Should I Be Nervous (construction industry)
Discussion
Hi all - I've set up a new ID for obvious reasons. Apologies if this is wordy - trying to get as many facts across as possible!
I'm in a bit of a situation at work which I can't decide how is going to play out so would appreciate the thoughts of the PH masses.
As a bit of background I work as a Project Manager in the construction industry. About 18 months ago I gave up about 10 years job stability at a top 5 construction company to join a much smaller and more local contractor.
At the time of joining I was employed by one of the equity directors who had effectively decided to build up a residential side of the business, although this was not explained to me at any point prior to me joining. (My background is not residential and because of the volatility in that sector, I would have thought twice if that had been made clear to me)
The first project I was tasked with looking after has been a total disaster from start to (pending) finish. I was not involved in any of the contractual negotiations with the client, and when the project eventually started on site the director who had taken me on was not listening to me at all with regards to staff requests.
Very quickly, it became clear to me that the director who had taken me on originally was totally and utterly out of his depth and I was effectively being left to my own devices to pick up the pieces on a project that had been poorly negotiated, and was expected to do so with no support from above at all.
Not long after the project started I was told that I needed to get involved in another project that had been on site for about 4 months which they had had issues with resourcing Project Manager wise - at this point I was on my own on site with only an inexperienced graduate for support.
When I was asked to change jobs I told
My director I was happy to do so but that I had serious concerns about what impact that would have on the 1st project as we did not have the right resources in place. My concerns were ignored and the poor graduate was left to his own devices for almost 2 months with me trying to help remotely while they sources a replacement for my role on that job. As a result, the actual construction got off to a very poor start and has basically been on the back foot ever since.
When I started on job 2, having learnt what the director was like I basically decided I was going to run the job my way and if that meant getting staff without the OK from above, so be it. Despite this, with the job having been on site for 4 months and nothing happening in that time, it was pretty much 4 months behind when I took the job on. I've done my best on a massively complex job since then to pull time back, and we are now looking to hand the building over 3 months late, so have managed to pull a month back.
However, again the job has turned into a commercial disaster for the business because it was not set up properly at the start.
So, over the past month or so there has been a management restructure and my original director has been asked by the MD to resign (which he has done) along with his right hand man who looked after the money side of these residential projects. It turns out that the 4 residential projects we have on site at the minute are forecasting to lose £2million between them, so this attempt at building a residential side of the business has been a total disaster.
In the original directors place a new directors has come in who does very much know what he's talking about.
My concern is that I'm at risk of being tarred with the brush of being involved with these residential jobs and either being sacked or asked to leave as a result. On the original job I had very little to do with the MD, so I doubt he knows about how little support I got, and the concerns I was airing at the time. The 2nd job is so complex that the MD has been quite actively involved in the job so has seen much more first hand what I am actually capable of - both he and the new director have both said that there probably is not a more complex job in our City at the minute, and have been very positive in how I / we have managed to get the project to the point it is currently at, despite being so far behind original programme.
I had an appraisal a few weeks ago with my original director and was given a pay rise without asking for one - since everything has come out about people being asked to leave they have publicly said to everyone that nobody will be getting a pay rise this year, which makes me think I must be doing something right.
At the same time, before he announced this management restructure he called me to one side privately to let me know it was coming, and also said that I was one of the people they wanted to promote up and build the business around going forwards. The cynical side of me however says that he's saying this to keep me motivated to see the current job through to the end & not lose him any more money.
I'm happy with how my current project is going and feel like I have a lot more to offer the business, but can't shake the feeling that if I was the MD I would probably be one of the people I'd be setting my targets on to blame for these jobs going so badly wrong in the first place, and that maybe I should be looking elsewhere?
Apologies for the essay - but what is the PH consensus?
I'm in a bit of a situation at work which I can't decide how is going to play out so would appreciate the thoughts of the PH masses.
As a bit of background I work as a Project Manager in the construction industry. About 18 months ago I gave up about 10 years job stability at a top 5 construction company to join a much smaller and more local contractor.
At the time of joining I was employed by one of the equity directors who had effectively decided to build up a residential side of the business, although this was not explained to me at any point prior to me joining. (My background is not residential and because of the volatility in that sector, I would have thought twice if that had been made clear to me)
The first project I was tasked with looking after has been a total disaster from start to (pending) finish. I was not involved in any of the contractual negotiations with the client, and when the project eventually started on site the director who had taken me on was not listening to me at all with regards to staff requests.
