Is construction management a risky career

takeitallin
Tue, 02 Aug 2016 16:48:58 +0000

My son graduated in CM in 08. He was hired straight out of school by the company he did an internship for. They are a large company in a large city, and have been in business for years- they seem to have constant work. He stayed for a few years and got some great experience, then decided he wanted to move to an area closer to winter sports. After putting out feelers, he got 2 offers within a month and moved to a mid-sized city with a company that does a lot of work downtown and specializes in historic buildings. He always had at least one project going at this company and often was doing multiple projects at once or would start a new project while still doing clean-up on the last one. There was never downtime, and construction managers were always moved to a new project when their last one ended. He did very well financially at both companies, but the hours were very long. He did receive bonuses for jobs completed early or on which they made a good profit, but he definitely worked a lot of hours.

In the last year, he decided to go out on his own. He has been at it now for about 10 months and so far has had to turn down work. He still works long hours but it is work of his own choice and he has been able to pick and choose projects. He is making more of a profit than he anticipated, even with his start-up costs. He is very hands-on and can build just about anything, which has been an advantage for him. His work experience in the trades while getting his degree has really paid off. All in all, this has been a perfect career for him. He is very high energy and loves being able to get out on job sites and not having to sit at a desk all day. This is our kid who we weren’t even sure would graduate from high school, and then took extra time to make it through college because he always had side jobs going. He always disliked school, until he found Construction Management. For his personality, this career has been a great fit!