WHAT DOES A CONSTRUCTION DIRECTOR DO?
Published: September 27, 2024 – The Construction Director ensures the safe and compliant delivery of all construction activities, managing resources effectively across teams to meet project schedules and quality standards. This role involves overseeing adherence to design specifications, monitoring construction progress, and maintaining project documentation to ensure alignment with budgetary and accounting requirements. Additionally, the director builds relationships with the supply chain, coordinates transitions between development and operations, and fosters a safe working environment by reviewing OSHA and safety reports.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Construction Director
1. Construction Director Role Purpose
- Collaboration: Collaborate cross-departmentally to develop and maintain prototype criteria standards and plan development, including feasibility analysis, material selections, and construction means and methods.
- Cost Management: Responsible for reducing overall costs as it relates to construction through vendor selection, construction detailing, etc.
- Networking: Develop and maintain a network of pre-qualified contractors to ensure best practices and competitive bidding for projects.
- Project Oversight: Directly oversee construction projects.
- Team Management: Manage internal and external project team members, select contractors, coordinate with all vendors, conduct site inspections, monitor budgets, prepare weekly updates, and anticipate risks.
- Sustainability Initiatives: Initiate and sponsor sustainability initiatives related to store design and construction.
- Feasibility Studies: Conduct feasibility studies and arrange for field tests where appropriate.
- Team Direction: Provide overall direction and support for the team and monitor and assess individual work following high standards of excellence.
- Material Management: Manage material identification, application, and tracking, and ensure adherence of installations to design specifications and regulatory requirements.
- Conflict Resolution: Resolve conflict with the project team, ensuring customer satisfaction.
- Completion Assurance: Work to ensure punch list completion is achieved before the Certificate of Substantial Completion.
2. Construction Director Roles
- Project Planning: Develop a cost-effective plan and schedule for the completion of the project following a logical pattern for the utilization of resources, including monitoring the stages and costs throughout each phase of the project.
- Collaboration: Work with third-party developers and consultants on site selection and site due diligence regarding zoning, land plan approval, site restrictions, municipal requirements, closing, and other site-required issues.
- Design Coordination: Work with the design team, including architects and engineers, to ensure program requirements are met in a cost-effective design.
- Consultant Management: Manage owner consultants through the design process, ensuring their coordination with the design team.
- Cost Analysis: Assist and lead cost analysis for each project to ensure the project is receiving the highest quality systems and materials within the allotted budget through the value engineering process.
- Field Coordination: Act as the construction liaison for the company, including coordination of overall field activities with the representative from the joint venture partner hospital/facility.
- Contractor Oversight: Oversee and be responsible for the performance of contractors, and review architectural and engineering drawings to ensure that all specifications and regulations are being followed.
- Schedule Management: Track and monitor project schedules and associated costs to achieve completion of the project within the time frame.
- Budget Monitoring: Track and monitor project budgets to ensure that the project is within budget.
- Progress Reporting: Report monthly (at a minimum) to the joint venture about progress and monitor any necessary changes or modifications required to complete the project.
3. Construction Director Overview
- Project Support: Support project leadership while coordinating with other project leads.
- Administrative Management: Manage general administrative roles for the delivery of construction tasks and/or services, and understand their interface with the project’s objectives.
- Decision-Making: Act decisively and timely to ensure schedule responsibilities are met.
- Problem Solving: Balance construction constraints, policy goals, and stakeholder needs to recommend optimal solutions to difficult issues.
- Resource Commitment: Have the authority to commit consultant construction resources and be ultimately responsible for the timely, high-quality execution of tasks and products.
- Construction Management: Responsible for developing, updating, and executing a Construction Management Plan.
- Quality Assurance: Monitor inspections, testing, systems, and processes that are sufficient to verify that the project is constructed following the contract.
- Audit Program Development: Establish an audit program and conduct audits of construction and construction documentation to verify that the Design-Builder complies with the contract.
- Strategic Engagement: Work with the Project Director to formulate strategies for engagement with the Design-Builder on construction, schedule, and commercial issues related to construction.
- Inspection Management: Manage off-site and on-site inspections and testing.
4. Construction Director Functions
- Review Management: Plan for and manage reviews and responses to all construction submissions.
- Risk Control: Implement and manage processes to identify and control risks related to construction.
- Process Development: Responsible for the development and implementation of processes and procedures to achieve overall project acceptance.
- Contract Management: Manage changes to the contract related to construction.
- Decision Record Management: Responsible for recording and managing all construction decision records. Records shall provide all backup material necessary for the defense of potential future change orders and/or claims.
- Team Communication: Regularly keep the overall project team informed of construction decisions.
- Contract Issuance: Issue contracts, special provisions, and specifications related to roadway design and construction.
- Facility Support: Assist in the support of the facility during the startup and implementation phase to ensure State and Joint Commission Accreditation are received.
- Inventory Oversight: Oversee the implementation of equipment/inventory lists for each project and coordinate the purchase of the appropriate fixtures, furniture, and equipment for each project within budget.
5. Construction Director Job Summary
- Safety Management: Ensure safe delivery of all construction activities, including developing arrangements for the compliant, safe, secure delivery of all site works across the programme.
- Procedure Development: Ensure arrangements and procedures are fit for purpose and interface with the project, design, procurement, commissioning, and quality requirements.
- Resource Management: Manage resources across the construction teams, supporting the projects to meet schedule and quality standards, and interface with the client specifically for site-related matters.
- Compliance Assurance: Ensure the construction teams implement work in compliance with design specifications, complete work following agreed construction schedules, maintain a focus on budgets, and effectively monitor and measure construction progress while meeting accounting requirements.
- Relationship Building: Build relationships with the supply chain.
- Resourcing Planning: Develop forward resourcing plans for the construction teams, feeding into EUP programme resourcing requirements and SQEP maintenance and development.
- Progress Monitoring: Maintain and monitor the progress of punch lists.
- Documentation Control: Control project documentation and historical data regarding construction.
- Transition Coordination: Coordinate seamless transitions between development, construction, and operations.
- Safety Encouragement: Encourage a safe working environment and review all required OSHA and Worker's Compensation safety and accident reports with general contractors.