Very quickly, it became clear to me that the director who had taken me on originally was totally and utterly out of his depth and I was effectively being left to my own devices to pick up the pieces on a project that had been poorly negotiated, and was expected to do so with no support from above at all.
Not long after the project started I was told that I needed to get involved in another project that had been on site for about 4 months which they had had issues with resourcing Project Manager wise - at this point I was on my own on site with only an inexperienced graduate for support.
When I was asked to change jobs I told
My director I was happy to do so but that I had serious concerns about what impact that would have on the 1st project as we did not have the right resources in place. My concerns were ignored and the poor graduate was left to his own devices for almost 2 months with me trying to help remotely while they sources a replacement for my role on that job. As a result, the actual construction got off to a very poor start and has basically been on the back foot ever since.
When I started on job 2, having learnt what the director was like I basically decided I was going to run the job my way and if that meant getting staff without the OK from above, so be it. Despite this, with the job having been on site for 4 months and nothing happening in that time, it was pretty much 4 months behind when I took the job on. I've done my best on a massively complex job since then to pull time back, and we are now looking to hand the building over 3 months late, so have managed to pull a month back.
However, again the job has turned into a commercial disaster for the business because it was not set up properly at the start.
So, over the past month or so there has been a management restructure and my original director has been asked by the MD to resign (which he has done) along with his right hand man who looked after the money side of these residential projects. It turns out that the 4 residential projects we have on site at the minute are forecasting to lose £2million between them, so this attempt at building a residential side of the business has been a total disaster.
In the original directors place a new directors has come in who does very much know what he's talking about.
My concern is that I'm at risk of being tarred with the brush of being involved with these residential jobs and either being sacked or asked to leave as a result. On the original job I had very little to do with the MD, so I doubt he knows about how little support I got, and the concerns I was airing at the time. The 2nd job is so complex that the MD has been quite actively involved in the job so has seen much more first hand what I am actually capable of - both he and the new director have both said that there probably is not a more complex job in our City at the minute, and have been very positive in how I / we have managed to get the project to the point it is currently at, despite being so far behind original programme.
I had an appraisal a few weeks ago with my original director and was given a pay rise without asking for one - since everything has come out about people being asked to leave they have publicly said to everyone that nobody will be getting a pay rise this year, which makes me think I must be doing something right.
At the same time, before he announced this management restructure he called me to one side privately to let me know it was coming, and also said that I was one of the people they wanted to promote up and build the business around going forwards. The cynical side of me however says that he's saying this to keep me motivated to see the current job through to the end & not lose him any more money.
I'm happy with how my current project is going and feel like I have a lot more to offer the business, but can't shake the feeling that if I was the MD I would probably be one of the people I'd be setting my targets on to blame for these jobs going so badly wrong in the first place, and that maybe I should be looking elsewhere?
Apologies for the essay - but what is the PH consensus?
John D. said:
I can see why you are worried (perhaps even paranoid!), but the fact the MD was directly involved in one of the projects is your saving grace IMHO. From his comments about it he must rate you as a decent performer. Surely the MD signed off on your pay rise too?
Exactly this IMO. It can only be a good thing. He has effectively singled you out for a pay rise if its true no one else got one.mysteryuser said:
....my original director has been asked by the MD to resign (which he has done) along with his right hand man who looked after the money side of these residential projects........
....In the original directors place a new directors has come in who does very much know what he's talking about.......
....- both he [md] and the new director have both said that there probably is not a more complex job in our City at the minute, and have been very positive in how I / we have managed to get the project to the point it is currently at, despite being so far behind original programme....
....At the same time, before he announced this management restructure he called me to one side privately to let me know it was coming, and also said that I was one of the people they wanted to promote up and build the business around going forwards.....
If all that lot is correct then I would trust what you are being told - you are seen as valuable to the business and part of the solution, not the problem. The problem being the original director.....In the original directors place a new directors has come in who does very much know what he's talking about.......
....- both he [md] and the new director have both said that there probably is not a more complex job in our City at the minute, and have been very positive in how I / we have managed to get the project to the point it is currently at, despite being so far behind original programme....
....At the same time, before he announced this management restructure he called me to one side privately to let me know it was coming, and also said that I was one of the people they wanted to promote up and build the business around going forwards.....
I'd only be nervous if I thought these projects were bad enough to give the company serious financial problems.
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