What does the Construction Industry expect from recent Construction Management Graduates?

Introduction

Undergraduate Construction Management (CM) curricula need to be evaluated frequently to meet the requirements of an ever-changing construction industry. It is recognized that the industry point-of-view is important in defining the necessary skills of qualified CM graduates. Similarly, the analysis needed to solve diverse sets of problems which companies face as they struggle to create competitive organizations requires a distinct set of knowledge, understanding and skills (Chinowsky & Meredith, 1997). This paper describes a survey and its results, which sought the opinion of current construction companies in California regarding their expectations of recent CM graduates.

Historical Perspective

The construction industry is a major player in today’s economy, making up a large part of the gross national domestic product (Abudayyeh, 2000). Coupled with the complex nature of construction, its competitiveness and innovative new methods and ideas, the need for qualified managers with higher levels of education and experience is apparent. It is also a major concern of the top construction companies in California as well as nationwide. Because of this concern, Construction Management programs have existed for several decades. In fact, CM concepts have been used since early Civil Engineering firms had to manage their projects effectively as far back as 1920 (Abudayyeh, 2000).

The industry is changing dramatically because of the use of computers and other technologies. Some of these changes are not just affecting construction, but rather the more complex and sophisticated areas of project delivery systems and construction contracting (Haltenhoff, 1997). These different types of contracting methods between contractors and owners and even between contractors and their competition are leading the way. This can be seen when comparing Design-Build with CM at Risk and/or Bid-Build. In addition, competitors are coming together and contracting very large projects that they would not otherwise be able to undertake with their own resources. Combining both resources and expertise allows construction companies to bid projects that they would normally have to pass up if they had to self-perform. 

Looking at the reconstruction and retrofitting of six San Francisco Bay Area Bridges one can see examples of the monumental change in today’s construction market. All six of these bridges are being constructed with Joint Venture teams. The typical mix is two, large heavy civil companies with a great deal of bridge experience combined with an experienced marine contractor. Not only is there a need to combine expertise of qualified management, but also to bring together the size and numbers of equipment needed for this massive marine work.

Construction fundamentals will always be the backbone of any CM program, such as estimating, scheduling, and cost control. However, as the business of construction changes it requires additional skills. For example, a person would have a difficult time working with other professionals currently, if they did not have updated software skills.

In the past, CM graduates might start in the field performing such functions as layout and surveying. Today, many construction companies would prefer that a craftsman such as a carpenter or operating engineer (surveyor) perform such a task. The graduate is needed onsite more to do cost control functions and submittals or in the main office preparing takeoffs for estimates. A journeyman craftsman or foreman, typically, could not perform these specific construction management tasks.

Many construction management curriculums are known for their core construction classes that are usually offered to the third and fourth year student. However many of the basic fundamentals that prepare the student for these courses are non- engineering and non-managerial prerequisites. These classes are categorized under general education and teach oral and written communication skills, ethics, etc. On the other hand, since construction is a science, strong science and mathematical training are the key to the student’s success in upper division coursework. A well rounded construction management program needs to consider all these aspects to be effective.

Method: Survey Description and Objectives

On January 10^th, 2005, a CM Department of a California State University was awarded the 2004 Donald L. Warmby Leadership Award from the CEA Construction Management University Grant Program. CEA is the Construction Employers Association whose members are California Construction Companies. Their membership has approximately 105 companies at the time of this writing. CEA recognizes the important work a university performs in educating and preparing students to work in the field of construction. The award money was designated to fund an effort to find out what the construction industry wants from a new graduate of a construction management program as a means to enhance the curriculum at the recipient University.

The purpose of the CEA university program is to distribute funds to deserving institutions of higher education learning that have programs in construction management. While field experience through internships remains integral to learning, a formal education in CM is mandatory to success in the construction industry. CEA recognized that without well-qualified, fresh management talent coming into the industry each year, construction companies would not be competitive. CEA also understood the learning institutions are key to this process.

