Real Talk with Real Superintendents

Biggest 2022 challenges, gamechangers + 2023 drivers

By Chris Maday Schmidt

For the inaugural issue of the year, Construction Superintendent asked general contractors to weigh in on the hottest topics in the trades that have been trending over the past year, as well as driving the industry forward in 2023. We heard from Dale Ziegler, senior superintendent, Trident Construction Group; Superintendent Jordan Doggette, Robins & Morton; Chris Newton, general superintendent, JE Dunn Construction; Mike Foster, superintendent JE Dunn Construction and Mark Miracle, general superintendent, Messer Construction.

The following is a recap of what respondents had to say:

As a superintendent, what has been the biggest challenge you’ve personally experienced over the past year?
Dale Ziegler: “The past year has been extremely challenging. Labor and material shortages have pushed all involved to get as creative as possible to solve those challenges. Unfortunately, those challenges, coupled with COVID-19 and the continued material availability challenges, have produced industry fatigue. However, we look forward to supply chains for materials being sorted back out and things returning to normal.”

How has your company dealt with attracting & retaining its workforce during the labor shortage?
Mark Miracle: “For superintendents, Messer focuses on a mixture of growing leaders from our craft force (we have 540+ trade professional employees), hiring mid-career professionals and assessing career paths for new hires just out of school — identifying if they want to go the project management route or the superintendent route and gearing their mentoring and training accordingly. In terms of our craft force, like most contractors, we’ve worked to attract new trade professionals through all available resources: traditional hiring, high school/trade school outreach, co-ops/interns, hiring agencies, nonprofit/community organizations with job-readiness programs, etc. It’s a tremendous effort, but the bright side is that we have an opportunity to attract a new group of people who could be a great fit.”

What steps have been taken to mitigate the supply chain disruptions the industry faces as a whole?
Mike Foster: “Where possible, we have expedited material acquisition and stockpiled materials onsite. We have reached out to our trade partners and their vendors for transparency as to their fabrication and delivery lead times, material constraints and alternative products.”

Chris Newton: “Our team spends a lot of time monitoring the changes in the market and keeping our information current, which allows us to accurately predict procurement times so that we can accommodate for them in our schedules and planning for the projects.”

Name three lessons learned over the course of the past year?
Chris Newton: “1) Expect the unexpected by planning for worse case scenarios so that bad news is less of an impact on the projects; 2) Gain the trust of your trade partners so they know they can come to you with issues and know that we will work through it together and 3) Be up front with clients and let them know the real situation we are in with the current market to work toward solutions for our projects.”

Dale Ziegler: “a) planning, planning, planning; b) given the ever-changing material availability, you cannot over plan your work and c) communication has always been an essential piece of building a project. However, given the added complexity that the labor and material markets have provided, we have found that you cannot under-communicate the project needs and requirements and fully understand the needs of our trade partners in scheduling and executing the work.”

What three strategies improve communication on the jobsite?
Jordan Doggette: “1) Don’t communicate in a silo, keep all team members apprised of important information; 2) Document constraints during daily stand-up meetings so all project supervision is aware and 3) Make sure meetings are being held in the right format – in person, onsite or virtual. If the meeting format doesn’t match the need of the meeting topic, it doesn’t do much good.”

Mike Foster: “All organizations need to invest in the teaching and learning of a functional level of Spanish to effectively communicate, direct and lead field teams with ESOL personnel. Field-deployable BIM models and 2D digital drawings allow us to work at the speed of change. Cloud-based technology has truly lowered the barriers to effective deployment of digital construction documents to field personnel.”

What has been the biggest gamechanger as far as best practices you or your company has employed this year?
Mark Miracle: “Continuing education and mentoring are gamechangers. We ensure that we are training our people on the latest technology and the latest construction strategies and methods. Mentoring is also built into our culture so that everyone has a career path. We take time to coach individuals to make sure they continue to grow and provide any assistance they need to advance.”

Mike Foster: “The distribution of cellular-enabled iPads to all field PEs and superintendents keeps the latest construction documents in the hands of last planners.”

Chris Newton: “Keeping a very close eye on material procurement times and tracking them in our schedules to understand the impacts to the project of any delays that may occur.”

One of the myriad hot topics in the trades is mental health: talk a little about how this is addressed on the jobsite.
Jordan Doggette: “For years, I think mental health was viewed as something very personal and unrelated to the workplace. But I think we’ve come a long way in understanding people can’t compartmentalize that way; when something is going on at home, it comes to work, and vice versa. In addition to caring about your team members, emotional well-being is inherently a safety issue. If someone is struggling, they’re more likely to be distracted on the jobsite or care less about their own safety. Our culture at Robins & Morton emphasizes respect for people, which can mean taking a minute to check in on a co-worker that seems down or reminding team members that your door is open if they need to talk. In a more formal sense, we have weekly safety meetings, and we discuss mental health periodically. Those conversations allow us to remind everyone that they’re not alone and provide guidance to resources. Robins & Morton also has an employee assistance program benefit that includes counseling.”

Mark Miracle: “We had great engagement in Construction Safety Week in early 2022, particularly on the day devoted to mental health awareness and suicide prevention. We held jobsite huddles and made sure to address it in our owners’ meetings, too. It was a good opportunity to open up the lines of communication and ensure employees understand that there’s always someone to talk to, whether it’s a site leader or more privately through the company’s employee assistance program. Also, through our commitment to coaching and mentoring, we can really stay connected to how people are doing and pay attention to any signs of distress.”

Describe a trend or two you’ve seen make a comeback and/or a new name for itself.
Jordan Doggette: “In the short term, face-to-face meetings have certainly made a comeback. For the past two years, most meetings have been virtual and at times it’s a great cost-reduction strategy. However, it can also be a challenge when virtual is the default and the meeting really needs to be face to face.”

He continues, “Another trend I’ve seen gain prominence in construction is human performance as it relates to safety. We also employ a Human Performance Operating Philosophy at Robins & Morton and learning it has really helped me and my team better manage safety on our projects. Using the six principles of Human Performance, we are able to understand why employees make the decisions they do and recognize that even the best make mistakes. It teaches us that error-likely situations are predictable, which means they can be managed and avoided, especially by learning from mistakes. We are able to create a high-performing environment by giving recognition, encouragement and coaching; the people on our projects are influenced by our organizational processes and values. Lastly, we keep a close watch for any drift occurring in our rules, processes and practices.”

 

Tune in this year for more articles and industry news that weigh in top-of-mind topics, as well as best practices, means & methods and movers & shakers by following www.consupt.com and subscribing to Construction Superintendent’s monthly eNews.

Photo credits: Associated Builders and Contractors