WHAT DOES A CONSTRUCTION MANAGER DO?
Published: May 29, 2025 - The Construction Manager oversees all phases of roadway construction and maintenance projects to ensure timely, cost-effective, and environmentally compliant delivery. This role manages project scope, budget, schedule, and quality while coordinating contract administration, safety, and technical support throughout construction. The manager also reviews plans, supervises inspections, resolves issues proactively, and ensures accurate documentation and stakeholder coordination from design to completion.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Construction Manager
1. Construction Manager Responsibilities
- Project Management: Take responsibility for project team management
- Client Management: Front-line client management/interaction/communications
- Field Coordination: Coordinate the lab testing and field sampling
- Lab Operations: Operate a materials testing laboratory
- Staff Training: Train and oversee lab and field staff
- Lab Testing: Participate in laboratory testing
- Safety Implementation: Implement a safety program
- Data Analysis: Data analysis in support of laboratory testing and inspection elements
- Staff Coordination: Coordinate staff communications/meetings
2. Construction Manager Job Summary
- Drawing Review: Review all project drawings and specifications for determining the Special Inspector and code compliance
- Inspection Oversight: Oversee code inspections, including the management and scheduling of others performing field inspections
- Construction Review: Review structures and buildings under construction and the issuing of reports
- Code Compliance: Ensure that buildings as constructed meet all applicable design and code requirements
- Stakeholder Coordination: Work closely and interface with the PM/CM team, the client, the DB team, contractors, subcontractors, and other stakeholders
3. Construction Delivery Manager Accountabilities
- Team Communication: Proactively communicate with other site teams to maintain good communication links and ensure activity is well-reported and timely.
- Reporting: Contribute information on a specific area to weekly and monthly reports.
- Quality Support: Support team instructions to take temporary measures to mitigate and keep work safe and within quality standards.
- Issue Resolution: Follow up by taking appropriate and proportionate action (e.g., issue communications, call meetings) to avoid the halt of works.
- Manager Communication: Ensure clear, two-way communication with the Line Manager so that all activity is directed appropriately.
- Team Management: Manage a team of contractors and engineers to help everyone cope with their tasks.
4. Construction Manager Functions
- Construction Evaluation: Evaluate construction methods and determine the cost-effectiveness of plans, using computers.
- Material Requisition: Requisition supplies and materials to complete construction projects.
- Purchasing Coordination: Work with purchasing to ensure takeoffs and suppliers are accurate for the field builders and subcontractors.
- Quality Control: Develop and implement quality control programs.
- Delay Management: Take actions to deal with the results of delays, bad weather, or emergencies at a construction site.
- Site Investigation: Investigate damage, accidents, or delays at construction sites to ensure that proper procedures are being carried out.
5. Construction Manager Job Description
- Project Planning: Work directly with the Project Manager and Project Engineer to define project baseline, scope, resource allocation, and deliverables.
- Stakeholder Communication: Communicate with both the Project Manager, Segment Managers, and Production Leads to ensure that project scope and specifications are met.
- Utility Coordination: Coordinate with local utility companies for interconnection timing.
- Issue Escalation: Escalate issues impacting safety, budget, schedule, or quality.
- Site Safety: Promote a safe and efficient construction site.
- Subcontractor Management: Manage subcontractors and approve change orders up to a set limit per job.
- Progress Reporting: Develop schedule and budget forecasts and update the Project Manager with job progress for both internal and external reporting.
6. Construction Manager Overview
- Crew Management: Manage crews in various Central Valley locations.
- Construction Oversight: Oversee grading, underground, concrete, building erection, and steel fabrication of gates and railings.
- Supervision: Supervise in-house site designers, building component manufacturing, and electrical.
- Budget Management: Develop and maintain budgets, supplies, materials, and labor for projects.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure compliance with DMV Truck Driving, OSHA, and Human Resources regulations.
- Site Monitoring: Visit project sites to monitor and communicate with job supervisors.
- Interdepartmental Coordination: Develop and maintain working relationships with the construction department and other company departments.
- Off-site Coordination: Manage off-site improvements and communicate with the various utility authorities.
- Code Compliance: Ensure adherence to government and local building approval processes and codes.
- Engineering Collaboration: Collaborate with structural and civil engineers.
- Subcontractor Management: Manage subcontractors and industry suppliers.
7. Construction Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Construction Oversight: Oversee contractors’ construction activities and manage the integration of the project with the transmission network operator.
- Quality Assurance: Ensure quality construction standards are met using project construction techniques and equipment.
- Progress Monitoring: Monitor and report periodically on project completion to schedule and budget.
- Performance Evaluation: Evaluate and track contractor performance against contractual obligations.
