WHAT DOES AN ELECTRICAL PROJECT MANAGER DO?
Published: Dec 26, 2024 – The Electrical Project Manager coordinates project activities with subcontractors, suppliers, and customers to ensure seamless execution and alignment with project goals. This position manages budgets, schedules, and contracts while overseeing design, procurement, and construction processes to maintain quality and compliance. The manager also tracks progress, monitors critical paths, and prepares reports to ensure timely delivery and successful project completion.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Electrical Project Manager
1. Electrical Project Manager Accountabilities
- Project Management: Set project timelines, organize resources for multiple projects.
- Project Delivery: Ensure projects are completed accurately and on time.
- Team Coaching: Coach and support project team members with tasks assigned to them.
- Fieldwork Monitoring: Monitor fieldwork execution and productivity and report progress as it relates to the budget.
- Process Improvement: Regularly review systems and procedures for potential improvement of productivity.
- Feedback and Evaluation: Provide feedback on the operation issues, concerns, supplier management, and evaluation.
- Safety Promotion: Take personal responsibility for promoting safety among field and management personnel.
- Networking: Network to identify and pursue future projects.
- Estimating Support: Assist Estimating in the preparation of quotations and costing for new projects.
2. Electrical Project Manager Job Description
- Document Review: Review plan documents and project specifications, objectives, and/or issues.
- Project Management: Project accountability and execution inclusive of scope, deliverables, implementation, profitability, quality, and resources.
- Customer Relationship Management: Interface and manage customer relationships in a business, technical, and sales environment.
- Risk Management: Create strategies for risk mitigation and contingency planning.
- Budget and Financial Analysis: Analyze, track, and report project budget, hours, expenses, profitability, revenue, margins, cost, and utilization regularly.
- Resource Management: Define and manage project tasks, resources, and budgets.
- Scheduling and Tracking: Plan, schedule, and track project timelines and deliverables.
- Reporting: Compile and present reports defining project progress, problems, and solutions.
- Project Documentation: Project documentation including daily logs, RFIs, project submittals, OandM manuals, and as-builts.
- Cost Estimation: Create cost estimates and proposal documents.
3. Electrical Project Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Project Leadership: Responsible for leading all project aspects of project activities for the projects assigned and meeting project goals, budget, quality control, and company objectives.
- Project Planning: Understands complex project plans, drawing specifications, and schedules as well as the resources necessary to complete the project on time and within budget.
- Coordination: Coordinates with Superintendent and Project staff to determine priority, especially when dealing with scheduling conflicts for labor and equipment.
- Inspection: Performs routine inspections of all work performed on assigned projects.
- Budget Management: Prepares project expense budgets, revenue, and profit projections for the Division Manager.
- Bid Management: Works with the Division Manager on bid markup that is consistent with the volume and profit objectives for the project and company.
- Design and Construction Expertise: Possesses a high level of expertise in all phases of electrical and low-voltage design and construction.
- Compliance and Execution: Ensures the project is constructed following contractual requirements, company processes, policies, budget, and schedule at all times.
- Relationship Management: Initiates, develops, and maintains working relationships with industry partners, including clients, subcontractors, and vendors.
- Customer Satisfaction: Ensures that all jobs are completed to the customer's satisfaction, keeping safety as a priority.
- Quality Control: Monitors quantity and quality of work performed by project staff.
4. Electrical Project Manager Essential Functions
- Remote Work: Work productively and autonomously in a remote work environment.
- Team Collaboration: Work effectively and enthusiastically in a task-organized, focused company and environment.
- Project Management: Perform general project management duties as defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
- Estimating and Pricing: Assists with estimating, pricing, scoping, and marketing strategies for proposed projects.
- Proposal Writing: Write project scope and cost proposals and submit proposals to clients.
- Report Writing: Write project-related reports, including power system study reports under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer.
- Travel: Travel to project locations and customer/project meeting locations.
- Electrical Engineering Analysis: Under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer, perform complex electrical power engineering analysis/troubleshooting using engineering software and hand calculations.
- Design and Construction: Under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer, develop plans and specifications, perform engineering analysis, and provide reports to meet project requirements for design and construction.
- Engineering Studies: Under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer, perform engineering studies such as grounding, short circuit, coordination, arc-flash, load flow, harmonic, and transient response.
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD): Under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer, utilize computer software to create detailed dimensional schematics, drawings, design layouts, and other visual aids.
- Client Presentations: Conduct video and/or in-person presentations for clients.
- IT Support: Perform basic IT tasks such as installing and removing software, installing and removing computer hardware, contacting computer-related support, and basic computer hardware/software-related troubleshooting.
- Cloud Collaboration: Readily and effectively work in remote team environments using various forms of cloud-based computer applications and computer/electronic-based video/audio web streaming tools.
- Safety Compliance: Complies with all safety policies, practices, and procedures.
5. Electrical Project Manager Role Purpose
- Coordination: Coordinates the interrelating activities collaboratively with other discipline Subcontractors and the General or Prime Contractor, suppliers, vendors, and customers.
- Project Management: Coordinates design and engineering efforts, monitors and reports on the financial status of the projects, and is responsible for subcontract and contract administration and management.
- Budget and Schedule Management: Responsible for budget and schedule health of the project.
- Scheduling: Develops a job progress schedule to ensure that actual construction parallels the schedule.
- Procurement: Purchases and monitors the delivery of all needed materials for the projects, ensuring optimum prices, quality, and conformance to specifications.
- Critical Path Management: Identifies, tracks, and plans around keeping the Critical Path clear for flawless execution.
- Contract Negotiation: Negotiates contracts with subcontractors and vendors for various trades, ensuring that all phases of the work are encompassed and that a clear definition of work responsibility is defined.
- Payment Approval: Reviews and approves subcontractor and vendor payment requests.
- Change Management: Issues changes in the work to receive prices from subcontractors in a timely fashion.
- Design and Engineering Oversight: Works with design and engineering managers to ensure projects are designed, procured, and constructed within the boundaries of operating guidelines while conforming to technical requirements and ensuring customer satisfaction.
- Reporting: Prepares various reports to successfully manage the projects, such as monthly Pay Applications, progress analysis/schedules, billings, and status reports.
- File Management: Organizes and maintains job files to ensure continuity of workflow, and submits verbal and written reports on project status to management weekly.
- Quality Control: Reviews shop drawings and submittals to ensure compliance with the scope of work.