Most PMs have to think about money constantly, but the permits, wages, materials, and equipment of construction projects in particular are often exchanged between an array of financial sources. From the initial bidding process to the project closeout, construction PMs are responsible for tracking and monitoring all costs, especially as they relate to initial budgets. Ideally, you will have an accounting department for managing contractor invoices, but even then, you have to work alongside your accountants to ensure all direct and indirect costs are recorded.

Considering every other responsibility of a construction project manager, tracking and monitoring finances manually without the assistance of software isn’t practical — or feasible. Even relatively small construction projects contain hundreds of moving parts and individual costs, so to remain effective you need to use software that can also manage costs and budgets. A good CWM tool should allow you and other collaborators to input costs, budget changes, and other calculations to keep track of your project’s finances, alleviating the need to coordinate with every participant or to calculate your budget. Additionally, integrating DocuSign reduces time spent collecting signatures for every invoice, which means you and your contractors can devote more attention to the task at hand.

There is no industry in which PMs will be found just sitting at their desks, removed from the project and his or her team. Every good project manager becomes an integral part of the process, working figuratively and literally alongside others. Construction project management requires more attention and integrated effort than most industries, because the work is so physical. Field elements can drastically affect the workflow of construction projects. There will be many times when you need to actually see an issue in person before you can resolve it.

Familiarizing yourself with the construction site and the duties of every professional working under you will make you a better project manager. Construction is a constantly evolving industry, with new equipment, practices, and advancements every year. You need to continually educate yourself and learn from others in order to administer and manage a successful project. A great deal of communication may be streamlined, but the work still requires regular site visits and conferences with the contractors and designers on the ground.

Planning may be the second of the Project Management Institute’s five phases of project management, but construction project managers should start planning long before actual construction begins, and continue revising and developing plans until the project ends. The design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of a construction project each require extensive planning — and each may need to be revised as the next stage unfolds. Anything can happen at a construction site. If you encounter unexpected environmental problems during the pre-construction phase, the design may need to change. Even slight adjustments can affect the overall plan and timeline.

This remains true during the actual build. You will be working with seasoned professionals, often with decades of experience in electrical engineering, plumbing, scaffolding, and carpentry. While your contractors should be trusted, they still need focused direction to coordinate their efforts with each other. You’ll often need to work with them throughout the timeline to develop and refine plans as delays and equipment failures arise. Like any PM, you will execute and monitor developments, but the planning never ends in construction project management. Collaboration shouldn’t either.

Among the most important elements of all project management, communication is essential to every phase of any construction project. Good news and bad news are equally important when preparing and implementing a build, so you need to establish a flow of communication with everyone on the ground — and every stakeholder and supplier in the plan. Thistransparency will make the process smoother and will reduce the number of emails and phone calls whenever a problem arises.

One of the simplest ways to create a flow of communication is a collaborative work management (CWM) tool. By syncing discussions, attachments, and calendars, you can monitor news, budgets, and scheduling changes as they occur. A good CWM tool also allows you to relay these changes to other managers and accounting offices in real time, providing a nearly email-free method of project management. That means more time for you to spend at the construction site meeting contractors to coordinate the next stage of work.

Especially if you are still a student, it is important to really hone your writing and math skills. Poorly written communication and inaccurate math is read as unprofessional. There are different software programs that are now being used to calculate costs of construction projects, so it is important to be able to see any mistakes either you or someone else may have made that the software may not catch.

As a new manager, you will be introduced to a new crew, set of designers, engineers, etc., and they may need some convincing that you are right for the job. One way to win them over is to know all of the ins and outs of the project, and by staying on top of what everyone is or will be doing to complete the project.

Yes, it is important to be informed, but a lot of your credibility will come from your previous experience. Part of being a construction manager is working out of an office, but a large portion of it is also having hands-on labor skills. Especially while you are in school, you should try to get at least an internship or a summer job as a general laborer. This type of experience will help you and your construction crew relate to each other.

Whether you are a student at an internship or working with other contract managers, engineers, designers, and so on, it is important to always build bridges by putting your best foot forward. Say “yes” to any favors asked of you whenever you can, and they will be more likely to go the extra mile to assist you in the future.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. There have been many managers before you who can offer practical advice based on their experience. Find someone you trust, whose managing style you appreciate, and go to them with any questions that you have.

Too often new managers get drunk with power and forget that they are interacting with other humans. Make sure you let people know who you are, your role in relation to whoever you are talking with, and try not to seem entitled. If there is a certain way that your team is used to doing something, be open to it and make baby steps to change it if it does not match with your management style.