Stop Waiting and Start Building: The First Rule of Great Superintendents
I recently received some inspiring feedback from a college student who shared how Elevating Construction Superintendents impacted his perspective on leadership. He realized that being a superintendent is not just about managing a jobsite but about studying people, communication, and prioritization. Messages like this reinforce the importance of focusing on people first in construction.
Now let us talk about today’s topic. I hate the phrase “we are waiting.” Waiting on drawings. Waiting on emails. Waiting on Power BI. Waiting on an NTP. Waiting on financial releases. Waiting on decisions. It is the single most dangerous habit in construction.
General Patton once said, “A good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan next week.” The same is true for construction. A superintendent cannot afford to wait. If you do not have drawings, you can still plan from a napkin sketch. If you do not have a full set of specs, you can still create a procurement log with research or even use AI tools to get long-lead items identified. If you do not have a financial release, you can negotiate an early one or prepare your plan so you are ready the moment you get it.
Waiting kills momentum. It kills schedules. It kills projects. The first rule of being a superintendent is that we do not wait. That does not mean pushing people. It means planning, driving, and advancing the project through preparation and foresight.
Large contractors often fail on massive jobs because too many people are waiting. They wait on design. They wait on staff. They wait on procurement. They wait to move utilities. And then they start the project without a plan, which guarantees failure. The truth is simple. If you start without a plan because you waited, you will fail. That is not a guess. That is a historical fact.
Superintendents are not waiters. We advance. We prepare. We learn the project inside out and push the work forward through strategy and execution.
Key Takeaway
The first rule of being a superintendent is this: never wait. A good plan executed today will always beat a perfect plan delayed until tomorrow.
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Discover Jason’s Expertise:
Meet Jason Schroeder, the driving force behind Elevate Construction IST. As the company’s owner and principal consultant, he’s dedicated to taking construction to new heights. With a wealth of industry experience, he’s crafted the Field Engineer Boot Camp and Superintendent Boot Camp – intensive training programs engineered to cultivate top-tier leaders capable of steering their teams towards success. Jason’s vision? To expand his training initiatives across the nation, empowering construction firms to soar to unprecedented levels of excellence.
On we go
