A Day in the Life of a Construction Project Manager at Los Angeles World Airports
A Construction Project Manager at Los Angeles World Airports spends their day coordinating with numerous stakeholders, including "customs and border protection, LAX airport police department, uh, airport operations," to ensure projects don't disrupt airport functions or the surrounding community, while also managing budgets, attending "OAC meetings," and performing quality control to facilitate timely payments to contractors, many of whom are small minority-owned businesses.
Project Management, Communication, Problem-Solving, Teamwork, Community Outreach
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sebastian Potes
Construction Project Manager
Los Angeles World Airports
USC
MBA UCLA Anderson
Engineering - Civil
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense, Architecture, Construction & Design
Operations and Project Management
First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Managing multiple stakeholders including government agencies and community members to ensure project alignment and minimize disruption
2. Regular meetings and communication to track progress, address challenges, and manage the project budget effectively
3. Emphasis on quality control and timely payment to contractors, particularly small and minority-owned businesses
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a construction project manager look like?
A day in the life of a construction project manager involves many different duties. Most of these involve interfacing with the various project stakeholders at LAX.
There are a myriad of stakeholders. For example, we have to interface with Customs and Border Protection, the LAX Airport Police Department, and Airport Operations. This means coordinating with those responsible for the scheduling of planes on runways and taxiways, ensuring our construction doesn't conflict with the airport's daily operations.
We also conduct community outreach to ensure our projects don't negatively impact neighboring communities. This could involve issues like dirt tracking onto streets or noise pollution at night.
We have a lot of meetings, including OAC meetings: Owner, Architect, Contractor meetings. These bring the three major players together weekly to provide project updates. We discuss schedule impacts and major change orders that could affect project financials.
Often, we need to go before the Board of Airport Commissioners to increase a project's budget if unforeseen issues arise. It's crucial to keep a pulse on the entire scenario.
Ultimately, it involves a lot of coordination and meetings. Then, we get boots on the ground to implement what was discussed in the office. We ensure the construction aligns with the goals established in those meetings.
Another significant duty is quality control of change orders. Money is a huge deal on construction projects; if contractors aren't paid, they can't proceed. LAX makes a significant effort to contract with small, minority-owned businesses to provide them with opportunities.
Therefore, it's important that cash flow reaches these small contractors and doesn't get tied up in negotiations.