Construction Managers
Architecture and ConstructionO*NET 11-9021.00United States
Plan, direct, or coordinate, usually through subordinate supervisory personnel, activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities, and systems. Participate in the conceptual development of a construction project and oversee its organization, scheduling, budgeting, and implementation.
- Median annual earnings
- $90,599
- Projected change
- +11.6%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 623.04K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
40% of the workforce
Growing to 695.11K by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What construction managers do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Inspect or review projects to monitor compliance with building and safety codes or other regulations.
- Develop or implement quality control programs.
- Plan, schedule, or coordinate construction project activities to meet deadlines.
- Prepare and submit budget estimates, progress reports, or cost tracking reports.
- Direct and supervise construction or related workers.
- Determine labor requirements for dispatching workers to construction sites.
- Confer with supervisory personnel, owners, contractors, or design professionals to discuss and resolve matters, such as work procedures, complaints, or construction problems.
- Prepare contracts or negotiate revisions to contractual agreements with architects, consultants, clients, suppliers, or subcontractors.
- Plan, organize, or direct activities concerned with the construction or maintenance of structures, facilities, or systems.
- Study job specifications to determine appropriate construction methods.
- Contract or oversee craft work, such as painting or plumbing.
- Investigate damage, accidents, or delays at construction sites to ensure that proper construction procedures are being followed.
- Interpret and explain plans and contract terms to representatives of the owner or developer, including administrative staff, workers, or clients.
- Implement new or modified plans in response to delays, bad weather, or construction site emergencies.
- Requisition supplies or materials to complete construction projects.
- Perform, or contract others to perform, pre-building assessments, such as conceptual cost estimating, rough order of magnitude estimating, feasibility, or energy efficiency, environmental, and sustainability assessments.
- Apply for and obtain all necessary permits or licenses.
- Evaluate construction methods and determine cost-effectiveness of plans, using computer models.
- Inspect or review projects to monitor compliance with environmental regulations.
- Develop or implement environmental protection programs.
- Secure third-party verification from sources, such as Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED), to ensure responsible design and building activities or to achieve favorable LEED ratings for building projects.
- Implement training programs on environmentally responsible building topics to update employee skills and knowledge.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $48,945
- 25th percentile
- $66,530
- 50th percentile
- $90,599
- 75th percentile
- $126,936
- 90th percentile
- $182,327
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $90,599 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+11.6%faster than average
2025623,039 jobs
2035 projected695,106 jobs
72,067 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 40%
- High school diploma or less
- 20%
- Certificate
- 15%
- Some college
- 10%
- Associate degree
- 10%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 5%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Construction Project Managers14,387 postings
- 02Superintendents13,864 postings
- 03Construction Managers10,347 postings
- 04Construction Superintendents9,433 postings
- 05Commercial Construction Superintendents3,447 postings
- 06Electrical Superintendents3,034 postings
- 07Commercial Construction Project Managers3,013 postings
- 08Project Managers/Construction Managers2,930 postings
- 09Project Superintendents2,479 postings
- 10Assistant Superintendents2,176 postings
- 11Site Supervisors1,947 postings
- 12Site Managers1,888 postings
- 13Multifamily Superintendents1,626 postings
- 14Construction Coordinators1,456 postings
- 15Assistant Construction Project Managers1,397 postings
- 16Directors of Construction1,393 postings
- 17Commercial Superintendents1,369 postings
- 18Civil Superintendents1,314 postings
- 19Construction Project Coordinators1,182 postings
- 20General Superintendents1,091 postings
Top employers
- 01GPAC11,817 postings
- 02PageGroup5,045 postings
- 03Actalent2,943 postings
- 04Jacobs Solutions1,768 postings
- 05Jobot1,741 postings
- 06CyberCoders1,258 postings
- 07Turner Construction Company1,113 postings
- 08Turner & Townsend1,085 postings
- 09MasTec972 postings
- 10Amazon852 postings
- 11HITT Contracting767 postings
- 12Insight Global732 postings
- 13CDM Smith682 postings
- 14Allied Universal629 postings
- 15CBRE621 postings
- 16JLL578 postings
- 17Kiewit Corporation574 postings
- 18Kimmel & Associates536 postings
- 19Leoforce536 postings
- 20M. A. Mortenson Company513 postings
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