The Future of Construction Management
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We’re witnessing a massive shift in how construction is managed.
Gen X and Baby Boomers are The Old School. They primarily comprise the VPs, Senior Superintendents, and Owners who are retiring or selling their businesses every day.
At The New School, we have Millennials, who are the primary generation responsible for overseeing today’s work, as Project Executives, project managers, Superintendents, etc. Then there’s Gen Z, who is graduating from college and joining the front lines of important projects as APMs and Project Engineers. There are far more New Schoolers on your average job site today than there are Old Schoolers.
Thus, the New School of construction management is here, and it’s impossible to ignore.
Meanwhile, Gen X and Baby Boomers are our last generations of truly great builders. Don’t get me wrong—there is some serious building talent in the millennial generation, but it’s so much rarer. Most millennials have spent more time in their career focused on managing the construction rather than building it themselves. And technology and unrealistic schedule expectations from owners have skewed their perception of what is possible to execute in the field.
I know it’s true because I’m a millennial who followed a very common “New School” path: civil engineering degree, 2 summers interning as a project engineer at a GC, 7 years running and estimating work at a trade contractor, VP of precon & sales at 28 years old, and master’s degree in construction management.
I am very skilled at understanding how to utilize technology, communicating effectively with customers, selling, and managing projects efficiently, which are all massively important skills. But I have absolutely zero real experience in the field. I only know as much as what the people before me have shown me.
Running construction companies this way is exciting but also terrifying. It’s good to be more efficient and great communicators, but what happens when we lose this generation of great builders? And what happens when the field realizes their value and gets sick of listening to the office telling them what to do? And how about when high-potential people leave because our top leaders were more focused on being macho than helping them grow?
I’m not saying this to be negative about the construction industry. I just think it’s time we face the facts.
What happens next
My role as a consultant for some of the top subcontractors and general contractors in the country provides me with a unique perspective on how the top contractors are addressing this challenge. I’m often asked, “What should we do to prepare for the next generation?”
My answer is simple. We’ve got to merge the Old School and the New School.
This means that rather than fighting between the two, we need to take the best elements of both and fuse them together:
Mentor the New School on how to build
Prioritize field learning experience for all new employees
Train Senior and Middle Management on how to lead in today’s age
As more Gen X and Baby Boomers retire, I see the value of real building knowledge increasing. The better you are able to transfer that knowledge from generation to generation, the more likely you are to build a sustainable business. I see mentoring and field experience at the center of this strategy.
Plus, to keep your top New School talent, I’m convinced you need outstanding leadership at the top and in middle management. People are fed up with being treated poorly in return for a paycheck. They just don’t deal with it anymore.
Top contractors are making investments in both of these areas.
What does this mean for you right now?
For our clients, this fusion approach causes a few important shifts:
They are finding ways to connect new employees and senior employees.
They are making field management—and in some cases, field labor—part of the onboarding and early learning process.
They are utilizing the field as their talent pipeline and creating opportunities for team members to transition into office roles as PMs, Project Execs, etc.
They are training their senior leadership and middle management on the principles of Servant Leadership, enabling them to excel at developing and retaining the next generation.
And I’m aware that in a lot of ways I’m a hypocrite because I’m one of those people who never learned in the field (and worse, now I’m consulting on the construction industry!), but I’m telling you the tides I’m seeing in the market, and what I feel confident needs to happen for your business to be successful.
How to move forward
If you’re worried about the future of your business, I’d recommend asking yourself the following questions:
What are we doing to teach the next generation how to build?
How are we connecting the different generations in our business?
Do we have plenty of leaders other people want to follow?
Are we spending enough time, money, and energy on leadership development?
Depending on your answers, you should start to get a picture if you are headed the right direction, or if it may be time for a shift in strategy.
Strategy matters
This type of long-term thinking and planning is what we help our clients do every day. With clarity of where they want their business to go in the future, it becomes much easier to decide what to prioritize today.
The results they get are phenomenal, and they truly help us live our mission of helping to drive positive change in the construction industry.
Whether you believe in New School or Old School methods, I’d bet you want your business to survive for the long term, which means you need to be thinking ahead of today.
No matter what direction you go, I wish you success.
Good talk today. Now go get it.
P.S. If you’re looking for someone to help you think long-term and ensure the success of your business, reach out to us anytime.
Spark Notes:
I’ve seen Gen X and Baby Boomers—the last great builders—retiring daily, as Millennials and Gen Z step in as today’s project managers and field engineers.
Without that hands-on expertise, we risk a skills gap, so we must fuse the Old School’s building know-how with the New School’s tech-savvy management.
The top contractors I consult with are embedding field learning into onboarding and training senior leaders in servant leadership to truly develop and retain emerging talent.
Now ask yourself: are you teaching your next gen to build, bridging generational divides, and investing in leadership development to secure your company’s future?
