AWCI’s Project Manager credential, AWCI-PM, is becoming a recognized industry certification for project managers. It lets everyone know you are an experienced construction project manager, someone owners can trust with their construction work.
During a course organized by the Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry at its Academy educational program, attendees were learning what it meant to be a project manager or a project witness. Since then, AWCI has been working to improve project manager educational opportunities. AWCI took on the herculean effort to develop an A-to-Z course to grow project managers that could replace those lost during the recession. The course was developed for wall and ceiling contractors by educators, trainers and contractors in the wall and ceiling industry.
Initially developed as a webinar series, the program delivered one webinar per week for 34 weeks beginning in 2014 and ending in March 2015. The course spans the entire life cycle of a job, from getting the job to closing it. It also includes 11 special topic lessons covering topics such as prefabrication, building information modeling and getting paid.
The course philosophy is that the best project managers are more effective when they have a greater understanding of the entire project environment, in addition to having the knowledge and skills to execute their core responsibilities. As an example, the course teaches about 10 “killer” contract clauses so the project manager is aware of them, but it does not teach contract negotiations. Likewise, the course provides a brief overview of estimating so that the project manager has better understanding of how the project bid was developed, which then in turn helps him or her put together a better job cost model. The course provides an overview of safety plans that give the project manager more insight into company safety goals.
The course is also balanced between technical skills such as managing change orders or additional work orders and the people skills of working with, motivating and communicating with the field workers and supervisors, and with the general contractor staff. The course uses role playing to show how to diffuse tough situations in the field, and it gives the project manager a skill set on how to approach the various personalities that can be found on a job site.
This fall, AWCI’s Project Manager Development Series will be accessible through an online learning center that AWCI created for the wall and ceiling industry. Once registered, a participant has access to all the lessons and can proceed at a self-study pace. There is no time limit to complete the courses.
The 62 lessons of curriculum are divided into six lesson modules: About Being a Project Manager, Getting the Job, Starting the Job, Running the Job, Closing out the Job and Special Topics. Each of the 35 one-hour lessons is a recorded webinar (see the list below). After completing the webinar, participants are given a brief test; those who score 80 percent or better are permitted to move on to the next lesson.
Look for future announcements from AWCI when the program is live online. In the meantime, you can send an email to Annemarie Selvitelli at [email protected] to be put on a mail list for when the course becomes available.
AWCI Project Manager Development Curriculum
About Being a Project Manager
- Overview of Course
- Defining the Role of the Project Manager
- Project Manager’s Key Elements of Success
Getting the Job
- Pre-bid Communications and Documentation
- Estimating
- Contract Clauses
- Industry Software
- Bid Preparation and Strategy
- Win/Loss Bid Review
Starting Up the Job
- Time Management
- Problem Solving & Decision Making
- Practical Application of Planning Homework Assignment
- Review Contract Documents/Scope/Submittals
- Re-take Off Job and Establish Project Budget
- Building Materials Buyout
- Prepare and Submit the Submittal Packets
- Subcontracting Work Out to Others
- Preparing Job Cost
- Certifications
- Pre-Construction Conference with GC
- Understanding GC Scheduling Method
- Mapping Job Schedule to GC Schedule
- Prepare Manpower Productivity Plan
- Equipment and Tools
- Select/Prepare Checklists New Project
- Quality Control Inspection Checklist
- Job Specific Safety Plan
Running the Job
- Effective Communications
- Building Relationships with Interpersonal Skills
- Ethics
- The Art of Negotiating
- Managing Conflict
- Claims Avoidance and Management
- Customer Relations
- Coaching – Accountability
- Project Documents (Daily Record Keeping/Logs)
- Day-to-Day Management
- Managing Change/Extra Work Orders
- Ordering and Stocking Building Materials
- Financial Administration-Billing & Tracking
- Safety Management
- Progress Meetings
- Practical Application of Controlling Lessons
Closing Out the Job
- Retainage Payment
- Project Closeout Checklist
- Demobilization
- Owner Documents and Inventory
- Review Project Closeout
- Final Evaluation from GC
- Post Job Review and Procedures and Checklist
- Performance Appraisal
Special Topics
- Prefabrication
- BIM
- Integrated Project Delivery
- Lean Construction
- Green Construction: Your Role and Your Risk
- Insurance Coverage
- Risk Management
- Banking and Bonding Information Requirements
- Getting Paid
- Four Generations, One Workplace
- Blending Family & Work
Extending the Classroom Bonus Lessons
- Immediate Supervisor Role
- Impact of Training on Productivity Improvement Evaluated
Click here to view the project managers who completed the AWCI Project Manager Development Series
