Job Description

Responsible for all construction and financial aspects of multiple projects including budgets, contracts, supervising personnel on the project.  This includes maintaining the highest quality, supervising trade and field personnel, while administering good construction safety practices in order to successfully complete the projects on schedule and within budget.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinates and supervises construction activities.
• Prepares and submits budget estimates and cost tracking reports.
• Prepares contracts and negotiate revisions, changes and additions to contractual agreements.
• Responsible for all job costs, invoice approvals, and monthly draw/invoice preparation.
• Directs field personnel to achieve completion of the project on schedule, within budget, with quality workmanship that conforms to original plans and specifications.
• Confer with supervisory personnel, owners, contractors, and design professionals to discuss and resolve matters such as work procedures, complaints, and construction problems.
• Maintain a working relationship with municipal and governing authorities and have a specific knowledgebase on local and national building codes and permitting. 
• Be versed in reading blueprints, and creating ‘takeoffs’ of blueprints for bidding materials and labor.
• Maintains positive relationships with customers, contractors, suppliers and other employees.
• Prepares, schedules and supervises completion of a final punch list.
• Promotes job site safety, encourages safe work practices and rectifies job site hazards immediately.  Ensures all company employees and contractors are adhering to the company safety policy.

Core Competencies

• Organization – Must be extremely organized and capable of addressing various issues at any given time on multiple projects.  Must be able to see all aspects of the projects to close, not allowing any details to go unattended
• Finance – Responsible for maintaining and reviewing an accurate financial statement for each project in coordination with accounting.  Identify issues and provide remedy for any discrepancies in the financial statements. 
• Budgeting – Have a working knowledge of construction costs and market price for work performed to collaborate with subcontractors in bidding jobs.
• Communication – Displays strong written and oral communication skills and employs effective listening skills.
• Problem Solving – Analyzes problems and makes sound decisions in a timely manner based on objectives, risks, implications and costs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• 5+ years of successful Project Management experience.  Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Experienced in scheduling, ordering, field supervision, quality control, and production of all phases of construction.
• Experienced in managing multiple projects.
• Professionally and technically competent.
• Computer proficiency (Microsoft Office: Project, Word, Excel and Outlook)

Personal Profile

• A self-starting, highly motivated and goal oriented individual.
• Excellent attention to detail with emphasis placed on quality and safety.
• Very organized with a systematic approach tasks to achieve accuracy and efficiency.
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, including the ability to manage diverse personalities and work within an integrated practice
• Quick, sharp, confident, assertive, ethical and ambitious.
• Analytical with the ability to examine issues from multiple viewpoints.

To apply contact Brent at bcrittenden@uicstl.com.

Job Description

Coordinates job site construction activities and supervises field personnel as required to successfully complete the project on schedule and within budget. This includes maintaining the highest quality, supervising trade and field personnel, while administering good construction safety practices.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinates and supervises construction activities.
• Directs field personnel to achieve completion of the project on schedule, within budget, with quality workmanship that conforms to plans and specifications.
• Maintains construction schedule, identifies and solves problems. Develops and takes ownership of detailed daily and weekly schedules in accordance with master schedule and recognizes key schedule milestones. Understands critical construction activities and their effect on schedule milestones, and effectively communicates scheduling requirements to subcontractors, suppliers and project team members.
• Understands the project budget and construction costs, and manages/works to ensure maximized production in accordance with budget.
• Orders materials and manages deliveries throughout construction. Manages the staging of materials, keeps a clean and clear site with safe access to work areas.
• Understand the inspection and permit process for the municipality that work is being undertaken and schedules inspections as necessary throughout the process.
• Understands the project plans and specifications and recognizes details and information required for scheduled work to be undertaken, communicating to Project Manager additional information that may be required.
• Maintains positive relationships with customers, contractors, suppliers and other employees.
• Prepares, schedules and supervises completion of a final punch list.
• Promotes job site safety, encourages safe work practices, performs regular site safety inspections and rectifies job site hazards immediately.
• Ensures all company employees and contractors are adhering to the company safety policy.
• Maintains an organized job site, including the construction office. Keeps on-site documentation, including drawings and design documents, safety documents, delivery dockets, copies of permits, site signage etc in a neat and organized manner.
• Must have the ability to work in a team environment and successfully and positively communicate with supervisor, members or other departments, peers, customers and vendors.
• Must perform work in a professional manner at all times and understand that they are performing as a representative of the company.

Core Competencies

• Organization – Utilizes strong organizational skills.
• Communication – Displays strong written and oral communication skills and employs effective listening skills.
• Problem Solving – Analyzes problems and makes sound decisions in a timely manner based on objectives, risks, implications and costs.
• Interpersonal Skills – Tactful and mature demeanor with well developed interpersonal skills including the ability to work well with diverse personalities.
• Knowledge — Through understanding of construction practices including light commercial and residential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or equivalent experience degree preferred.
• 2-10+ years of successful Superintendent experience. Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Experienced in scheduling, ordering, field supervision, quality control, and production of all phases of construction.
• Experienced in managing multiple projects.
• Experience in Historic Renovations and Multi-Family strongly preferred.
• Computer proficiency (Microsoft Office: MS Project , Word, Excel and Outlook).

Personal Profile

• A self-starting, highly motivated and goal oriented individual.
• Excellent attention to detail with emphasis placed on quality and safety.
• Very organized with a systematic approach tasks to achieve accuracy and efficiency.
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, including the ability to manage diverse personalities.
• Professionally and technically competent.
• Quick, sharp, confident, assertive, ethical and ambitious.
• Analytical with the ability to examine issues from multiple viewpoints.
• Friendly and out-going in social contexts.
• Works easily with others.

