Holding out for a hero...

You’ve got four concrete wagons in the queue and the slip form is going up when the foreman bursts in saying the winch motor on the crane just burned out. Your boss is in another part of the country soothing already tense relations with the client. Everybody is looking at you, waiting for instructions.

Oooh baby, baby, it’s a wild world... and getting wilder.

Some things don’t change. Site managers are still at the sharp end. Of all people, they are closest to that unholy trinity of Time, Cost and Quality. Emergencies that derail a package? Their problem. A dodgy patch of brickwork? Their problem. Little design oversights that cost thousands to fix? Their problem.

So what’s different? Plenty. Tougher clients, leaner management, stricter regulations and a more litigious public combine to make a hard job even harder. A Tesco store took 40 weeks to build 12 years ago and now the clients want it in 32. Contracts managers used to supervise a handful of projects, now they’ve got a dozen, causing more authority to be delegated downward. Management wants up-to-the-minute profitability snapshots. Health and safety legislation requires reams of reportage. Site managers always had to cover their rear ends but now they need chain mail.

The old skills are still needed, but in much greater proportions.

Take technical ability, that is, knowing if the design is possible within time and budget and without hurting anybody. It may look good on paper, but you still need expert knowledge of materials and techniques. Site managers always had to spot things that won’t work, but now they’re under greater pressure to spot how things could work better.

“In the old days you got the plans, built it, and somebody paid for it,” says Joe Darcy, senior contracts manager for Scanmoor Construction, himself a former site manager. “Now you need to be adept at spec changes for financial gain.”

Site manager-turned-trainer Chris Westacott of Westacott Management Resources agrees.

In the old days, you built it and somebody paid for it. now you need to be adept at spec changes for financial gain

Joe Darcy, Scanmoor Construction

“Good site managers can see that if you moved those windows 35mm to the left you won’t have to split bricks,” he says. “They see this but architects don’t.”

And college alone can’t teach you this.

“Unfortunately it means getting the hours in at the coal-face and there is still no sure-fire way this can be short-circuited,” says Julian Daniel of Bovis Lend Lease, who won a gold medal for his work on the Treasury in last year’s Construction Manager of the Year Awards.

Brand spanking new capabilities are needed too. Take environmental management. This applies locally, at site level, because neighbours are likely to sue over noise, dust and traffic, but also globally because clients like to say their facilities are ecologically sound. Either way, the site manager should be able to devise waste reduction techniques.

The need for leadership – formerly known as politics – is also changing. In an age of partnering and integrated teams, the site manager can’t always resort to banging the table any more. They must develop their friendly muscles.

“You’ve got to embrace Egan, empathise, look at the situation through other people’s eyes,” says Westacott. “No more entrenching and digging your heels in. You’ve got to find a win-win-win solution.”

But Westacott warns that too much democracy equals chaos. “Without good leadership skills the rank-and-file will suss you out in a morning,” he says.

No more digging your heels in. you’ve got to find a win-win-win solution

chris westacott

So how do you acquire these skills, or update the ones you’ve already got?

Training is essential, and in this important way, things may be looking up for the site manager. Chris Westacott says more enlightened firms are supporting site managers by helping them get chartered through the direct membership examination route, known as DMX. Scanmoor Construction, a £40m turnover contractor near London, swears by this method. The company has put eight men through the one-day-a fortnight course already and another seven started last month. It costs around £1000 for each person, but it’s worth it, according to Darcy. For one thing it equips the men to handle the pressure. For another, it’s great at impressing the client.

“When you fill in questionnaires for the client we find they’re looking for CVs for everyone,” he said. “It doesn’t look good to just say Joe Bloggs, no qualifications. They want to see they’ve come up through a formal system.”

Most site managers rise through one of two routes: the hard-knocks path through trades like plumbing, brickwork or joinery; or propelled with an academic fuel injection of an engineering degree or higher national diploma (HND). Each type has its advantages. The tradesperson will know how the labour force ticks, how to motivate men on a Friday afternoon in February, and how to predict outputs accurately, while the more academically inclined might shine with written reports and communicating with the client.

“The academic is going to be good at the pre-delivery stage,” confirms Darcy. “Winning the job, doing the risk analysis, grasping the conceptual design. But from there on, I would slightly favour someone from the skills background. Getting the job done.”

But more important than training, and deeper even than years of experience is the sort of person you are. The experienced managers we asked all pointed to a kind of moral rectitude that underlies knowledge, skill and experience.

2003’s Construction Manager of the Year, Malcolm Nelson of Laing O’Rourke, calls it integrity: “If you are straight in dealing with everyone you come across, without offending, and do what you say to the best of your ability, then ultimately most will respond. This is important to gain the respect of everyone in team and set the example for clear and unambiguous communication at all levels.”