Method: Survey Procedures

In February of 2005, a committee of five faculty staff members from a Construction Management department at California State University, Chico began planning this survey effort. The committee met once a week regularly for about an hour. A schedule and budget were prepared and used at each weekly meeting to stay on track. The schedule was in four phases: Organization, Research, Analysis and Reporting. Each phase was approximately three months of work for the committee. The schedule indicated where the effort was falling behind and where more manpower was needed.

At the initial meeting, an outline for the body of the survey was created. It evolved from several notes and ideas to a four- page working document in about three months.

Since the award money came from CEA, their member companies were the initial targeted market for the survey. After a couple months of preparing the survey, it was decided to expand the efforts to a larger pool of companies. Since the CM department provides a venue for recruiting CM students, a survey was sent to all companies that recruit CM students from this department. This added about 150 more companies to the original 105 CEA members. Before sending the survey, the committee mailed recipients a letter informing them a survey would follow within 10-14 days. The letter requested the company furnish a contact name and phone number. There was a space provided at the bottom of the letter for this information. Responses by fax were encouraged as well as a self-addressed stamped envelope being included with the letter to make responding easier.

Method: Survey Results, Data Analysis and Evaluation

The purpose of this survey was to find out from the construction industry what qualities they would like to see in graduates of a Construction Management (CM) program. The companies surveyed were CEA members and companies that regularly recruit from California State University, Chico’s CM program. These two targeted categories comprised over 250 construction companies.

Of the 262 surveys that were distributed, 51 companies responded. This is slightly over a 19% response rate. We attributed this response rate to the advance notice that was given to the recipients one month before the survey was released.

Out of the 51 companies who responded, 24 were CEA members. Forty-eight percent of the survey respondents were CEA member companies. The analysis of the survey responses, which is covered in this section, follows the same format by section as in the actual survey.

Company Information

The survey tried to capture four types of companies by the work they perform. The four types are residential, commercial, heavy civil and subcontract work. The majority of the respondents are involved mainly in commercial type work. This made up 64% of the respondents. The rest of the respondents were as follows:

Table 1: Company Information

The targeted markets were categorized by both delivery systems, i.e. design-build, design-bid-build, etc. and whether the projects were funded by private money or public money.

Table 2: Project Funding

As a comparison, in a 1998 nationwide study of delivery systems the field was made up of a similar group. The companies surveyed in this nationwide study performed work for 57% private owners and 43% public owners (Konchar & Sanvido, 1998). As shown in Table 2 the pool of respondents for this paper’s CM survey closely mirrors the mix of construction project funding sources found in this 1998 nationwide study.

Market Information

The distribution of market information numbers is predictable for the most part. For example, you would expect a heavy civil contractor to perform mostly PUBLIC WORKS by the BID-BUILD process. Also, the private market would be mostly negotiated work, which corresponds with survey results in residential and commercial.

Table 3: Market Information

Utilization of CM Graduates

Fifty-six percent of the respondents have had experience with CM graduates from the California State University, Chico, where this survey originated. As expected, these are mostly companies that have recruited there in the past. The majority of the companies indicated that they have hired more CM graduates and Civil Engineering graduates as opposed to administrative and business graduates.

The survey also tried to extract what the demand for CM students would be in the next year, two years and five years respectively. The following list shows their AVERAGE demand for CM graduates by work type:

Table 4: Projected Demand for CM Graduates

Table 4 is significant because it reflects the demand for CM graduates in the future. From their industry experience, the authors concluded that the two-year mark is the most meaningful. The one-year can be driven by optimism and the five- year is too much of an unknown because legislature and other significant market forces are constantly changing.

The survey showed that companies need approximately 4.5 graduates every two years or 2.25 per year per company on the average. Looking at just the respondents of this survey, this would mean 2.25 X 51 = 115 CM graduates needed next spring, which is about 40% more than California State University, Chico’s (CSU, Chico) CM program alone will graduate in 2006. The authors concluded from this data that demand for CM graduates will continue to outpace supply from this CM Department for the foreseeable future.

