Im at a crossroads. I dont want to ask to run the next available job, blow it and have it ruin me down the road. Anyone have any opinions? How did you start out running jobs or when did you know you were ready?
i never asked, i was asked if i wanted to do it. not everyone does, and not
everyone can push work. it's sort of like herding 10 cats into the same
corner of the room, by yourself, but not as much fun.
by reading your post, your perception of what the foreman does seems to
match what you might observe watching him do the dance.
unless the work is simplistic to the point a turnip could schedule it, there is
a bunch of stuff he deals with that you don't see.
you're running a 5 man crew, doing underground on a commercial occupancy,
say, a bank of america. you are putting in stuff, and after the pour, you
discover that there is architectural glass that was not immediately apparent
in the plans, that cuts the building in two in the ceiling area, meaning that
if you didn't put it in the slab, there is no way to get there from here. you
have 2 3/4" conduits, and a 1" conduit going to that portion of the bank.
you need 5 times that amount.
now, what do you do?
you are at a major theme park, on emergency overtime, and it's the "A" team
from your employer, all the foremen, and general foremen from other jobs,
there to work 12 hours double time, to try and win a contract for a 15+M
job that has gone south. 12 guys working for you, and they are all alpha
males with suitable egos, who are not accustomed to being told how to do
ANYTHING........ and you are pushing this, for three nights.
now, what do you do?
400 2x4 fixtures show up on the job, to be placed in a t bar ceiling. the job's
slow, so you dump 5 guys putting them up, to discover that the wholesale
house sent the wrong fixtures, after 50 of them are installed. you were in
your monthly job meeting, and nobody bothered to check before putting them
in. you now have five guys standing there, watching you, with nothing to do.
now, what do you do?
26' to the ceiliing, and you have just had a JW put 3,000' of steel tube in
for lighting and power, and shoot the 275 4sd boxes to the steel with
a hilti gun. caddy clips on the pipe. the wire is pulled, and drops are in
down to the 16' ceiling level, which is going in. monocote has been sprayed
on all the overhead steel, covering the pipe, and the sides of the j boxes.
the structural inspector comes out, and says the boxes violate the fireproofing
requirements, and the general agrees.
now, what do you do?
you find out your best journeyman is snorting crank on his lunch break.
now, you know this, and other people know you know this.... but the guy
has the whole job in his head, and has been making you look good for three
months.
now, what do you do?
you find out the plans you scaled to do the underground were plotted
incorrectly, in autocad, and were not to scale. everything is 18% off.
the slab is poured. walls are going up, which is how this little fact was
discovered.
now, what do you do?
the plans don't specify a housekeeping pad under a 2000 amp 480 volt
switchgear, and the inspector refuses to sign off on it, until you pour
one. a note in the specifications requires you to comply with the AHJ
as part of your contract documents, regardless of errors and omissions.
if you take on the inspector on this, he will pick your job to pieces on
everything else, insuring a loss for your shop. the switchgear has been
set, but no pipe and wire yet.
now, what do you do?
your two best journeymen on a crew of 8 have a disagreement, one of them
assaults the other, putting him in the hospital. you have two significant
portions of your job that each one is doing, and they have the whole thing
in their heads.
now, what do you do?
these are things i have observed on jobs firsthand in over 30 years of playing
with this stuff. you can't know what you don't know, until you know that you
don't know it, and then that knowledge isn't helpful.
in addition to actually laying out the job, and ordering material, and keeping
track of the payroll, and scheduling labor, and handling employee disputes,
and documenting extras, and getting change orders and extras signed, and
doing asbuilts, and pricing extras, and getting clarification on job questions,
and dealing with the inspector, you also have to attend meetings, so things
can go sideways in your absence, and keep the chair in the trailer warm.
good luck. it's not what it appears to be........
randy
