-: My name is David Salen, I graduated from
the University of Minnesota with a degree in construction,
commercial construction and I am currently working as a
project engineer at a general contractor in the Twin Cities.
So at my level there is a lot of, there's a lot of
pre construction work so basically what we do is we find out
jobs that are about to launch in the Twin Cities Metro Area,
we will put together a bid, make bid calls,
get subcontractors input, put together this formal bid,
bid the project.
If we're awarded the work then we'll buyout the project
put together contracts, put together a project team
and then from that point we actually start the project.
So in my case, when I started at Knutson I was working
out at the airport so there'll be submittals which is
basically information on all the products and materials
being used in the project itself.
And then from there on forward basically the project
managers and the project engineers, their job is just to
ensure the project gets built.
A lot of that is procurement, making sure that materials
are on site and basically just feeding our field crew,
people that are actually building the project
and making sure that their lives go smoothly
and they have all the materials and the subcontractors
that they need to complete the job.
And from there, once the project's complete
there's all sorts of closeout information and attic
stock for materials that might break down or extra parts.
So we create a deliverable and get all that project
closeout to the client and from there we'll collect
retainage and make final payments to our subcontractors
and after that it's typically smooth sailing.
I do some miscellaneous stuff,
so I just got back from Nashville on Friday
to go down there and look at a prospective client and some
work for someone that we've worked with in the past.
So it really just depends but I would say your average
project engineer, in the full swing of things,
will be working on one project but in kinda the off season,
in the winter, they might have two or three things
going on, depending on the size of the job.