Experience with CM Graduate Performance

The respondents were directed to Section III of the survey if they had past experience with CSU, Chico’s CM graduates. Fifty-six percent of them filled this section out. This section asked for feedback on job functions such as RFIs, administration skills, submittals, plan reading, specifications, contracts, change orders, letter writing skills, etc. They were asked to rate the job function on a Likert Scale with a one (1) if they thought the CSU, Chico graduate needed to be more familiar with the skill in question and a five (5) if they felt the person had adequate training.

Of the respondents to this survey section, the survey revealed some important information. The commercial companies rated CSU, Chico’s CM graduate between 1.0 and 1.8 in all ten categories, the average being 1.34. This indicated that, for the most part, students needed to be more versed on these types of Project Administration skills.

Doing the same analysis with the other categories, the survey revealed that the Heavy Civil companies rated them at a 1.62 and the specialty companies at a 1.9. This means Specialty companies felt that  CSU, Chico’s CM graduates are better prepared in Project Administration skills than those graduates working for the Commercial and Heavy Civil companies. No companies from the residential sector responded to this section.

The results of this survey section showed that CM graduates could use more exposure in the classroom to field office and job site administrative procedures.

Fundamental knowledge

The following information was based on a Likert Scale from 1 to 5. One (1) would mean the respondent feels it is a very important skill and five (5) would be the least important skill for the CM graduate to have. This section was the backbone of the survey, because it dissects the curriculum of a CM program and shows which market sector prefers which skills.

The top five fundamental skills CM Programs should focus on according to the survey are:

1.                    Negotiation Skills

2.                    Ethics

3.                    Leadership

4.                    Business Writing

5.                    Management Organization

The three least important fundamental skills are

1.                    Marketing

2.                    Human Resource

3.                    Building Codes

The broad spectrums of construction education programs currently available, meet the needs of the construction industry’s equally broad requirements (Haltenhoff, 1997). CM programs also try to be broad in many aspects of general business, but the survey indicated that students needed to be cognizant of business topics like Human Resources and Marketing, not experts. As for Building Codes, many companies felt, they are a requirement for designers and development planners, not builders.

By company type, the following list indicates the top skills most and least desired by recruiters in fundamental skills. If there are two listed, this means they were both scored equally.

It appears that the residential and commercial contractors prefer their CM graduates to be able to negotiate in business as well as be able to manage their time very efficiently. Also, the standard deviation was 2.67 between the most important and least important. This means they would require a more specialized person with a business background. The survey indicated that special business skills, like Marketing and Human Resources should be left to the business administrative graduates.

The Commercial group’s standard deviation in the fundamental categories was 1.7. This suggests that companies need a well-rounded person and no one category is more important than the other. The survey also indicated that ethics is very important whether one is dealing with subcontractors or the owner. More experienced trade people, as opposed to college graduates, could run commercial work in the field. The low score in Labor Relations and Equipment Utilization means that a more experienced trades person is most likely dealing with the everyday labor issues and knows more about the equipment needed to perform a particular operation.

On the other hand, a Heavy Civil company wants their CM graduates to be aware of different construction methods. This skill usually comes with some experience, but they feel that the universities should be emphasizing construction methods to their students. It should not be a surprise that this same group puts no weight on building codes. The type of work performed by a Heavy Civil company would expect this knowledge to be used at the engineering and design level.

Specialty contractors indicated a wide range of skills desired and not desired. But, it did appear that business writing and communication skills were the most important to this market sector.

Construction Management Skills

The top four CM skills most desired by companies are:

1.                    Estimating

2.                    Plan Reading

3.                    Safety

4.                    Scheduling

It was apparent from the survey that today’s construction company is putting a great deal of emphasis on safety. The accreditation requirement for construction safety is 15 contact hours seems to be a minimum. It appears that the industry would like to see even more safety taught in the classroom.

The top four CM skills least desired by companies are:

1.                    Graphics

2.                    Surveying

3.                    Jobsite Layout

4.                    Temporary Structures

The authors’ experience in the field would concur that surveying and layout are tasks more commonly performed today by experienced crafts people in different trades. The accreditation for a CM program requires 15 contact hours for surveying. This is definitely an area where most CM programs could look to removing contact hours to make room for more current curriculum topics.

