A Day in the Life of a Construction Manager at DMCI Project Developers Inc.
A Construction Manager's day at DMCI Project Developers Inc. begins at 6:30 AM with a toolbox meeting and a site walkthrough, "climbing to the top most floor" initially, then focusing on critical areas. The remainder of the day involves reviewing deliverables, addressing concerns, attending multiple daily and weekly meetings, and providing project status reports to management.
Project Management, Teamwork, Communication, Problem-Solving, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Joselle Civil
Construction Manager
DMCI Project Developers Inc.
University of the Philippines - Diliman, 2013
UCLA Anderson, MBA Candidate '25
Engineering - Civil
Architecture, Construction & Design, Real Estate
Operations and Project Management
International Student, Scholarship Recipient, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. A Construction Manager's day begins early (6:30 AM) and involves long hours (until 5 PM, sometimes later), working six days a week.
2. The job includes daily toolbox meetings for safety and goal alignment, followed by site walkthroughs to monitor progress and address concerns.
3. A Construction Manager is responsible for various deliverables (reports), overseeing engineers' work, addressing project concerns, and attending multiple meetings per week (area meetings, coordination meetings, and project status reports to management).
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a construction manager look like?
It starts very early, around 6:30 in the morning. We don't finish until about five, though sometimes we extend until eight. We do this pretty much six days a week, working Mondays through Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays during crunch time.
I always start my day with a toolbox meeting. We gather as a team. Sometimes it's the whole group, all 600 of us. Most of the time, it's the specific trade, for example, the masonry team. We meet as a group, do our safety reminders, and exercise to start the day. Then we basically align with the goals for the day.
Personally, after the toolbox meeting, I like to start my day with a walkthrough of the concerned areas. When we were first starting, I would climb to the topmost floor, whatever structural level was ongoing, and then make my way down until I reached the office. This way, I could see all the ongoing areas.
Obviously, when we reached 47 floors, that wasn't possible. So I would check which areas were critical and had ongoing work. I try to visit almost all the areas at least once a week. This takes about two hours of my day.
After the walkthrough, I make my way to my office, where I take care of my deliverables. This can vary from reports to my supervisor to checking the work my engineers are submitting. All the while, I'm on call for all concerns since I'm overall in charge of the project and need to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Our days usually end with meetings. We have an average of one meeting per day, every week. Most of the time, these are area meetings where we discuss specific trades, concerns, and targets.
Once a week, we also have a coordination meeting where all the trade leaders, engineers, and subcontractor representatives are present. We discuss the targets and schedule for the week. About bi-weekly or once a month, I report the project status to my boss and the management, giving them an idea of where we currently are with the project.