There appears to be a shortage of good administrative people in the construction industry. Specifically, admins with dominant leadership type personalities. We always talk about great managers and estimators. The truth is that they are (for the most part) nothing without their support staff. Admins in construction are rock stars in their own right for sure!
Administrative assistants are the backbone of most construction offices. Whether you’re building a road, or a bridge, or a house, or a Wal-Mart—there are mountains of paperwork to be processed and conversations to be negotiated.
- Submittals. Nearly every product installed needs to be submitted for approval. This means conversations and documentation of those conversations with vendors, and subs, and general contractors, and architects, and engineers, and owners, and construction managers—while enforcing a schedule.
- There are government forms for everything you can imagine—proposing, processing, approving, getting paid, collecting on what you’ve been paid, requirements and quotas. There are forms and processes for estimating, bidding, and submitting. The size of the envelope could actually be a specification on a bid proposal.
- Insurance and the administration of it can be a job all in and of itself. Understanding the transfer of liability is absolutely a valuable piece of a resume.
- Bookkeeping, payables, receivables, job costing, and for crying out loud—understanding what’s behind a journal entry.
- Payroll, prevailing wage, and certified payroll.
- Contracts. There is a contract for everything! A change order is a contract, and anyone project can have hundreds of them. For that matter, an email can be a contract or perhaps lead to the enforcement of one.
- Legal and lawsuits. Unfortunately legal is a big part of every business in the 21st century.
Construction companies are almost always deadline driven. Rarely are two days the same. We need strong administrators to hold it all together.
Compensation for this job (or parts of this job, depending on what you are are good at) ranges from maybe $30k’ish to around $50k’ish in Buffalo right now. And to my initial point, you will always be in demand.
The people I know who have found their spot in this job category tend to stay at their jobs for a very long time. If you asked them why they stay, most would tell you that they enjoy being valued. They enjoy being part of their company’s winning record. And to be sure, where you find a successful construction company, you will find at least one great Admin.
The field is wide open. Many people take a broad based approach to administrative assistant as the career. What I am suggesting is to look to the construction industry as a place to specialize, and then be an admin.
I know multiple companies looking to hire admin folks. If what I’ve written here has perhaps struck a chord with you then we should at least talk.