By company type, the following list indicates the top skills most and least desired by recruiters in Construction Management.

The most common denominator in either category when comparing different types of companies is they all agree that graphics is the least important skill desired from a Construction Management graduate. In its use in this survey, graphics is a term that defines the presentation of design details. Graphics, once a concept of making the drawings and contract documents more presentable, is now moving to constructability and interference elimination applications.

Residential requires a great deal of estimating skills. A graduate going to work for a residential company would probably find themselves in the main office doing quantity takeoffs and bidding new work. Along with estimating, the survey indicated that plan reading is equally important. The skill of interpreting plans when estimating and during construction are important to the building trades, i.e. residential and commercial.

Heavy Civil companies desire scheduling skills. One might think that this group would also require temporary structure knowledge, but the survey results indicate otherwise. The industry has, for years, expressed that they want registered engineers designing temporary structures to reduce or even eliminate liability. However, it is the authors’ experience that a working knowledge of temporary structures and its uses is still very important for a CM graduate to know. Even though a registered engineer should perform the actual design, it is usually the CM that needs to decide how and in what order the temporary structures of a project should be built.

Specialty contractors, again, gave a range of responses in this section. The authors concluded this was because this group is made up of so many different trades from electrical contractors to scaffolding contractors. But, it was apparent that the specialty contractors are finding a need for hiring CM graduates

Software Applications

The survey asked construction companies to rank the different software in the following categories.

Estimating: Survey results show that the top estimating programs used regardless the type of work is Timberline and HCSS. In the building trades, at least more than half seem to agree on Timberline as the most commonly used estimating system, while 40-50%, almost half, of the Heavy Civil group uses HCSS.

It was not surprising that MS Excel was widely used as an estimating tool. Most of the smaller companies predominantly use Excel for all their construction estimating needs. There were a small percentage of companies that utilize an in-house system.

Scheduling: By a large margin, the respondents indicate that Primavera’s P3 is the most used scheduling software in the construction industry today. However, in the commercial and residential areas, MS Project is a close second.

As a variation to P3, SureTrak is # 3 and seems popular for those companies that perform projects that are not quite large enough for the power of P3, yet require Primavera’s long standing history of scheduling simplicity.

Project Cost Accounting: Timberline and American Contracting topped the list for the Job Cost Accounting software category. In-house programs and Excel are used by some companies depending on the complexity required and size of company.

Trends in Construction Management

The respondents were asked what the up and coming trends are in the following categories of the construction industry.

Construction and Computer technology: Construction is no different from any industry when it comes to new, innovative ways to communicate. However, when it comes to design and the construction phase, the industry has made great progress. For example, the time it takes for contract drawing go from the designer to the owner and to the contractor is done in the fraction of the time with the use of computers and emailing files. Approval times for submittals and RFI’s is done in hours and days instead of weeks. Months of time are removed from project schedules because of this one item

The other technology mentioned in this section includes, such technology, as hand held radio/cell phones, wireless and paperless communication.

Communications: Communications can be separated into two categories, two-way communications and email communications. From this survey, it was pretty conclusive that email is at the top of the list for every day communication. Everyone, whether onsite or in the office uses email, whereas only job site personnel require two-way communications.

Contracting Methods: The survey results showed that the two most talked-about, new contracting methods are CM at Risk and Design-Build.

CM at Risk has evolved, as the construction industry has wanted to make its players more accountable for their business decisions. A CM at Risk is not fee based, but has the potential to gain or lose financially according to the projects success. A CM at Risk is involved with the project from the owner’s inception to the construction completion. This makes or requires a CM at Risk to be more versatile and knowledgeable about the complete construction process (Post, 1998).

Design-Build combines a “partnering” mentality with a “value engineering” concept. Value Engineering has been in the industry for years, but not necessarily at the design phase. It is now being used in a more formal and collaborative environment. Many times, once construction has begun, even a great idea can not be implemented in a timely manner and the project misses an opportunity. Design-Build legally binds owners, engineers, architects and contractors before the schematic and design process and incorporates everyone’s ideas up front (Post, 1998).

