My day to day tasks consists of gathering data and reporting results back about the production and usage of materials.
The role is a lot of admin, as such there is a lot of repetition between what's required as each new site starts up. Being a part of a project management team includes handling product purchasing, ensuring all permits are acquired and valid, monthly invoices and claims etc, as well as a lot of progress meetings. However, as the job progress' there can be an array of problems that need to be solved either internally, or in discussion with the consultant/designer.
As a Project Engineer I manage the orders, planning and operations of my construction sites. I communicate with the site team, consultants, clients & authorities regularly to ensure our projects stay on budget and program and are to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
As a KPI engineer I am responsible for tracking the productivity of projects. I have about 15 sites that I visit, on a daily basis I will visit about 4-5 of those sites and track specific construction activities to calculate our productivity rates. This is an autonomous role, and I select which sites to visit based of what activity they are doing that day. The second half of the day is spent in the office where all of the information is submitted to a KPI database which gets sent to senior management. This information allows the company to understand if their pricing of projects is appropriate according to how long it takes us and how much it costs us to actually complete our activities on site.
As an undergraduate, I only work 3 to 4 days a week around my university studies. On the days that I work, the tasks I am given will depend on what the Project Manager needs done - they are also willing to teach me new things, so that I can complete these tasks for them in the future. Day to day tasks may include ordering materials by raising purchase orders after a quantity takeoff, planning meetings with the project team, assisting in the tendering process, correspondence as necessary and invoices, among many other tasks.
