How to Be a Successful Construction Foreman: The ProfitDig Radio Show Episode 6 (2023)

Introduction

Brought to you by www.profitdig.com

Professional construction project manager/estimator Jeff Spencer explains to Chris Work how to be successful as a foreman. Jeff worked his way up from labor to company owner, and has been involved in the construction field for nearly 30 years. In this ten minute video, he talks about the need to be flexible and well-rounded, the ability to perform any part of a job, to operate equipment, and effectively manage a crew.

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Content

If you're a good foreman and you're doing your job, then you shouldn't have any fear should not fear.

Yeah, you know, especially working with with a good credible company, you know, they're going to continue to keep you on.

You know, we want to build our company.

We want to see it expand so we're looking for future performance.

Suddenly we were very interested in brooding for kentucky.

Yes, you went 100 bucks.

Yeah.

I was like you start making the picks because I never did get that many, you know, didn't they play.

Alabama, I know they didn't.

Win.

No.

Alabama.

One, yeah, yeah.

Basketball.

Yep, they're.

They're, killing me.

Damn, alabama, it's.

A girl I'm, rolling y'all.

I won't talk about some construction or something, oh, okay.

I'm.

Sorry, I'm.

Sorry.

Well, enough of that roll tide business.

Yeah, yeah.

Jeff spencer.

How are we doing? Good? Chris? How are you I'm? Well, I'm, well, good.

Well, it's, a wednesday, evening, sure enough, yeah, weekly meeting it's, our profit, dig content meeting, it's, always a good time.

How are you having a few beers blowing off some steam talking about some construction? Jeff you were talking about something earlier that I thought was very interesting with this, hey, we need a video for this.

And you were just talking about, you know, the demand for uh, you know, good foreman and operators and construction right now.

And this is how companies are facing the possibility of other companies coming in and poaching, their talent and so that's increasing wages.

I mean, which is good, I mean, that's, what we all want at the end of the day.

And so it is good and it's, not good.

You know when it happens, you know, if you've got outstanding bids that you bid at a certain labor weight, well, and then you've got to you gotta up your game, you know, and then you know, you've got a the only one way to make that money up is in production.

Absolutely yes today, right.

But if that lifts the market right, then everyone can benefit from it.

Yeah, exactly so that that's, good, yeah.

And so it got me thinking, all right, I'm a foreman.

What all right? Let me let me take a step back I'm, a foreman and I'm I'm, not necessarily new in construction.

Obviously, or I shouldn't be a foreman, but I'm new in that position.

And maybe I didn't have or spend as much time in the field as some other guys.

What could I do? Um to increase my performance, be a better foreman, do a better job for my crew or crews and potentially earn more money? Well, I mean, it's, you know, as long as you're doing your work in meeting production or getting more production than what's required, uh as long as you're doing it in a safe way.

You know, in a way that is, you know, not going to come back to bite you.

You know, like, you know, you don't mess up something today and kind of skim over and then come back and fix it later on you never want to do your work twice, right or error or safety right? So you never want to, you know, you don't want to jeopardize anybody's life, absolutely for, you know, first and foremost, sure, but uh, you know, my thing is, if you've got a good crew, and you've been working together for a while, you know, your foremans should be able to see potential prospects that they have on their crew.

You know, to me a good foreman is someone that is going to involve other crew members and kind of train them.

You know, and like what I like to do, you know, I like to move people up.

I don't want to hire people from another company or hire people.

You know off the street.

I like to see, you know when we need them, that's, fine, yeah.

But I like to see our guys, you know, get trained in the field and move up.

You know as into one company, the company I work for right now.

In particular, you know, most of the guys have been there.

10 plus years.

Wow, right.

Yeah, that's.

Awesome, yeah.

And you know, because, you know, we pay good wages and we give them opportunities to grow.

You know, we as long as they're willing to learn and pay attention and and show that they can show up every day and take the the learning that they're getting and use it to progress their their their level in that particular field, then they could potentially come up.

You know to be a foreman or superintendent.

You know, you know, it's going through the ranks right skies and limits.

Yeah.

And of course, every time you move up, you know, it's an increase in pay do foreman ever feel threatened by that like.

I mean, I guess it depends on the scenario situation they're in.

But if I'm a foreman do I ever maybe not want to teach the guys under me as much as I know or this, or that with this fear that they may take my position, if you're a good foreman and you're doing your job.