- EHS Compliance: Ensure on and off-site construction activities are compliant with corporate environment-health-safety policies.
- Site Setup: Establish site facilities and equipment, office, accommodation, amenities, transportation, and security.
- Personnel Recruitment: Recruit additional personnel to establish the construction management office.
- Progress Reporting: Provide regular construction progress reports for management review and use by external stakeholders.
- Permit Acquisition: Obtain all necessary permits, licenses, and government authorisations.
8. Construction Manager Additional Details
- Construction Management: Oversee construction from pre-con through close-out.
- Schedule and Budget Control: Responsible for keeping the build-out on schedule and under budget.
- Design Review: Review all architectural plans, shop drawings, lighting proposals, and other documentation related to design development and construction processes.
- Code Compliance: Ensure work is done in compliance with all relevant building and safety codes.
- Contract Oversight: Provide direction over contracts and subcontracts.
- Quality Assurance: Ensure that the project is constructed following the contract requirements and specifications and with the required quality.
- Punchlist Coordination: Coordinate and work with departments on the punchlist and post-opening phase.
- Site Supervision: Travel and oversee construction on the ground.
- Budget Tracking: Manage responsibility of maintaining, overseeing, tracking, evaluating, and refining the overall construction budget and schedules, including progress reporting on capital expenditures.
- Bid Management: Prepare bid packages for General Contractors, level and negotiate bids, and award contracts.
- Cost Estimation: Maintain cost estimates of assigned projects and assist in soliciting and obtaining bids from contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers.
- Timeline Monitoring: Ensure target dates, milestone events, and deadlines are being met.
- Schedule Optimization: Keep teams on schedule, strategize, and work toward solutions to avoid unforeseen delays.
- Vendor Coordination: Responsible for construction consultant and external vendor coordination and relationships.
9. Pre-Construction Manager Essential Functions
- Stakeholder Coordination: Working with multiple and varying stakeholders to establish general requirements.
- Client Management: Managing all client interactions from the pre-construction agreement through project turnover to the construction department.
- RFP Completion: Completing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for all necessary consultants.
- Consultant Management: Managing all consultant interactions and the implementation of clients' agreed-upon needs for design.
- Constructability Review: Reviewing plans and specifications as part of the pre-construction process to establish constructability issues.
- Document Review: Reviewing all project documents for completeness and accuracy.
- Schedule Development: Developing and maintaining pre-construction project schedules.
- Value Engineering: Valuing engineering exercises, leading up to and through the building permit stage.
- Permit Facilitation: Facilitating all municipal and senior agency submissions, followed by liaison with municipal contacts to ensure permit issuance on or before specified timelines as outlined in pre-construction agreements.
- Billing Management: Being responsible for managing client billings and cost procedures during the pre-construction phase.
- Meeting Facilitation: Conducting internal, consultant, client, and municipal meetings.
10. Construction Manager Role Purpose
- Construction Oversight: Provides responsive management oversight and administration throughout all phases of the roadway construction projects, maintenance projects, and transportation facilities, ensuring successful delivery of projects of moderate to considerable complexity on time, on budget, of high quality, and with environmental compliance.
- Project Management: Responsible for project management, cost management, time management, quality management, contract administration, and safety/risk management.
- Plan Interpretation: Responsible for review and interpretation of plans, specifications, and contract documents during all phases of project development to include both design and construction.
- Issue Resolution: Responsible for proactive issue resolution and claim avoidance during construction.
- Scope and Budget Monitoring: Actively monitors scope, schedule, and budget and prepares cost estimates.
- Work Order Processing: Analyzes and processes work orders, writes project-related correspondence, and supervises inspection personnel.
- Documentation Review: Reviews project documentation and certifies project records and material testing results.
- Compliance Oversight: Ensures environmental, safety, and quality compliance and oversees utility coordination throughout the construction process.
- Technical Support: Provides project oversight, support, and technical advice, and performs contractor performance evaluations.
- Staff Training: Identifies and provides on-site technical training and mentoring for inspection staff.
- Inspection Coverage: Ensures inspection tasks are adequately covered and all project construction activities are accurately documented.
- CEI Budget Management: Maintains Construction Engineering Inspection (CEI) budget and staffing plans development.
- Meeting Facilitation: Conducts construction progress meetings to resolve construction-related issues and partnering meetings to ensure both stakeholder coordination and citizen concerns are met.
- Design Review Participation: Actively participates in constructability and biddability reviews during the design development phase.
- Payment Reconciliation: Ensures that pay quantities are reconciled with contractors and that all project communication and decision making are in conformance with policies and procedures established by the Department and contract documents.