Coaching – Writing & Emails – Implementation Series

The Email Test: What Your Writing Says About Everything Else You Do

There is a principle Jason Schroeder carries into every boot camp and coaching conversation, and it applies as much to the written word as it does to the schedule or the safety walk: how you do one thing is how you do everything.

A superintendent who says “I’m a great builder but I’m not really good at writing emails” has just revealed something important. Not about their writing. About their relationship with mastery. Because the truth is there is no such thing as a great superintendent who cannot write clearly. There is no such thing as a great project manager who avoids the financials. There is no such thing as a great surveyor who cannot take legible notes. The people who have genuinely mastered the big things have also disciplined themselves to master the small things. The email is not a minor inconvenience. It is a signal.

The Career Skill Nobody Talks About

Written communication in construction shows up everywhere. It shows up in RFIs that have to be interpreted instead of understood. It shows up in daily reports that nobody reads because nobody can follow them. It shows up in emails that slow the project team down because they are either too long, too short, or too confusing to act on.

And it shows up in careers. The people who make it to president, vice president, operations manager, project director, and general superintendent are not just great builders. They are skilled communicators. Their emails are clear. Their proposals are readable. Their meeting follow ups are precise. When they walk into an interview, a design meeting, or an OAC presentation, the written materials they produce reflect the same standard as everything else they do.

If your goal is to advance in this industry, written communication is not a nice to have skill that you will develop someday. It is a fundamental that will show up in every professional setting you will ever be in. And the gap between where most construction professionals are and where they need to be on this is significant.

Jason’s Story: What a Writing Course Actually Did

When Jason was working as an assistant superintendent, he enrolled at Rio Salado Community College and took a full course load alongside a demanding job. Among the courses was a writing class. He was getting straight A’s across the board. He was also being reshaped.

The writing course gave him what he did not know he was missing: structure. Before that coursework, his emails rambled. His RFIs were long winded. He used phrasing like “as per conversation” and tangled sentence structures that barely communicated what they were supposed to communicate. After it, he had a framework. An email begins with a clear purpose. The content is concise and organized. The point is reachable without effort on the reader’s part.

He says clearly that he is still not a great writer. But people can understand him. And in professional communication, that is the whole game. If the reader cannot understand what you wrote, the writing failed, regardless of how much effort went into producing it.

Jason’s recommendation is direct: if you have gaps in your writing, find a course. A night course, an online course, something. The investment is small and the return follows you for decades.

What Bad Looks Like

Before you can fix a problem you have to be honest about what it actually looks like. In construction email culture, the failure modes are consistent and recognizable:

• The all caps email with one or two sentences and no context, which reads as either aggressive or incompetent and usually both
•  The multi paragraph email that tells the reader everything the writer was thinking without arriving at a clear point or request
•  The email with no structure, where the random thoughts of the writer’s mind appear on screen in the order they occurred
•  The RFI that is so poorly worded that the design team has to interpret what is being asked before they can even begin to respond
• The response that uses unfamiliar jargon, passive construction, and ambiguous references that require follow up emails just to clarify what the first one meant

Every one of these wastes time. When an email requires interpretation, the reader has to slow down, make assumptions, or send back a clarifying question. When an RFI is unclear, the response may not address the actual problem. When a daily report is illegible or disorganized, it fails as a record. Multiply these failures across a project team over a year and the cumulative cost is significant, in time, in rework, in miscommunication, and in relationships.

The Standard That Gets You There

A well written professional email is not complicated. It follows a pattern that works in almost every situation in construction.. Open with purpose. “I am writing to discuss the concrete placement scheduled for Thursday.” That sentence tells the reader immediately what this email is about and what it requires from them. There is no winding through context, backstory, or pleasantries before arriving at the point..State the relevant information concisely. Include what the reader needs to understand the situation, nothing more. If there is supporting documentation, reference it. If there is a decision needed, say what the options are and what you recommend. Close with a clear next step or request. “Please confirm by Wednesday afternoon.” The reader should never have to wonder what is being asked of them. This structure takes practice. It also takes an honest look at your current writing and the willingness to improve it, which is where most people stop.

How You Do One Thing

The superintendent who types in all caps because it is faster is telling you something about their relationship with precision. The project manager who sends three page emails that nobody reads is telling you something about their understanding of communication. The field engineer who does not know how to type is telling you something about their investment in the tools their career requires.

None of this is about perfection. Jason is transparent about the fact that he is still developing as a writer. But the commitment to developing is itself the point. People who are serious about their craft do not accept permanent weaknesses in areas that matter. They identify the gap and close it.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow. Part of what that development looks like is building the full professional skill set, written communication included, that separates career builders from career plateaus.

The Challenge This Week

Pull up your last five emails. Read them as if you received them from someone else. Are they clear? Do they open with a stated purpose? Do they ask for something specific? Are they the right length? And if you read them quickly, can you act on them without needing to ask a follow up question?

That audit will tell you more about your written communication than any course description. And whatever you find is where to start.

As Mark Twain wrote, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” In construction, the difference between a clear email and a confusing one can be the difference between a project that flows and one that constantly has to back up and ask what was meant.

Write clearly. Write concisely. Write with purpose. And master this like you would master anything else that matters in your career.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a professional email be in a construction context?

Long enough to communicate the full point and short enough that the reader does not have to search for it. In most cases, that means a clear opening sentence, two to four sentences of relevant context, and a closing request or next step. If your email requires scrolling, it is probably too long.

What should I do if I know my writing is weak but I do not have time for a formal course?

Start with the structure: purpose in the first sentence, relevant details in the middle, specific request at the end. Apply it to every email you send for thirty days. You will improve faster through disciplined practice than through reading about writing.

Does typing speed actually matter that much for construction professionals?

Yes. If you cannot type efficiently, you will avoid written communication or rush through it, and both outcomes hurt your work. Learning to type is one of the highest return investments an early career construction professional can make.

What is the biggest mistake construction professionals make in RFIs specifically?

Not stating the actual question clearly. An RFI that describes a problem at length but never arrives at a specific, answerable question wastes everyone’s time. State the condition, identify what is unclear or missing, and ask a direct question that can receive a direct answer.

How does improving written communication affect career advancement in construction?

It signals maturity, professionalism, and systems thinking. Leaders who communicate clearly in writing are trusted with more responsibility and perceived as ready for greater leadership. It is one of the most visible indicators of executive readiness that exists in the field.