Design-Build contractors do cost analysis’ to help make better engineering decisions. An estimate is still prepared, but since it is pre-design, it gives the Design-Build team a chance to come up with the most economical design, which reduces their risk and eventually saves the owner money. Most Design-Build projects finish with fewer claims and often times with no claims.

Discussion: Lessons Learned and Key Components for Curriculum Development

Several major points stood out from the results of this survey that will help CM Programs fine tune their curriculum. They are as follows:

More Emphasis on Project Administration Skills: Fundamental field office skills are something CM graduates are almost always involved with in their first few years of work. The survey showed that CM Programs needed to make these Field Office and Project Administration skills a priority in their curriculum. The industry believes that a CM graduate is not qualified to estimate work until sufficient time has been spent in the field observing daily operations (Warszawski, 1984). This survey echoed these sentiments. CM graduates need to be able to handle the jobsite paperwork, like RFI’s and submittals that often times drive project schedules in the early stages. Field administration work is not just paper pushing; one needs to understand when an RFI is appropriate and know how to review a submittal prior to submitting it to the engineer with the goal being an approval on the first try. CM graduates need to come to the jobsite with a good understanding of the details of Project Administration.

More Emphasis on Project Delivery Systems: Delivery systems, such as Design-Build and CM at risk, are being utilized so often today that the CM graduate needs a firm understanding of the process and contractual commitment of both systems. Industry is tired of the paradigm that has owners and contractors at opposite sides of the table. Partnering is a key component to any Design-Build team. Partnering has even saved some of the worse Bid-Build projects from being unsuccessful. Design-Build is collaboration and value-based engineering in its highest form. CM graduates need to come to their projects with a good understanding of the different project delivery systems and their specific contractual requirements.

More Emphasis on Plan Reading: The survey showed that CM graduates need to have solid plan reading skills.

The Value of Internships: In the open comment section of the survey, there was also a strong call from industry to young CM students in their second and third years to do more internship. It is recognized, especially in the construction field, that internships are probably the most valuable tool a student can utilize. Even with the best curriculum, the student is missing learning opportunities in any CM undergraduate program without internships or co-ops. Some CM programs even make an internship or co-ops mandatory. The results of the survey indicated that companies prefer CM graduates with internship or co-op experience.

Focus on Safety: As the #3 most desired skill for a graduating Construction Manager, the survey showed that safety is on the mind of most industry companies. Demand for safety training did not vary between types of construction. It is a “hot topic” across the entire industry. CM Departments need to examine if the accreditation standard of 15 contact hours of safety training will meet today’s industry requirements.

Increased Emphasis on Business Skills: The survey indicated that companies expect CM graduates to have skills in Negotiation, Leadership, Teamwork and Business Communication.

Conclusion

Overall, the survey results from industry confirmed that many of the skills that industry expects from recent CM graduates are provided by an accredited Construction Management curriculum. The survey also revealed several areas or skills that CM Departments need to emphasize.

The survey showed that the fundamental skills of a solid Construction Management curriculum, i.e. Estimating, Scheduling,  Plan Reading and Safety remain a priority. The new aspects revealed by the survey results were the desire by the construction industry for more emphasis on Project Administration skills, e.g. change orders, submittals, RFIs, etc. Also, a course on the soft CM skills, such as Negotiation, Leadership, Teamwork, etc. appeared to be necessary to add to a CM curriculum to meet current industry expectations. Business writing and communication scored surprisingly high also, which means instructors will need to re-think and modify their assignments to incorporate business letters and memos as part of the format for turning in assignments.

