Build a Little Better – Give it Time

Give It Time: The Career Move That Helps Construction Leaders Go Farther

You’re working hard, learning fast, and you can feel the next role calling your name. More responsibility. More money. More influence. And if you’re honest, a little bit of relief because you’re ready for things to feel easier. Here’s the truth: rushing your career in construction usually doesn’t make it easier. It makes it longer, harder, and more frustrating because you skip the exact fundamentals you’ll need to survive the next level.

The Pain in the Field

A lot of emerging leaders feel pressure to move up fast. They want immediate results, immediate recognition, and immediate reward. They see a title as the finish line, and they treat each role like a stepping-stone they have to sprint across. But construction doesn’t work like that. The work is real. The stakes are real. And the gap between “I can do the job” and “I can lead the job” is bigger than most people think.

The Failure Pattern

Here’s the pattern that shows up over and over: people move up without enough builder foundation, then they stall out mid-career. They get stuck at assistant superintendent, superintendent level one or two, or mid-range project superintendent. Not because they’re bad people. Not because they’re not talented. They get stuck because the basics never got installed early and now they have to catch up while carrying the weight of bigger projects, bigger consequences, and bigger stress.

Empathy

The system failed them; they didn’t fail the system. If the company promotes too fast, if the role path isn’t designed, if training is thin, and if leaders don’t have time-in-seat to build fundamentals, then people stall. That isn’t a character flaw. That’s a system design flaw.

The Field Story: Why “Time in the Seat” Matters

This conversation came up after an interview where the message was simple: younger folks need to give it time. Not because anyone wants to slow them down, but because there’s joy in the journey and real capability is built through repetition, exposure, and doing hard things long enough to get good.

Jason Schroeder talks about how common it is to see people stuck in the middle of the superintendent career curve. The numbers might shift by company, but the pattern stays the same: many at the lower and middle levels, fewer at the senior levels, and a big stall point where people can’t make the jump. When he and teams ran boot camps and asked, “Who knows how to schedule? Who knows how to manage field engineers? Who knows the basics?” hands went up. But as training progressed, the reality surfaced: many didn’t actually have the fundamentals needed to move into senior roles.

Why It Matters

This isn’t just about promotions. It’s about safety, quality, and the stress that leaders carry home. If you skip builder fundamentals, you end up solving problems you could have prevented. You spend your days reacting, your nights worried, and your weeks exhausted. And if the plan requires burnout, the plan is broken. Respect for people is a production strategy. Families should not pay the price for a system that promotes fast but trains slow.

Why People Get Stuck at Superintendent 1 and 2

Jason’s observation is clear: a common root cause is not enough time as a field engineer, layout person, or builder. When people move directly from a short project engineer stint or directly from craft into supervision without builder time, they often lack the base skills that senior roles quietly require. Field engineers get a chance to build without as many distractions. They do lift drawings, layout, surveying, elevations, embeds, placement checks, quality checklists, and they learn what “right” looks like. That builder time becomes their internal compass later. Superintendent roles shift toward coordinating, communicating, and leading. If you didn’t build first, you’re now trying to manage building without the builder baseline. That’s where stress and mistakes multiply.

Builder Work vs. Management Work

One of the most important distinctions is this: superintendent and PM roles are management experiences. They are not builder experiences. You can become a master builder as a leader, but you need the builder foundation first. Builder roles include field engineering, project engineering fundamentals, craft, foreman, and survey/layout. That’s where you learn the game. Leadership roles are where you call the game. If you skip learning the game, calling it becomes painful. This is also where concepts like Takt land differently. You can read about flow, but you can’t truly run a stable Takt system unless you understand work packaging, sequence, handoffs, and quality in the field. Fundamentals make advanced systems work.

What “Giving It Time” Actually Looks Like

Giving it time doesn’t mean staying stagnant. It means staying long enough to install fundamentals. Jason’s recommendation is that two years—sometimes threeof builder-focused time can accelerate your career later because it builds real capability. He shares his own path: years in field engineering, learning the methods, reading manuals, doing layout and survey, gaining real builder reps. Then years training and troubleshooting across the field. That tool belt didn’t appear overnight. It was earned through time, discipline, and repetition. And there’s a key insight here: if people knew how hard someone worked to achieve mastery, it wouldn’t seem so remarkable anymore. The growth you admire in others came from years of fundamentals.

