As discussed elsewhere, an important character trait I posses is my interest in learning new things.  This led me to transfer from Baton Rouge, LA to Savannah, GA to help manage one of my company's single largest projects to date.  While I was on-site, our team grew our company's total contract value to almost $100M.  I remained part of this operation for about one year while working grueling 12 hour days, 7 days per week - we took about two Sundays off per month.  On days off, I golfed at one of the many beautiful golf courses in GA.

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I decided it was finally time to move geographically from my hometown and get out on my own, if you will.  Apparently, there was a need for someone with my skill-set and motivation at the massive Georgia project.  It wasn't until I was on-site that I realized how dire that need was.  In a matter of a couple weeks, I packed my car with the bare minimum and embarked on the 12 hour drive from Baton Rouge to Savannah.  I had one day (Sunday) to unpack and buy some essentials (shower curtain, fold-up chair, etc.) before I had to attend job-site orientation class that following Monday to get things going.
 

My apartment was a short 3 minute drive from the job-site's gravel personnel parking lot.  It was about 5 minutes to the island's paved staff parking lot, the one I drove to Monday thru Friday.  I parked in the gravel parking lot on Saturday and Sunday since the Staff bus system did not operate on weekends.  Most all personnel (more than 1,000) were bussed onto and off-of the island each morning and evening.  There had to have been more than 30 yellow school busses operating every day.  Considering the multiple mile bus trek from off-island parking to the island at 15 MPH, the ride took about 30 minutes one way every morning and afternoon.

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The construction job-site itself was located on an 840 acre island in the Savannah River about five miles from the center of downtown Savannah.  The Kinder Morgan owned liquified natural gas facility will be one of the largest on earth when all expansion phases are finally complete.  I was a part of a $2 billion expansion to increase the natural gas liquefaction and export capacity of the facility.

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On the South end of the island resided "Trailer City," an area designated for temporary office trailers to house construction management staff.  The area covered multiple acres and probably contained upwards of 30, forty foot long trailers.  My trailers were the furthest from the bus drop-off (5 minute walk).

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When I showed up to trailer city on day one with only my laptop, our temporary construction offices were so cramped with staff employees, I was forced to sit in a folding chair at a fold-up table for the first month of my stay.  Having said that, I had no problem with this setup and didn't complain once.  I think the Project Manger whose office I was squatting in got tired of me being in there, so we eventually mobilized a few new temporary office trailers to expand accordingly.

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Having a detailed understanding of engineered documents, labor calculations, material procurement, logistics, and having been an electrician's helper put me in a unique position.  I was quickly handed some of the most complex and high value tasks.  A lot of my professional growth on this project came from my own creativity, building unique strategies and management systems.  To this point in time, I had never felt so valuable or relied on.  

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We had a great project management team.  Between building, presenting, and negotiating change orders, updating tracking schedules, collecting and organizing data, building work packages for installation, and ensuring overall efficiency, I spent as much time as I could making field walks (checking in on the electricians in their work areas) and having beers after work with the electricians, instrument fitters, foremen, and general foremen.  I loved the immersion and gained immense knowledge and wisdom from the experience.  

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I woke up at 5:00 AM (dark) every morning and got back to my apartment around 7:30 PM (dark).  Sleep at 9:30 PM only allowed two hours to put the laundry in, workout, cook and eat dinner, and watch some TV.  Since there were so few days off, I skipped dinner and the workout on grocery shopping nights.  Maintaining a clean diet, routine exercise, and 7.5 hours of sleep was crucial for all-day energy and focus.   

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Through my experience, assessing engineered documents and translating the information into data, usable by a construction company to construct something (i.e. Project Estimating), is the best possible training/preparation for "field deployment" of management personnel.  I always call the estimating department Construction University.  It prepared me well for my on-site experience in Savannah, GA.

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I like to look at the last few years living away from home as my version of graduate school, but I get paid for my time rather than having to pay tuition.  Plus, I can help my company make money in the process.

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My overall takeaways from the experience as an on-site cost engineer:

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• I was able to tie everything together to finally see how the whole industrial construction machine worked

• This was by far the turning point in my own professional confidence.  I am now fully comfortable volunteering to manage multi-million dollar construction projects

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Last updated 08.08.20 - PJ

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