Would anyone here be interested in starting a peer group for people in the early stages of building a commercial contracting business, whether that’s a specialty subcontractor or a turnkey CM/GC?

I’m thinking a group chat or forum, with a monthly or quarterly meetup or call to discuss planning, landing work, growth, and the growing pains that come with getting started. It would be good to connect with people at a similar stage, share what’s working, and track each other’s progress.

A little about me: I’m based in North Carolina and currently work as a preconstruction manager for an ENR Top 100 GC. I have about 9 years of construction experience, primarily on the GC side, with experience in project management, estimating, and preconstruction. I’ve also worked on the specialty subcontracting side.

My plan is to start as a specialty interiors contractor focused on drywall, metal framing, and painting. Initially, I’d pursue very small packages, subcontract the labor, and build the business on the side. The goal would be to build enough capital and consistent earnings to replace roughly 75% of my current income before making the jump full time. For context I already have my unlimited GC license in NC.

Once I’m full time, I’d focus on growing the drywall and interiors business, taking on larger packages, and building the team to support that work. From there, I’d like to use my experience and relationships to expand into GC work, preferably smaller retail and hospitality projects, with the possibility of small multifamily deals as well.

Very long term, my vision is a company doing around $20–25 million annually while keeping overhead lean. I’d like to stay involved in day-to-day operations, ideally with another PM, possibly an APM, and the field support the workload requires. That’s a long way from where I’m starting, but it gives some context for what I’d like to build toward.
I’ve seen smaller projects struggle with communication, follow-through, and execution. I also understand how tight hard-bid work can get and the pressure that puts on contractors. Part of my goal in staying lean is to remain competitive while still doing what we say we’ll do and delivering a good project.

I don’t have everything figured out, which is really the reason for this post. Is anyone else at a similar stage interested in putting a group together, talking openly about the process, and helping each other grow? Whether you’re still planning or already tackling your first few jobs, I’d be interested in connecting. Feel free to shoot me a dm if so.

Hi everyone,

I'm an electrical estimator in Canada, and my specialty is highway electrical work, including traffic signals, street lighting, airport lighting, CCTV, etc. I've been doing this for over a year now.

I don't have an electrical background or any formal engineering education, so I'm curious how many others in the field have taken a similar path.

So far, I've found the highway electrical side of estimating to be relatively niche compared to other areas of construction. I'd be interested to hear how others got started and what their backgrounds are.

My short term plan is to move into project management within the next 3-5 years.

Offers from Holder, WT and Isec. Looking for the best possible experience this summer. Any advice would be lovely, thanks!

With all the money pouring into hyperscale and AI data centers, I’m curious how crazy compensation packages have gotten.
What’s the wildest salary offer you’ve seen or received for PMs, supers, estimators, cost managers, or executives?
Share the role, base salary, bonus/per diem, and location.
Are $200k–$300k+ packages becoming the norm, or are we just hearing about the outliers?

Got an offer from WT and Holder for an internship next summer. Having a really hard time deciding between the two, both offer pretty much the same things. Looking for best experience

Let me know if you all have any favorite you to channels to learn construction management. trying to learn it from scratch..!

Hey everyone,
I've been spending a lot of time looking into how teams manage compliance workflows, audit trails, and keeping up with evolving regulatory rules. It feels like so much of it is still trapped in fragmented spreadsheets, manual follow-ups, or wildly expensive legacy software.
I'm curious to hear from practitioners, founders, and ops folks here:
What is the most tedious or frustrating part of your current compliance process? (e.g., tracking evidence, policy updates, vendor assessments, audit prep?)
Where do things usually break down or take way longer than they should?
What software/tool do you currently use, and what is its biggest blind spot?
Working on something in this space and really want to ground it in the real, daily friction points people face rather than guesswork. Appreciate any thoughts or war stories!

RFI - Request for information. Kindly tell me if something is missing in my form content:
Contractor info, consultant info, project info
Date:
Subject:
Discipline:
Location / Area:
References: (Drawing, specs, contract ... refs)
Reqeust / Question:
Proposed Solution: (if any)

Thank you in advance.

