What Are the Roles on a Construction Site?

What Are the Roles on a Construction Site?

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What are the construction worker positions that you need to know? There are a variety of construction roles. Managers and supervisors are at the top as you'd expect. General laborers and their assistants make up the bulk of the workers. In between, you might find very skilled positions like carpenters, and subcontractors who are hired to do very specific jobs. These can range from electricians and masonry workers to roofers and insulation installers.

Construction Manager

Let's break it down in the way that matters most to the everyday construction worker. Construction managers oversee a whole project. They're responsible for the top-down view, including communication with customers, architects, and inspectors. They manage the planning and budgeting. They decide on materials and schedules, and help everyone stay coordinated. You'll often find construction managers have office staff skilled in using software that helps them organize this all.

Supervisor

The construction manager utilizes supervisors to manage specific tasks. Supervisors are go-betweens that help workers and management communicate. It's a tough job because they have to translate worker needs, material shortages, equipment issues, and any other problems to management, while also communicating expectations and schedule changes to workers. Supervisors must be skilled in ensuring each side gets information in a streamlined, easy-to-understand manner.

Engineers

Engineers may work in an independent way to make plans in advance and adjust on the fly. They're not necessarily part of the normal construction hierarchy, but they can be. Once a job's started, they're usually brought in to help weigh options or to get a specific task done.

Subcontractors

General contractors can't always manage to make room for workers with specific specialties. Electricians, roofers, and others who get a very specific task done will often be brought in as subcontractors. General contractors usually have a few in each field who they have experience working with and trust to get the job done efficiently.

Subcontractors will be scheduled to come in on specific dates, which requires that everything is ready for them to do their work. Supervisors help workers know what this work is, when it needs to be done, and what subcontractors might need from workers while they're doing their specialty work.

Construction Workers

Construction workers are the heart of any construction project. Without these construction roles, building anything new would be impossible. They do demolition work, operate heavy machinery and construction equipment, and work together to get the vast majority of tasks done on the job site.

Construction is a very collaborative job, and these are the workers who problem solve every day. Construction worker positions are in high demand because so much needs to be done. Newer workers often assist older workers and learn the basics of the job site until they understand each task better. Most contractors maintain fairly loose working hierarchies that encourage teamwork and communication, but that are strict about safety and scheduling so that everyone stays healthy and organized.

Where do you fit in? Let’s find out. Contact Labor for Hire today.