Bullet Section: Signs You’re Rushing Too Fast

•  You feel bored in your current role, but you can’t clearly teach someone else the basics of it yet.
• You want the title more than you want the reps.
•  You avoid builder work and only want coordination and meetings.
•  You’re “good” at your role, but the work still feels reactive and stressful.
•  You’re moving up without a clear fundamentals checklist you’ve mastered.

If any of those hit, don’t beat yourself up. Just recognize the signal. Your next step might not be “up.” It might be “deeper.”

Discipline Beats Talent Every Time

One of the strongest lines in the episode is simple and true: “Discipline will beat mere talent every time.” Talent can get you noticed. Discipline gets you promoted and keeps you there. Discipline looks like reading, training, practicing, building routines, learning software, and repeating fundamentals until they’re automatic. Discipline also looks like being patient enough to stay in the seat long enough to become dangerous—in a good way.

Enjoy the Journey: Because the Next Level Is Heavier

Jason also points out something that people don’t believe until they feel it: you won’t know what stress is until you’re the accountable leader. When you’re the project superintendent or the PM with final responsibility, the weight is real. So why rush? Enjoy the time when you can focus. Enjoy the time placing concrete, learning layout, learning procurement, learning financials, learning the craft of building. Those moments become your base. And later, when you’re leading under pressure, you’ll be grateful you didn’t skip them.

Don’t Become Indispensable: Train Your Replacement

There’s another trap that keeps people stuck: becoming so “good” at a role that you’re irreplaceable. If you haven’t trained someone to take your place, the system can’t move you. You become a bottleneck. If you want to grow, you have to show that the team can function without you. That doesn’t mean you’re not valuable. It means you’ve built capability around you. Delegation and training are career accelerators when done with intention. They prove readiness and they protect the system.

Bullet Section: A Simple “Give It Time” Career Plan

•  Pick the fundamentals of your current role and master them before asking for the next step.
•  Stay long enough to build reps: layout, quality checks, lift drawings, procurement basics, and scheduling fundamentals.
•  Find mentors and role models then study what skills they built first.
•  Train your replacement so the system can promote you without risk.
  Make decisions with your family in mind. Growth that breaks your life isn’t real growth.

This is how you go farther and faster by slowing down long enough to build a foundation.

Connect to Mission

At Elevate Construction and LeanTakt, Jason Schroeder’s message is consistent: plan it first, build it right, finish as you go. That doesn’t just apply to concrete and steel. It applies to people. We’re building people who build things. And that means we don’t rush them through roles without fundamentals. Respect for people is a production strategy. Careers should be designed, trained, and stabilized not improvised. If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

Conclusion

Here’s the challenge: stop measuring your career by how fast you move, and start measuring it by how solid your foundation is. Stay in the seat long enough to learn what “right” looks like. Build the tool belt. Train your replacement. Then step forward with confidence, not impatience. And when you feel that pressure to sprint, remember this real line from the episode: “Discipline will beat mere talent every time.” Give it time. Enjoy the journey. Build the fundamentals. On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How long should I stay in a field engineer or builder role before moving up?
Long enough to master the fundamentals and teach them to someone else. Many people benefit from at least two years, sometimes three, depending on exposure and training systems.

Why do so many people get stuck at superintendent level one or two?
Often it’s because they didn’t get enough builder reps early field engineering, layout, quality control, and real building fundamentals so they have to catch up while leading.

Is it ever okay to move up quickly?
Yes if the system supports you with training, mentors, and time to develop. Moving fast without fundamentals creates stress and risk that can stall you later.

What does “train your replacement” actually mean?
It means you build systems and people so work continues without you. You document processes, coach others, and ensure the team can operate when you step into the next role.

How do I balance career growth with family needs and financial pressure?
Make thoughtful decisions with your spouse or family, and choose growth that’s sustainable. A promotion that creates burnout is not a win design a path that builds skills and protects home life.