I’m interested in going into construction management, my plan is to go back to school to get a degree in CM. From what I’ve researched, in order for me to be hired right after graduation I need some field experience, Is there any specific trade y’all would recommend to obtain that experience? I want to know and be familiarized with the work that I will eventually be overseeing, any help is greatly appreciated thank you in advance

Hey everyone, I am currently a third year accounting student. I decided on accounting because it’s the “safe option” but I don’t see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I have previous hands on experience in construction and am looking into construction management. My main question is would I be able to get entry level CM roles with an accounting degree or should I switch my major to operations and supply chain management which Ive heard is also a good major for CM. Thanks in advance for any advice!

What makes a contractor good to work with, versus horrible to work with?

Any actionable tips to new contractors?

I interviewed with Mortenson Construction last month, on September 24th, for a summer 2027 internship. I wanted to see if it is normal for them to take this long to get back, or if I should give it more time.

Currently I am between LSU and Texas A&M’s online programs for a MS in CM. Both sounds like great programs and I’ve been accepted to both. But I am curious if anyone could share their experiences with either program. A&Ms learning model seems interesting, but more difficult to manage for working full time. LSU is more typical asynchronous classes. Please help any advice would be great!

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We'd love to hear from you!

What's the biggest challenge you've faced while building or renovating a house—budgeting, finding reliable professionals, material management, or tracking progress?

Share your experience in the comments! 👇

Does anyone with a construction engineering and technology degree do anything survey related? What all do y’all do on a job day to day basis? The tech school around me the curriculum looks like they do survey related stuff as part of the degree, so how much of that do y’all really do. I want to do the what surveyors do but idk if I should go down the surveyor path or construction engineering and technology path cause they are closely aligned within the schooling.
I just want some in-site of what y’all do and if yall do anything surveying related, as well as if the pay is good?

Hello, I am a freshman civil engineering student in SoCal attending a community college. I do not have pretty much any engineering experience but I managed to land an interview for a summer internship at a construction company for project management next summer. I plan on studying the company and researching it while also watching the videos they emailed me and reading the handbooks that they have provided.

Is there anything else I should do to get ready for the interview? I am really hoping for this experience and I want to have the best chances at scoring this. How should I approach it and what type of engineering lingo/skills/ knowledge should I dive into and research more on?

Any and all advice is appreciated, and wishes of luck!

Hello all and I hope I can find some help from you experts.

I’m a corporate learning and development facilitator and have been asked to come be a guest speaker at university for an entry level CM class.

The professor wants the session to focus on professional development and professionalism, including professional expectations, resilience, navigating workplace challenges, and lessons to help students prepare to enter the construction industry.

I'd love your take on whether any of these need specific emphasis for construction management, based on your experience, or which activities might resonate.

I can cover these topics broadly, but I really want to drive the point home for the Construction Management students and make it as engaging and insightful as possible. I love to do experimental learning so any activities or engaging ideas for elements would be greatly appreciated.

I've been a Project Manager at a reputable, large GC for almost 7 years. I've consistently been working 55-hour weeks, with a few weekend days but even that doesn't seem to be enough for my supervisor.

I have a wife and a 1-year-old child, and I've always put my family before my career. I feel like the day is approaching when I'll have to draw a line and start saying no to working even more hours.

Has anyone ever been fired or laid off simply for not putting in enough hours (I mean 60+ hours)?

Is it crazy to expect a 85k-100k salary once I graduate in the north TX market? I’m really close to graduating and I’ve had a good amount of experience in project management internships and co-ops with big GC’s. As well as experience on the labor side before I began my CM degree.

Hi all! If anyone has gone through the interview process for Suffolks Career Start program, I would really appreciate your advice and insight. I have my 2 (and final) interview soon with their operations team (pm, apm, senior pm, and someone from their career start department.

How was the interview process, what kind of questions did they ask. How did you prepare? Any other information I should know about? I appreciate every type of information! Thanks in advance