When I first started in the Building Construction business the Supervisor was the General contractors’ job overseer. The supervisor was a combination of Project Manager and Foreman for the job, but as construction projects became more complicated the Supervisors responsibilities changed.

A building Construction supervisor is a person that is highly trained in all aspects of the building Construction. They are usually some one that has been a trades’ person such as a Carpenter, Mason or Electrician for 5 to 10 years.It is imparative that the supervisor can read building construction drawings. They coordinate the work in the field with all the subcontractors and make sure all the work is performed to good construction practices.

Whenever there is a coordination problem between the trade disciplines the Supervisor is the first person to be notified to rectify the situation or recommend fixes to the design professionals if the problem is beyond their authority. The Construction Supervisor has to have a working knowledge of all the trade disciplines on the job, site work, concrete work, plumbing, electrical, interior finishes and elevator installation to name a few.

The Job of Building Construction Supervisor changes from day to day. They could be working with the concrete contractor one day to overcome a problem and the next hour there is some problems with material deliveries for the plumbing contractor to be rectified.

Another job that a Construction supervisor is responsible for is adhering to the schedule that the Project Manager set up for the project. Sometimes a Building Construction Supervisor will have to work with the Project Manager to adjust the schedule because of unforeseen delays such as, due to weather conditions either on the site or for material transportation to the site.

The daily report is something that is one of the most important part of the Building Construction Supervisors job. This report should contain: weather conditions for the day, number of trades people on the job and hours, a brief summary of what was being done on the job by each trade, any problems or changes that occurred, safety issues that occurred and needed to be resolved, and people that visited the site.

Of the upmost importance for a Building construction supervisor is to keep an open dialog with the project manager and design professionals, getting all the questions answered and documenting all changes that are approved.

Hopefully this short overview of the function of a Construction Supervisor function on a building construction project will help people understand the chain of command on a Building Construction Project and the part project manager and supervisor play in the overall project.