Then you shouldn't have any fear should not fear.

Yet, you know, especially working with with a good credible company, you know, they're going to continue to keep you on.

You know, we want to build our company.

We want to see it expand so we're, looking for future performance, what better way than take a guy that's been with you five or six years? You know, and then this formula he's been working under has trained him up.

And you know, he's he's got the grasp of what's going on.

He knows how to shoot great.

He knows how to to set up a laser.

He knows how to you know, do whatever, you know he can operate, right? You know, he's, he can get in the ditch with a shovel.

Right? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

He can do it all, yeah.

And so at that point, you know how to read a set of drawings, yeah, you know, all those things are key things.

And if if your foreman takes an incentive to teach these guys as they go up, then what better way to grow a company than keep it all in house sure now so that, but, but you know, but when you make a guy foreman, he's got to have a crew under him sure.

So at that point, you know, you do generate other jobs, you know, that's outside the field or outside your company.

So you know now you're reaching out to people that that it's not associated with your company you're taking applications, because you've got to build this crew around this new foreman.

And like what I like to do.

I like to take, you know, one, I may rob one or two guys from another crew, or something and put on his crew to give him some stability to where you know, he's, not depending on outside help that may not be as progressed as what he is, or what he needs to have to support him.

That makes total sense.

You can bring a couple of outside guys into a crew that's.

You know, been working together, right? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Yeah.

So then that foreman.

I mean, I I guess it's also.

Well, let me ask you, this I'm a foreman and let's say, I've been in the field for a number of years.

Um, I guess there's.

Obviously an advantage to me, even if there are situations where I'm gonna be running a piece of equipment or doing some of these other things, uh, just for one just to stay fresh on your skill, right? You know, I mean, I know it's, not something you lay down at night.

And just suddenly forget how to operate a piece of equipment, but there's more than just moving forward and backwards and picking the bucket up and down.

I mean, and we we our foremost, we like to be what we call work informants.

So you know, they they're not just sitting in a truck, looking instead of blueprints, you know day in and day out, you know, they're out with a crew.

You know, they may get on a piece of machinery.

You know, maybe excavator wheel, loader, dozer, whatever it may be, and they may get a ditch netblade pipe.

Yeah, they may you know, get out and shoot great.

You know, it just it just depends on what what needs to be done.

And so we call them work informants, but that's.

What they do.

You know, they they they're.

Not just a foreigner that runs a crew, you know, they get out and participate.

You know, in day-to-day activities as well, yeah.

And I bet and correct me if I'm wrong.

But if I had a list of all foreign construction in their wages from east coast to west coast, those who are identified as a working foreman.

I bet they can earn more money.

Well, yeah, that's something they're going to get more production and do it with less less men, yeah, because you know, he's he's taking up the gap of someone else that you got to fill that spot with.

So sure I'd be paying someone to do it right? Yeah.

Not to mention motivational, right? You know, it's.

We've all had jobs at some point where you know, the boss man, he's hanging out in the in the heated truck in the middle of winter, or the ac is blowing on them in the middle of summer and it's, right? You know when he's actually out there with you, then it kind of motivates everyone too, you know, it kind of sets the stage that.

No one is better than anyone here we're here to do a job and we're just going to get it done.

Yeah, yeah.

And if and if you are that one particular foreman, you know, and a lot of bigger construction companies have them to where your job is to keep the job laid out and that's.

All you do is focus on those drawings and keeping the job laid out.

Then you should have an operator or a lead man on site that is just as almost as equal as you are to where he can keep that crew motivated just like you're talking about he's got to, you know, keep them going and pushing them and most time, you know, whatever, the main piece of equipment is that operator, generally is the person we're talking about.

Okay, uh, you know, it's, like if you're laying pipe, then that excavator operator if he stops or it shuts down, then the whole crew shuts down cruise ships.

So you know, it's, he's it's up to him to keep everybody motivated while you're foreman is is trying to to look at day-to-day tasks and get everything lined out.

Yeah, but you know, a good foreman can be a working foreman and still get day-to-day tasks laid out as well.

Sure, well, that's fantastic.

Well, jeff is very helpful, and I think it's going to be helpful to our listeners.

I hope so I appreciate your time, chris, good to talk to you talking to you.

You.