References

Abudayyeh, Osama (2000). Construction Engineering and Management Undergraduate Education. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 169-175

Chinowsky, Paul S. and Meredith, James E. (2000). Introducing Strategic Corporate Management in Construction Education. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 126 (1), pp. 1-9

Haltenhoff, C.E.(1986). Educating Professional Construction Managers. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, pp.153-162

Koncher, Mark and Sanvido, Victor (1998). Comparison of US Project Delivery Systems. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, pp. 435-444

Post, Nadine M. (1998).  “Building teams get high marks”. Engineering News Record, pp. 32-39

Warszawski, Abraham  (1985). Construction Management Program. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, pp. 297-309

Appendix

Curriculum Survey Questionnaire

CHICO STATE’S

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Curriculum Input Survey

Chico State’s Construction Management program, with its 550 majors is one of the 6 largest of the 120+ CM degree programs in the country. We will graduate some 80 students this year, increasing to 100 next year. To assure that our graduates will continue to be well prepared and exceptional employees, Chico State’s Construction Management faculty periodically seeks feedback from the contracting industry for the purpose of assessing our graduates’ preparation. For our 2005 curriculum review, thanks to the generous support of the Construction Employers Association of Northern California, we are surveying a large segment of the construction contracting industry. By taking 5 to 10 minutes to complete this survey, your company and project managers will provide vital input to Chico State’s CM program. This survey is also available in PDF format on Chico CM’s website [http://cm.csuchico.edu/] and the Construction Employers Association website [http://www.cea-ca.org] or contact the CM Office 530-898-5216. Survey results will be available at these websites.

I. SURVEY DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:

Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Construction Company:_______________________________________________________

Job title:____________________________________________________________________

Your Organization Level? 
Company Mgmt __________ Proj. Mgmt_________ Other________________

Degrees attained:

 HS_________ AA_________ Bachelor__________ Graduate_____________

Degree Majors: (for example Construction BSCM; or Engr BSCE)

Const_______ Engr________ BusAd____________ Other________________

How would you classify your company’s primary construction contracting?

Bldg________ Hwy________ Hvy/Civil___________ Specialty (Primary) ___________

Please estimate your company’s proportions in the following markets

II. UTILIZATION OF CM GRADUATES

Has your firm hired college graduates in the last 5 years?  YES______   NO ______

If yes, approximately how many in each degree category in the last 5 years?

Const_______ Engr________ Business__________ Other________________

Background information: If you are unfamiliar with the Construction Management degree, the subject areas in this table are representative of the Accredited Construction Management program.

Please estimate the total number of CM graduates your firm may be seeking to hire.

in the next Year?_________ in the next 2 Years?_____ in the next 5 Years?

III. EXPERIENCE WITH CHICO STATE’SCM GRADUATE PERFORMANCE

If you have not hired Chico State’s CM Graduates, please go to next section “IV.  RECOMMENDED FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE”.

Background:  Contractors who have hired several of our graduates in recent years identified areas that may need further emphasis. Based on your experience with CM grads, indicate your recommendations.

Using the following 1 to 5 scale:  1 = Strongly Agree     3 = Neutral    5 = Strongly Disagree

Your experience indicates that Chico’s CM Graduates need to be more familiar with:

Are there additional things that you’ve found Chico’s CM Graduates need to be more familiar with?

Please list them:

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

IV. RECOMMENDEDFUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE

Background:  Fundamental CM Knowledge and Skills are the backbone of any CM curriculum. Please prioritize which areas you feel should be emphasized in a CM curriculum for your initial employee?

Using the following 1 to 5 scale:  1 = Most Important        3 = Neutral       5 = Least Important

Fundamental Knowledge                    Please circle one in each category

Construction Management Skills

V. SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

What ESTIMATING software is used by your company?_________________________________

What SCHEDULING software is used by your company?________________________________

What PROJECT COST ACCOUNTING software is used by your company?_________________

What are other software tools used in your Company?___________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

VI. TRENDS IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Please list what your company sees as significant New Trends in each of the following areas of the Construction Industry:

Construction Technology ________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

Computer Technology ___________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Communications _______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Contracting Methods ____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Contract Drawings & Documents __________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Other_________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

If completing this survey brought something else to mind that you believe we should look into, please list it here:

_____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Please respond by May 27^th and return to:

Construction Management Department

Chico State University

Chico, CA 95929-0305     or via FAX to 530-898-4675

THANK YOU