadership skills. You are basically undertaking a project with individuals working under your capacity. Therefore, leading workers make a lot of difference in that regard. A career in construction management can be very rewarding, but it requires a lot of hard work and dedication.

Duties and Responsibilities of a Construction Manager

It takes a lot to acquire a construction manager position in the work field.  In this section, we are going to highlight some of the major duties and responsibilities of a construction manager. Some of the responsibilities and duties of a construction manager are:

• Devising cost deliverance and overall cost of an ongoing project
• Ensuring flow by keeping on-site and off-site construction safety into account
• Delivering a construction project from paper to a concrete form
• Getting the project’s quality control program into action
• Preparation of construction project’s delivery and schedule
• Taking care of land acquisition along with material supply support
• Creating project progress report to ensure maximum output

Construction Manager Salary in Canada

If you are curious about the actual salary of an individual with a career in construction management, this section is just for you. A construction manager’s job salary varies in different cities when it comes to Canada.

Here is an estimated pay scale of a construction manager job in Canada:

• Vaughan, ON: ($109k) per year
• Calgary, AB: ($87K) per year
• Regina, SK: ($84K) per year
• Toronto, ON: ($83k) per year
• Concord, ON: ($75k) per year
• Edmonton, AB: ($75k) per year
• Kingston, ON: ($71k) per year
• Vancouver, BC: ($68k) per year

Educational Requirements of a Construction Manager

Every profession demands a certain skill set to empower performance in the work field. In the case of construction management, it is clear that a lot more is required than just education. So let’s see what construction managers must possess to thrive.

Education/Degree

An individual will be required to have a bachelor’s degree in business, construction, or engineering. Acquiring a construction management degree ensures that an individual can perform best in his capacity when it comes to construction management tasks.

In addition, applying candidates can also acquire helpful business-related courses for a better impression. Besides that, an associate degree that comes with some sort of experience is valid for leading small project types. Therefore, degrees and work experience play a vital role to determine your position in this field.

So if you are determined to lead large projects, you must acquire at least a bachelor’s degree or masters in construction management. Work experience comes with time and that is something you can’t explain through the paperwork.

Skills & Competencies of a Construction Manager

To be successful in this role, you need to have a variety of skills and competencies. Now we will discuss some of the key skills and competencies that are essential for success in the construction management field:

• Flexibility in project planning
• Tackling work risks
• Expense management
• Technological capabilities for innovations
• Leadership skills
• Organizing workflow
• Leading industry knowledge
• Communication skills

A construction manager must feature these skills to prove themselves in the work field. Moreover, leading construction projects demand such skills in a construction manager to expect a better output at the end of the day. Therefore, these skills can improve your standing in the construction management field.

In-Demand Cities for a Construction Manager in Canada

Well, if you are in Canada or you are planning to move there, it is crucial to know about in-demand cities for construction management jobs. This will let you find the best possible opportunities as a construction manager in the field. So let’s go through the list of these cities below:

• Toronto
• Vancouver
• Montreal
• Ottawa
• Calgary
• Edmonton

The above-mentioned cities are inundated with the construction manager’s demand. So if you can move to one of these cities as a construction manager, you will earn a lot.

Conclusion

The article covers an overview of a career in construction management. We even went over education requirements, skills, competencies, and even the pay scale of construction managers in Canada. We also have covered a separate guide on why to choose a career in construction you can check.

Overall, this article provides a good overview of whether or not construction management is a good career path for you.

If you want to learn more about working in construction management, check out our other articles on this topic. We have plenty of resources that can help you make an informed decision about your career. Thanks for reading!

The Primus Workforce team is proudly built on hands-on industry knowledge and experience.