To apply contact Brent at bcrittenden@uicstl.com.

My Grandpa Ralph passed away last year after a long and full life with good health into his 90’s. I was the very fortunate recipient of an archive of his drawings from a long career of design and drafting various large caliber weapons and turrets for the defense industry. His career stems from his time as a mechanic in the Air Corps in World War II, specializing in maintaining guns on bombers, and extended into the 1980’s when he trained young engineers on the correct magnitude of tolerance for production drawings. He was a perfectionist and an expert draftsman and this collection of drawings —ranging from the amazing isometric drawing attached to this post to large format production drawings—are works of art that I can spend hours going through.

I have a special connection to my grandfather on this as he and my grandmother bought me my first Crayola drafting set and he taught me the basics of drafting at an early age on this clear plastic parallel bar. (He also passed along a weird seemingly hereditary trait of sticking my tongue out and slightly to the left when I draw, but that may be material for a later post.) This early introduction to understanding how imagination could be described and explored in drawings helped to propel my interest in Architecture and my eventual career.

Along with the drawings I received one of his drafting arms, now a relic in the CAD age, which is now hung in the lobby of our offices. When I walk past it I am reminded of how he fostered my early love of drawing and am thankful of how he inspired me.

—Brent

A few months ago, we posted a survey, asking for feedback on what kind of house to build on a few lots that we are developing in The Grove. When asked about housing features, the response was to design a larger house than we have previously done, with a lot of customizable options including green features, luxury kitchens, master suites, and backyards/ leisure zones. DONE. However, we added tall, dark, and designer, too. These three models play nice with their old turn-of-the-century friends, but bring modern to new heights within the St. Louis City housing stock. Check ‘em out, but don’t wait! There are only five lots available.

Sarah Gibson, Design Principal, UIC

Contact Nikki at sales@uicstl.com or 314.881.2333 for more information

Due to the evolutionary changes in our design improvements process, there may be variations in room dimensions, door swings, windows and door locations.These images do not necessarily reflect base model pricing and show a variety of upgraded options. We reserve the right to substitute materials of comparable quality. These plans are the sole and absolute property of UIC. Use of copying of these plans, without the express written consent of UIC is illegal.

Always cognizant of the happenings at the more and more engaging institution that is the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, we are excited that they kick-off the Marfa Dialogues, July 30-August 3, with Ballroom Marfa and the Public Concern Foundation. And, we are equally excited that our friends Brea and James McAnally of The Luminary Center for the Arts will present  Monsanto House of the Future on July 30 at 8pm at The Pulitzer as part of the kick-off programming.

Brea and James have authored the piece as US English, which is a collaborative project between the two. Monsanto House of the Future, is a performative lecture consisting of a video, voiceover, and live score by The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra and a publication that considers climate change as seen through speculative architecture and our changing views of the future. Their piece dovetails with the rest of the Marfa Dialogues programming which examines the ways in which art can serve as a catalyst for unexpected collaboration.

The Marfa Dialogues continues a recently established program shift in which the Pulitzer is engaging local creative professionals, inventors, teachers, and community leaders to discuss specifically St. Louis’ issues with education, business, aging, and entrepreneurialism, – and more. These activities put people in a room that might not otherwise have been engaged with each other – to generate ideas, a fresh approach, and hopefully and ongoing dialogues, in an inspiring and unexpected space.

UIC is looking forward to being there tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 30) to experience this exciting exhibition.

Formerly as a student and now as a professional in the field of architecture, I have often been asked what “style” of architecture I like to design. It’s always a difficult question to answer, but I’ll give it a shot. In a nutshell, I believe that architecture should tell the story “of our time”. That is, it should speak to the values and ideals of our current culture. It should be an indication of the materials and construction techniques that were available and practical and, quite frankly, “in style” at the time it was built. It should not simply imitate the buildings around it, nor should it try to mimic the style of a previous era.

I don’t hate historical buildings. In fact, I actually really love them. But the thing is, they weren’t always historical. At one point they too were “of the times”. Saint Louis is full of red brick buildings because it was a readily-available, local, economical building material at the time that much of the city was being built. Now they are a part of our city fabric. They give us a glimpse into our history. That is one of the great things about architecture… it allows you to read the history of a place- a street, a neighborhood, a city. Each building tells a story about the time it was built. If we try to replicate or imitate the architecture of the past, we lose the ability to visually read that story. The narrative becomes confused by buildings that look historical, but are not.

Building architecture that is current and relevant doesn’t mean that we completely disregard our historical context. We can use these materials and techniques to create buildings that do, in fact, complement and enhance their context.  Things like scale, proportion, and massing are all aspects of design that we use to make sure that our new designs “play nice” with the buildings around them that may be much older. We can learn from the past and respect it and reference it without simply replicating it. Instead of trying to tell someone else’s story, we can aim for continuity of the narrative while still moving it forward.

We see this approach taken in many other fields: automobiles, clothing, and electronics, just to name a few. In these fields, design is not stagnant. They may reference or draw inspiration from designs of the past, but it is constantly moving forward, staying current, and experimenting with new designs and technology. Why shouldn’t the field of architecture be the same? Why shouldn’t we, too, be designing products that speak of our culture and its innovation?

If you haven’t already, use one of these beautiful spring days to take a walk down the 4200 block of McRee. Here, you’ll see a streetscape made up of both 100-year-old houses and houses that were built in the last year. They stand side by side and make up a rich neighborhood fabric. Together, they tell the story of this little part of Saint Louis, and we can read that story simply by walking down the street.

-LV